Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Meanwhile back at the ranch

Made it back to the ol' homestead around 3:00 this afternoon.  It was a funny feeling driving the truck without our "little house" trailing along behind.  What a difference it made in the fuel economy, almost double what it is when pulling the load.  It did come a light shower during the night last night but no harm to the damaged roof of the trailer.  We drove through a couple of light showers today and then between the lake and home we had a downpour but dry at home to unload the truck.

It's always good to get home and now we wait to hear of progress on the repair to our trailer.  Jo already has the washing machine going for three weeks worth of dirty clothes.

Monday, August 29, 2016

70% & 80%

Now camped in Chanute at the city owned Safari Campground that is free for two nights.  We have taken advantage of that free night now for the ninth time since owning this trailer.  We are just a quarter mile from the factory where this trailer was born and those same folks will make it good as new with this repair.  Most of the people that use this campground are here for visiting the NuWa factory and Kansas RV Center sales and service.  They no longer manufacture new trailers but they sell other makes and models.  From our original contact at NuWa with a factory tour in the fall of 2010, that tour guided by the owner himself, and then picking up this trailer on January 3, 2011 these folks have been super to deal with.  We have been back every fall after our last summer outing, usually in October, to have the service folks make sure that all is well and for general maintenance care.

Tomorrow morning we will put into the truck what necessities that have to go home with us and leave the trailer in their shop for the repairs.  After their examination this afternoon they say it will be ready before our next scheduled trip planned for October.

The current weather forecast is a 30% chance of a shower this afternoon and a 20% chance tonight.  Therefore the title of this post is my positive thinking and sincere request to our GWF.

Sunday, August 28, 2016

20%

The weather forecast for here in Salina, KS calls for a 20% chance of showers tonight and tomorrow.  I have told our GWF that I prefer the 80% side of that equation.  We did drive through about a one minute lite shower this afternoon but I'm sure the wind after that dried everything quickly.  Tomorrow we head for Chanute.

Saturday, August 27, 2016

Reminded of a story

This morning our trip through Wyoming was nice.  We didn't see many antelope but enough to satisfy our need for wildlife sightings.  Once we reached the Lincoln monument rest area (the highest point 8500' on the Lincoln Highway, US30/I-80) the scenery changes to high plains.  That continues into Nebraska which reminded me of a story that I heard many years ago.

General Custer gathered his troops and told them that he had some good news and some bad news.  The bad news is that we are surrounded by thousands of blood thirsty Indians on the warpath and after our scalps.  But the good news is that we won't have to cross back through Nebraska on our way home.

The person that told this story said that when he would tell it in Nebraska he changed the returning route to Kansas.

The weather continues cool and dry, thank you GWF.

Friday, August 26, 2016

Antelope

Entered Wyoming mid morning and we were about 150 miles into the state before we saw our first antelope.  I don't believe they are as plentiful in the western side of the state as they are in the center and eastern side.  We should see a lot of them in the morning on our way from Rawlins, WY to Ogallala, Nebraska.

Still no forecast of rain for our journey to Chanute, KS, keeping our fingers crossed and pleading with our GWF.

Thursday, August 25, 2016

Great visit

The past two days have been extremely enjoyable as we visited with sister Vena, little Sophia, and Curt.  These two pictures show some of our fun.  She is such a treasure.


I have filed our insurance claim for our roof damage and have received feedback from our insurance company that makes me feel that we will be well taken care of.

Tomorrow we begin our trek back toward home with a stop along the way to leave our trailer at the shop to put it back in A-1 condition.

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

a change of plans

Monday afternoon as we were heading toward our campground in Great Falls, MT, driving down a narrow city street I brushed the top right corner of our trailer against a large tree limb, BIG OOPS.  I think I said darn it or something like that and so now we need a new roof.  Tree limbs and rubber roofs don't do well together.

I have rerouted our return trip from here to include a stop in Chanute, KS where we can leave it with the factory service folks.  They are the folks that built our trailer and we have been taking our trailer there once a year for general maintenance.

I have checked the weather forecast for these next several days between here and there and there isn't any rain predicted.

Meanwhile enjoying a nice visit with sister Vena, Sophia, and Curt.  High temp predicted today is 75 with a low of 41 called for tonight, nice.  We will leave here on Friday.

