Spots 
Orion Clemens receives an appointment as Secretary of Nevada Territory. Samuel Clemens eagerly signs on as his unpaid private secretary, drawn by dreams of silver and wilderness. The pair pack their luggage and board a riverboat for St. Joseph, Missouri, leaving behind the settled East.
Overland stage travel forces passengers to shed heavy law books and fine clothing at the station. Heavy leather mail sacks fill the interior, leaving minimal space for human travel. Bouncing endlessly across the open prairie, passengers quickly learn the discomforts of frontier transit.
Way stations dotting the trail supply fresh horses and basic rations of hot biscuits, fried pork, and muddy coffee. Drivers and conductors rule these isolated outposts with absolute authority. Constant team changes every ten miles preserve a relentless pace toward the distant territory.
Sagebrush plains harbor creatures adapted to extreme speed, chief among them the jackass rabbit. Its enormous ears signal trouble long before a hound can approach. With effortless bounds, the rabbit vanishes into the horizon, leaving pursuing dogs bewildered and defeated.
A coyote looks like a living portrait of poverty, lean and despised by town dogs and travelers alike. Yet its ragged exterior hides astounding speed and cunning. When provoked into a chase, it effortlessly glides away, breaking the spirit of any city-bred dog.
A vivid, humorous chronicle of western travel, silver rushes, and frontier misadventures.