Rebecca's father, John, is a newspaper writer. Inspired by his career, Rebecca decides to chronicle her family's trip. Her narration informs the story throughout.
The Road to Destiny shows the ups and downs of this often-grueling journey. David and I enjoyed creating the character of Rebecca. Her viewpoint gave us a fresh and personable way to tell this story.
Rebecca's use of a diary is historically accurate. Much of the information we have about the experience of the Oregon Trail comes from personal accounts.
We have become so accustomed to the Internet, to PDAs, to the ease at which we can record our thoughts and observations. Many of us have portable telephones which can take digital photographs. On a whim, we can send these images to friends all around the world.
It's food for thought to realize how precious and fleeting these experiences are, and how much harder it was for people to capture them in the 19th century.
We kept this in mind in our characterization of Rebecca. She is most certainly not a wimpy kid...