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

final leg

Today our route passed the end of their water journey as they traveled westward.  South out of Great Falls, MT for several miles we were right along side and even crossed the Missouri River 4-6 times before it turned southeast toward three forks.  Then later on near Dillon, MT we crossed the Beaverhead River about where they quit the canoes and found Sacagawea's Shoshone tribe.




Our drive today continued on southward into Idaho and finally to our campground in Pocatello, ID.  Had a nice visit with Sister Vena, little Sophia, and a nice dinner before coming back to the trailer for a good night's rest.

Monday, August 22, 2016

The rest of the story

The remaining words are from a National Geographic calendar of events.

In the fall of 1806

The captains are national heroes; as they travel to Washington, D.C., balls and galas are held in the towns they pass through. In the capitol, one senator tells Lewis it’s as if he had just returned from the moon. The men get double pay and 320 acres of land as rewards; the captains get 1,600 acres.  The government originally proposed that Lewis would receive 1,600 acres and Clark only 1000 but Lewis insisted that his co-captain be treated equally and so they did.  Lewis is named governor of the Louisiana Territory; Clark is made Indian agent for the West and brigadier general of the territory’s militia.

1809
October 11
Traveling east along the Natchez Trace in Tennessee, on his way from St. Louis to Washington, Lewis commits suicide at Grinder’s Stand, an inn south of Nashville. (Later, theories that he was murdered arise, but neither Clark nor Jefferson doubted the original, on-site reports that Lewis had shot himself. Few historians give credence to the the murder theory.)

1832
York dies sometime before this date, probably of cholera, after going into the freighting business in Tennessee and Kentucky. Clark had kept him in slavery for at least ten years following the expedition before granting him his freedom.

1838
William Clark had married Julia “Judith” Hancock, for whom he named a river in Montana; been respected as Indian agent (Native Americans called St. Louis the “Red-Headed Chief’s Town”); successful in business; and several times appointed governor of the Missouri Territory (though he lost the first election to be the new state’s governor, after being accused of being too “soft” on Indians). On this date he dies at the home of his eldest son, Meriwether Lewis Clark.

Late 1800s
It is believed that Sacagawea lived until the late 1800s and died on the Shoshone reservation in Wyoming.

As the late Paul Harvey used to say "now you know, the rest of the story."

1806

March 23, 1806 they give the fort to the Clatsop tribe and head back upstream on the Columbia River.  In May they arrive back with the Nez Percé but they have to wait until late June for the snows to melt in the bitterroots before they can make the crossing.  They arrive back at travelers rest on July 3, 1806 and split up as described in a previous posting.

They are using horses now more than canoes for faster travels but they have much trouble with either the Indian horses wanting to escape back to their homeland or being stolen by other tribes.  The Nez Percé guide leading back across was more familiar with the mountains than had been old Toby and knew of a shorter crossing with less problems than before.  Once back on the Missouri they built more dugout canoes to take advantage of the swift current for faster traveling.

-----------------------

Several years later in mid 1890s a man named Jacob V. Bower searched for what he called the true source of the Missouri River.  By tracing all tributaries he searched for the point that a drop of rainfall or a spring from the ground would travel the greatest distance to empty into the Mississippi at St. Louis.  He had previously searched for the source of the Mississippi, finding it at Lake Itasca in Minnesota.  Jo and I have been there and stepped across the mighty Mississippi on a log foot bridge.

He found that by following the Jefferson River, Beaverhead River, and Red Rock River he arrived at Mount Jefferson on the continental divide near the Idaho/Montana border just a little west of West Yellowstone, MT.  There he discovered a spring he named Bower's spring and declared it to be the true source of the waters of the Missouri River.

At three forks the RMM on the Missouri is 2341 or that many miles from St. Louis.  The distance from there to Bower's spring is 298 additional stream miles for a total of 2639 miles.

Sunday, August 21, 2016

Bitterroot Mountains and beyond

It was a treacherous and extremely difficult journey over the Bitterroot Mountains.  While making early plans before the journey started it was hoped that when they reached the end of the Missouri River they would just ride up one side of a mountain and down the other to a spring where the Colorado River began.  What they found was quite different.

The Corps of Discovery ascended into the Bitterroot Mountains, which Sergeant Patrick Gass called “the most terrible mountains I ever beheld.”   They ran short of provisions and butchered a horse for food.  The mountains extended much further than they expected.  Clark named a stream Hungry Creek to describe their condition.  Before they reached the other side they would butcher another horse.

