The Brotherhood’s Eastern Expedition

The following is my theory on how Lyons got to Washington and how long it would have taken. I also want to hear the rest of you about your thoughts on this and possible theories and conclusions.

In 2254 a small but hardened force of Brotherhood of Steel members were sent west to see if they could both find any traces of the brotherhood sent east 56 years earlier, and to arrive on the east coast to gather technology for back west. From what I could gather during the travels they passed by Chicago to find out about the Brotherhood forces there. Afterwards the next known spot they came across was The Pitt were the Scourge happened. After the Scourge the team traveled and finally arrived in Washington D.C.

Going by this information, I would say it would be safe to assume they used old highways for easier travel, so, according to google maps the most logical route from Lost Hills to Washington, that also passes Chicago and the Pitt, is {https://www.google.ca/maps/dir/Lost+Hills,+CA,+USA/The+Pentagon,+North+Rotary+Road,+Arlington,+VA,+United+States/@38.90966,-93.5849524,7.83z/data=http://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1590742-the-bos-expedition-east/!4m15!4m14!1m5!1m1!1s0x80eb118cdaeaf8a3:0x99a5214f86862fda!2m2!1d-119.6942941!2d35.616349!1m5!1m1!1s0x89b7b71e2390182f:0x5a8a407614c1e60c!2m2!1d-77.0559544!2d38.8709862!3e0!5i2}.

Walking from Lost Hills to the Citadel would have taken them roughly 900 hours, or 37.5 days assuming non-stop walking, but in reality assuming they slept for at least 6 hours a night it comes to around 50 days. They also took their time in Chicago for a small bit finding the small remnants of the Midwest BoS, and about a day in The Pitt. Roughly between exploring and possibly taking time getting across it took them roughly two months to get from Southern California to D.C.

Since they left in 2254 and arrived in 2255, it would mean that they left probably November or December and arrived in January or February.

During this time they pass through many cities such as Las Vegas, Denver, and very close to Cleveland, not to mention other smaller cities and towns along the way. The Brotherhood never mentions any of these places along the way though. Also of note, the Mojave chapter of the BoS exist near Vegas, perhaps the BoS wanted to stretch across this route?

What do you all think about this? Think this is probably the path Lyons took, or do you think that maybe he took a bit of a different path. Do you think it took less time or more time that I have stated?

*EDIT* Forgot the map link when I posted this. Fixed it.

Wasn't the stated reason for the DC Expedition because they somehow heard about supermutants and incredibly advanced technology from the far side of the country?

I would assume that a much more reasonable explanation would have been to have them have discovered Liberty Prime and sent a small team to go secure it, which actually seems to be what's playing out in game.

So with that, they would have set off from Southern California through the Mojave, the Four Corner States (now Legion territory), and through the Midwest, stopping near Chicago.

I would think it would take far more than 50 days, with all the wasteland hostilities, the need to forge for food, set up shelters, deal with sicknesses and injuries, finding a town or village to help them deal with this, and deal with the possibility of getting off their route for a while. It probably took closer to 100 days, maybe more.

Stopping in to find the remnants of the MWBoS would surely have taken a bit of searching, they would not know their exact location. Also, I'm sure the purge through the Pitt wasn't just provoked by them happening to walk past the place. They must have heard about it from local sources or gone and experienced what it was like in the Pitt itself, making them decide it was best to slaughter their way through the place before moving on to DC.

Once they reached DC, I'm sure that they spent a fair amount of time gathering resources and exploring before they set up the Citidale as their main base of operations, but most of this is just speculating about how much work would go in achieving any of these tasks.

From what I recall it was three reasons

1. To investigate rumors of super mutants seemingly not belonging to the Master's horde on the east coast.

2. To reestablish contact with the MWBoS and bring them back under Lost Hills command.

3. To recover any advanced technology from the eastern cities and military bases.

As far as I am aware, they didn't know about any specific advanced technology on the east coast before leaving, they were just sent there to recover tech in general.

The official game guide, in one of its many unsupported claims, says that a piece of highly advanced tech was recovered from The Pitt, but only Owyn Lyons knew what exactly it was.

http://fallout.gamepedia.com/Lyons%27_Brotherhood_of_Steel#cite_note-pittfactions-8

In 2042, Star Paladin Lyons of the Brotherhood of Steel led the Scourge, a large-scale military action that wiped out nearly the entire population of The Pitt. In a single night, the Brotherhood swept through the city, eliminating any resident who put up a fight. Although the intent of the Scourge remains unclear, several unmutated children were taken from The Pitt by the Brotherhood and placed into initiate training. The motivations for the Scourge are unclear to this day, but many in the Brotherhood note that it was a marked change in the way the Brotherhood operates. Additionally, it is known that something was recovered from The Pitt during the Scourge, although to date it would seem that only Elder Lyons knows what it was.