With No Steps to Follow — David Allen Barton

Henderson County, Tennessee, would not be a hard place to leave.' And so Rane McAllon is going to California With No Steps to Follow. After the tragic deaths of his family, levelheaded but wide-eyed seventeen-year-old Rane decides to fulfill his sister's dying wish and sets out for California. He leaves behind his childhood home, the only one he's ever known, and Tabitha, the only girl he's ever loved. Partnered with his steady mount, a bay horse named Puddin, he crosses the rugged terrain, battling the scorching heat of the sun and the unforgiving rain. After a run-in with Indians who steal his horse and leave him for dead, Rane joins a group of cattle herders and quickly learns how to become a drover. He befriends the cattle boss, Cotton, a war-weary man, and Tom-Tom, a stuttering young man out to prove himself. It's a hard life on the trail to California. A new obstacle awaits at every turn. Will Rane's courage and steadfast determination be enough to see him through the dangerous Indian Territory? Will he make it to California? Join first-time author David Allen Barton on this adventure to the wild frontier of the West and pave a new path With No Steps to Follow.