She was both confused and exhilarated by the sudden weight of responsibility laid upon her.

To leave everybody and everything she had always been used to, and go away to such a distance alone with Phil, made her gasp with a sense of dismay, while at the same time the idea that for the first time in her life she was trusted with something really important, roused her energies, and made her feel braced and valiant, like a soldier to whom some difficult enterprise is intrusted on the day of battle.
Many consultations followed as to what the travellers should carry with them, by what route they would best go, and how prepare for the journey.

A great deal of contradictory advice was offered, as is usually the case when people are starting on a voyage or a long railway ride.

One friend wrote to recommend that they should provide themselves with a week's provisions in advance, and enclosed a list of crackers, jam, potted meats, tea, fruit, and hardware, which would have made a heavy load for a donkey or mule to carry.

How were poor Clover and Phil to transport such a weight of things?
Another advised against umbrellas and water-proof cloaks,--what was the use of such things where it never rained ?--while a second letter, received the same day, assured them that thunder and hail storms were things for which travellers in Colorado must live in a state of continual preparation.