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The Good Life

It was all true.  All the tales told by the old frontiersman in greasy buckskins as he stared into his cup of ale couldn’t begin to describe this unspoiled paradise. Vast forests full of game and rivers alive with fat fish, all waiting to be claimed by any restless adventurer willing to embark on the arduous journey over the Blue Ridge and into the Appalachian wilderness.

A few notches from a sharp tomahawk on surrounding trees is all that is needed to mark the boundaries of the first piece of land that this settler has ever been able to call his own.  The new land has provided a wealth of materials and with a warm and peaceful spring and summer and some hard labor, a comfortable home has taken shape on the bank of the creek. 

The coming spring will bring attention from the Delaware and Mingo tribes who claim this land as their hunting ground and many bloody confrontations will result as more settlers from the crowded Eastern colonies build their cabins and forts of refuge in this disputed territory.  But for now, the warmth of the first days of an early fall and the friendship of a few chosen companions provide contentment.  It is time to enjoy the good life.