11 days later, on the brink of starvation, the entire expedition staggered out of the Bitterroots near modern-day Weippe, Idaho in the land of the Nez Percé tribe.  The men got sick from gorging themselves on salmon and camas roots provided by the Indians so they bought several dogs from the Indians for a meat source.  Throughout their time in the Oregon Territory they frequently dined on dog meat and find them to be tasty.  Once they get to the coast they will have deer and elk to hunt.

In early November they reach the coast and have difficulty managing their canoes with the changing tides and stormy waves.  They find a cove withing a reasonable walk to the ocean and build Fort Clatsop which by Christmas they were in their cabins for the celebration.

A crew was sent to the ocean to set up for salt production using large kettles and boiling out the water.  Throughout the winter they were able to produce enough salt to make the journey back to St. Louis.  Also there were plentiful game in the area so they had hides to make new clothes for the return trip.

exploring the Louisiana Territory

With horses ready they moved to near Missoula, MT, a place they called Travelers Rest.  Here they built a cache (a large pit in the ground covered with sod to hide it from others) to store all excess gear except the necessities they would need to reach the Columbia.  They would pick these goods up on their return trip.  They were told by the Indians that had they followed the northern fork, which they called the Maria's river they could have arrived to this area much quicker than the route down the Missouri.  They said it was a shorter route plus they would not have had to portage the falls.

The next spring on their return journey they would in fact divide the Corps into two groups at this point in order to better map the Louisiana Territory.  Clark and half of the troupes with Sacagawea to guide him headed southeast toward the Yellowstone River and then followed it's flow to the Missouri.  Lewis with the remainder of the troupes headed northeast to study the upper reaches of the Maria's River.  They regrouped where the Yellowstone empties into the MO.

When they reached the Mandan village Sacagawea and her husband were back home and stayed while the Corps took advantage of the swift current to make quick time in getting back to St. Louis, arriving Sept. 23, 1806.

Three Forks

When they arrived at the three forks, all three were much smaller streams so they declared the Missouri River ending and named all three, the Gallatin (after the Secretary of the Treasury, Albert Gallatin), the Madison (after Secretary of State James Madison), and the Jefferson, “in honor of that illustrious personage Thomas Jefferson, the author of our enterprise.”

Here Sacagawea began to recognize landmarks and told the captains that this was where she had been kidnapped.  She also was able to tell them that the Jefferson River was the one to follow toward where her tribe could be found.  The river is shallow and swift and difficult for the men to drag their canoes upstream.  Sacagawea recognizes another landmark – Beaverhead Rock, north of present-day Dillon, Montana – and says they are nearing the river’s headwaters and home of her people, the Shoshones.  From this point the name of the river changes to the Beaverhead River on today's map.  Near here they did find the Shoshone tribe and one of the first squaws that they met was a girl that had been captured the same time as Sacagawea but she had escaped her captor and returned to her tribe.  It was a joyous and emotional reunion for the two girls.  Later they found that the chief of the tribe was in fact Sacagawea's brother which made the bartering for horses much easier than expected.  They also arranged for one man, they called "old Toby" from the tribe to guide them across the divide to the beginnings of the Columbia River.

According to their customs Sacagawea had been betrothed to a brave when her father had been given a horse while she was young and they were to be wed when she became a woman.  That brave came to claim his bride but when he saw that she had a baby with another man he no longer wanted her.

a fork in the road

Not too far past this point on the river the Corps came to a fork in the river with both streams appearing about equal for width of channel and water flow.  They took several days to survey up each stream to determine which one was the Missouri and would lead them to the great waterfalls that the Indians had told them about.  After all the studying the crew strongly suggested the northerly fork but the captains felt that the one to the southwest was their choice and of course the crew followed their leaders.  They named the other stream the Marias River (after a cousin of Lewis in Virginia).  Still not 100% sure Capt. Lewis headed off afoot ahead of the canoes in an effort to find the falls and map a route for their portage.

Lewis comes across “the grandest sight I ever beheld” – the Great Falls of the Missouri, proof the captains had been correct. But then he discovers four more waterfalls immediately upriver. They will have to portage eighteen and a half miles to get around them all.  Instead of the half day the captains had planned the previous winter for this portage it takes them nearly a month.

 On July 4, 1805 the party celebrated its second Independence Day on the trail (as well as the completion of the portage) by dancing late into the night and drinking the last of their supply of whiskey.

