Weby: The Donner party wasn't recued until May. Less than half of them were still alive. But why they were stranded in the first place is a good analogy to Wave.
They took an alternative route, ironically called a shortcut, that no one had ever taken. It took them a lot longer, in part because of rougher terrain and in part because they had to cut a trail, at times making no more than half a mile a day.
But they still could have made it to California safely had they not chosen to rest up in the Truckee River bottoms (near what is now Reno) for a long week.
Had they left the river bottoms even a day earlier they would have made it over Donner Pass, instead of being caught in the earliest and heaviest Oct. snow on record.
Now for the modern day parallel story:
Capt. Peter Sprague packed up his belongings and set out to reach every PC in the nation. Along the way, he bought into plans for some shortcuts over what is now known as Dongle Pass.
He tried the Bios Mountains in Phoenix, but was unable to get through.
The Haup Card failed to get them out of the desert. Numerous alliances with other passing parties were not enough to help the Wave wagon train reach its destination. Differing strategies and directions were tried, all to no avail.
During the long journey, he kept telling his party we are going to reach the sunshine of the Golden State any day now, when he knew the journey would take a lot longer, and in truth they might never reach their destination.
Along the way, Capt. Peter handed over the reins to his son, Fredo. The Wave train remains in the trackless desert, running out of water and those who still believe in the son's leadership.
Will this train reach its destination? Will the locked trunk in Fredo's wagon, that supposedly holds the sacred module, be discovered to be empty? Has the Wave train turned into the gravy train for the Spragues as many suspect?
Stay tuned boys and girls for the final episode of "The Slog Finale."
Bluefang
