When Twain walked the 130 miles from Aurora (then considered to be in California, although later surveys determined it to be in Nevada) to Virginia City, to take the reporting job with the Territorial Enterprise, this would have taken at least several days.
Did he "camp out" while "hoofing it" (per pedes) from Aurora to Virginia City, or were there hospitable homesteaders living along the route he was able to spend the nights with as he finished his days of rambling?
- B. Clay Shannon