Saturday, August 20, 2016

Lake Fort Peck

Drove across the Fort Peck dam this afternoon.  It is a 4 mile long earth-fill dam.

looking west from near the center
the lake was full of fishing and sailing boats
 looking east from the same spot
look at that beautiful water
 across the road our campsite is under the arrow with the river outflow behind the campground

thievery

Stealing was a way of life for the Indians.  They stole horses and food from neighboring tribes.  They also snatched children to be used as slaves such as Sacagawea.  Throughout the journey the Corps had to keep guards posted at all times.  Even then many things disappeared from camp.

Because of the need for a continuous supply of meat for the large crew there were always a few hunters out in front.  They would kill a deer, elk, buffalo, beaver, or bear and field dress the animal wrap it in its hide to be hung in a tree for the canoes to find along the way.  They hung them so the wolves couldn't get to them first.  Once a small group of hunters were asleep with their rifles close at hand when a bunch of Indians tried to steel their weapons.  One of the hunters woke up and roused his companions to chase the thieves.  One man stabbed a thief with his knife and killed him to get his rifle back.  This was the only Indian killed during the three year venture.

All the Indians were amazed at Louis' dog Seaman.  There seemed to be Indian visitors all the time around camp so the gentle Newfoundland got used to their presence.  One Indian was able to get close enough to tie a leash around the dogs neck and drag him toward their encampment.  When Capt. Lewis discovered him missing he took a contingent of the crew and were soon on the trail of the thief.  When found Lewis threatened to shoot the Indian but the dog was released and nothing else transpired.

Many times they had horses stolen and even one of their canoes was taken while in the Oregon territory.

uncharted territory

Once they left Fort Mandan and passed into Montana they were in territory uncharted by any civilized man so they relied on details given to them by the Indians and took plenty of time with their survey instruments taking measurements from the sun, moon, stars and the horizon to create a detailed and accurate map for future explorers.  They gave names to all creeks and rivers they crossed.  Some they used a translation of the Indian name such as the Yellowstone River and others they used names of the crew members.  One river Clark named for a young girl back in Virginia that he hoped to wed on his return.  Some they named for the wildlife found abundant in that location such as Porcupine Creek or Wolf River.  One river carried a white sediment into the Missouri so they named it the Milk River.  At these major tributaries they took time to explore upstream some distance in order to make their map as accurate as they could.

Game in this area was also plentiful with herds of buffalo of 10s of thousands in numbers.  Once they had to halt there progress with the canoes while a herd swam the river and were so thick it was dangerous to try to push through them.  One evening while camped a large buffalo tried to run through their camp stomping on the White pirogue causing some damage and also stepping on the air gun damaging the mechanism.  It was headed directly toward Lewis and Clark's tent but the big dog Seaman was able to cause it to veer away and avoid that event.  The blacksmith that was with them was able to repair the air gun, a feat that the French manufacturer said was impossible.

Near the Yellowstone River is where they first encountered the Grizzly bear.  They had heard tales from the Indians about this beast but couldn't believe the tales until this first encounter.  Capt. Lewis and another hunter came across two and both men shot and hit both bears.  One bear ran away but the biggest one charged toward them.  Their muzzle loaders were empty and no time to reload so they ran.  Fortunately  the bear stumbled and they were able to reload and the next shots brought it down.  The next time the party hunted the Grizz they sent several hunters together.

Friday, August 19, 2016

into Montana

Today's move was from Lake Sakakawea near RMM 1390 to Fort Peck Lake near RMM 1772.
 

These are the badlands topography views from our lunch stop near the banks of the Little Missouri River.  This is also near where the Yellowstone River empties into the Missouri.  The Corps passed this point on Apr. 26, 1805.




Thursday, August 18, 2016

Spring 1805

Early April, 1805, Lewis and Clark dispatch the big keelboat and roughly a dozen men back downriver, along with maps, reports, Indian artifacts, and boxes of scientific specimens for President Jefferson (Indian corn, animal skins and skeletons, mineral samples, and five live animals including the prairie dog).  Including two men that had been court-marshaled, one was because of attempted desertion and the other for falling asleep at his night time guard post.

The same day, the “permanent party” heads west, traveling in the two pirogues and six smaller dugout canoes. The expedition totals 33 now, including Charbonneau, Sacagawea, and her baby boy. “We were now about to penetrate a country at least two thousand miles in width, on which the foot of civilized man had never trodden,” Lewis wrote, adding that “I could but esteem this moment of my departure as among the most happy of my life."

Fort Mandan recreated

Yesterday we visited a site created by the North Dakota state parks with a full scale reconstruction of the fort the corps built in the winter of 1804.  The corps with their tools of the 1800s completed their fort in six weeks while this replica took a modern day contractor two years to finish.  It was built in the shape of a triangle.  The front face was a wall with gates, to the left of the gate inside were four cabins for crew, at the back of the triangle were two rooms for smoke house and storage, to the right were the captain,s quarters, one room for Sacagawea with her husband and new son, one cabin for the carpenters shop and one for the blacksmith shop.  In the center they had a flag pole and a mount for the swivel cannon from the keel boat.
typical crew bunk, the originals were probably wider as there were two men to a bunk
weapons at the ready
games and music to pass the time
the loft where many slept
corn, beans,squash, and sunflower seed traded from the Indians
flour and salt pork
blacksmith shop
the swivel cannon from the keel boat
 Then we visited the Lewis and Clark interpretive center also managed by the ND Parks.  They had a lot of displays of Indian culture and the expedition plus they did have an air rifle like the one Capt. Lewis had with him.
 
 
 
 
 
 The air rifle


Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Fort Mandan

The Corps of Discovery arrived in this area around the third week of October 1804 where they found the Mandan and Hidatsa tribes.  They had been having several snow falls during their travels and there would be ice on the oars when they pulled them from the water.  The Mandans were a peaceful tribe that grew lots of corn and beans that they used for trade with other hunter tribes.  Lewis and Clark decided that this would be a good place to winter so they built a fort across the river from the Mandan village.  During the winter their blacksmith would make tomahawks and knives that he traded to the Indians for corn and beans for the crew.  The Discovery crew also had a mechanical corn grinder that amazed the Indians.

There was a French Canadian squawman living with the Hidatsas with three squaw wives.  Early in November he approached Lewis and Clark and proposed that he go with them when they continued their trek as an interpreter as he could speak several Indian languages.  They agreed to hire him but were most interested in one of his young squaws as she was a Shoshone named Sacagawea.  From talking with other tribes along the way they understood that the Shoshone lived in the mountain range and owned many horses that they hoped to use to cross the divide and Sacagawea might be of great value in the purchase of horses.  Sacagawea was in the late stage of pregnancy so she and the interpreter moved into the captains cabin at the fort to make her more comfortable.  Early February she gave birth to a boy they named Jean Baptiste.  She had much trouble in labor and was given a drink of water that had a rattlesnake rattle crumbled into it which seemed to help ease the birthing.

She had been kidnapped by a Hidatsa warrior near the area of Three Forks, MT and brought back and sold to the French Canadian.  One story is that she was won by him in a gambling game at the age of 13.  The winter of 1804 when she joined the crew she was 16.

This lake we are now camped by is named Lake Sakakawea which is another Indian pronunciation of her name.
 below the dam our campsite is under the arrow
 above the dam

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

North Dakota

Today we drove to Riverdale, North Dakota for our next few days of camping along the river.  Our campsite is again below the dam like the past few stops.  This is the Garrison Dam that forms Lake Sakakawea near RMM 1390 and the place we left this morning was near RMM 1072.  We don't have a river view from our campsite but it is only a few steps away along a path through the tree line.

Along the way today we passed huge fields of sunflowers, millet, corn, and wheat.  The wheat has mostly been recently cut.  The sunflowers are in different stages of development with some fields being mostly ready to harvest and some not flowered out yet.  In the median stage the flowers point to the sun and make the whole field glow with a bright yellow to lighten up the view.  We also saw pheasants and deer.


Monday, August 15, 2016

disappointed

We were disappointed today as we drove into Pierre, the capitol of South Dakota, to find a place to have lunch with a stop at Wally world afterward.  Of the first two places we stopped at one didn't open 'till 5:00 pm and while the other one was open they didn't start serving until 3:00 pm.  I guess if you want some lunch in Pierre you have to go to McDonalds or BurgerKing.  We did our shopping at WM and came back to the trailer for some McMamma's soup and sandwich.

There was a storm blew through overnight and dislocated our satellite tripod and dish.  It didn't take long to get it realigned.  There aren't any over-the-air TV signals in this area and we are fortunate to have a clear view of the southern sky.

This morning we watched two hours of great horsemanship in beautiful dressage competition at the Olympics.  Beautiful horses and great riders working together choreographed to music.

Tomorrow we travel to North Dakota.

Sunday, August 14, 2016

our campsite

Here are some pictures of our site here below Oahe (oh-WAH-he) Dam, the fourth dam on the Missouri River.  There were two dams that we passed on our travels yesterday but because of our offset path we didn't see.  Our lunch stop did however overlook lake Francis Case formed by the Fort Randall Dam.
Our backyard
 the Missouri River below the dam
 
 our campsite from the rivers edge

Teton Sioux tribe

This area of the river the Teton Sioux claimed as their territory and tried to prevent the explorers from passing through.  When Lewis and Clark had counseled with the Yankton Sioux, about six weeks down river, they were told that the Teton Sioux would be much more aggressive which was true.  It was only by the fact that all men of the corps had rifles and the mounted swivel canon was aimed at the Indians that they were able to pass through this area.  They didn't have an interpreter for the Sioux language and only used hand signals which hampered their communication.

Saturday, August 13, 2016

moving upstream

Today we moved from Gavin's Point dam at RMM 811 to Oahe dam at RMM 1072 near Fort Pierre, SD.  Our route today was not very close to the river except for the beginning, mid point at lunch time, and at the end.  In the prairie farm land roads generally follow the north-south range lines and the east-west township lines while the river just takes the path of least resistance and meanders on an angle.

Friday, August 12, 2016

view from the Nebraska side

Yesterday afternoon we went into Yankton for a bit of shopping and on the way back drove over the Dam to the Gavin's Point Visitors Center where we took these pictures.  A message at the center described that on a bluff near here Lewis and Clark had a conference with a band of Sioux Indians. 

Our campsite is under the arrow.
 View of the power plant and spillway

Thursday, August 11, 2016

Dams of the Missouri

There are six dams on the Missouri River and where we are now is just below the first one, Gavin's Point.
Saturday when we next move we will pass by the Fort Randall and Big Bend dams to find our next campground near the Oahe Dam.  Here is a map of the Yankton, Gavin's Point area.  The red X is our campsite location.
The weather has been nice except a bit warm in the afternoons.  As we travel a bit more northward we should get out from under that heat dome.

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

our campsite

Our front yard is the Missouri River just below the Gavin's Point Dam forming the Lewis and Clark Lake.  This is the first dam on the Missouri River.



trip two for us



Day two

Today we traveled from near RMM 562 to RMM 811 currently camped at Gavins Point Dam near Yankton, SD.  This is the first dam of the Missouri River.  Today's route more closely follows the river banks than any other day of our travels.

Early today we passed what they named Council Bluffs where they had their first council with the local Indian tribes.  Part of their assignment was to council with the various tribes to ask for them to make peace with other tribes as well as with white folks that will soon follow.

All tribes they met along the way were amazed at the well trained, large, black dog of Capt. Lewis, Seaman, and with Clark’s large, very strong, black man, York.

Capt. Lewis also had an air rifle that he demonstrated which was a wonder to them.  It didn’t make any noise yet sent a lead ball capable of killing deer many yards away plus could rapid fire nearly 40 rounds without needing new air.  It had a magazine that held 20 rounds but could replace that magazine with another loaded one quickly.  The entire stock was an air container which was pumped up by a hand pump needing around 200 strokes to obtain full pressure.  Near the end of its charge I'm sure that the bullets would just dribble out the end of the barrel but he never demonstrated it that far so the Indians believed it to be a never empty rapid firing weapon.

Along our route today we passed Sioux City, IA where there is a monument to Sgt Floyd who was the only member of the troop to die on the whole trip and was burried here.  It was in this area that he suffered a burst appendix for which they had no remedy.

the air gun
 our path today


Tuesday, August 09, 2016

Trip one for us



On May 14, 1804 the Corps of Discovery began when William Clark and crew started up the Missouri River to St. Charles, MO where they were joined by Meriwether Lewis and the trek began.

Today we began about RMM (River Mile Marker) 144 heading westward.  We passed St. Joseph, MO which is RMM 450.  Lewis & Clark passed this point on July 14 two months into their journey.

Our drive today ended near the mouth of the Platte River RMM 562 where they arrived on July 21 which was one week of rowing upstream from St. Joseph.  What we drove, or could have, in one day took them 68 days fighting wind, current, sandbars, and drifting logs.

our path today plus the path from St Louis on June 24