P. S. (Pris Snippets) 5/28/09

We each have our jobs on this trip. John is in charge of planning and I’m in charge of navigating. John has used 3 books to outline our L & C journey: Lewis & Clark Road Trips by Kira Gale, Traveling the Lewis & Clark Trail by Julie Fanselow and the National Geographic Guide to the Lewis & Clark Trail. We have also gained information from 2 DVDs: Ken Burns Lewis & Clark, The Journey of the Corps of Discovery and the National Geographic DVD about L & C. Information is also available at the state’s welcome centers and the individual museums.
John lays out a proposed stop near a L & C site that is about 200 miles down the road. We use the book RV Camping in State Parks by D. J. Davin. We usually call ahead to the park to make sure that they have open spaces. Even though school is out, we haven’t had a problem getting a camping spot. We do, however, get to a CG before the weekend and early in the afternoon. The state CGs in Missouri and Iowa have been very nice- sites fairly large, grassy areas, electricity, showers and large hardwood trees.
We used St Charles, Mo as our base for exploring the L & C sites in that area and beyond.
We then used the Honda Fit (alias the silver toaster, as named by Pete A.) to explore.
Each city along the L & C route seems to have a museum and bronze sculpture of the C of D. They are very proud of their association with the C of D. The museums not only have L & C artifacts but information concerning the Indians and history of the local area. The museums are well done and usually free.
We did stay in a private RV park in St Charles, so as to be closer to St. Louis and also enjoy the cute town of St Charles. The main street in St Charles consisted of early historic buildings with many shops and fine restaurants. People were dressed in period costumes and conversed as if they were in the 1830’s. John traded me to one of them for 2 acres of land.
We left the St. Louis area and followed the Missouri River west to the Kansas City area. I 70 roughly follows the river. We could see why the C of D had such a difficult time going up the river. The current is fairly fast (going in the opposite direction), there are lots of snags and sandbars and it’s very muddy. Our trip was much faster.
Our base in Mo was Weston Bend S. P. A small park located north of Kansas City. We enjoyed camping in the trees and having lots of different birds, squirrels, and even fireflies at night. As on previous trips, we used the local library for its internet connection. We are seeing most libraries have WiFi and internet availability (as opposed to our first trip).
We have learned a few things on this trip that are a little different. When we check into a CG, we ask the host if they have tornado sirens and where do we report if they go off. We also bought a hazard alert weather radio. It automatically selects the local NOAA channel and will sound an alert if there is a tornado warning. (We learned our lesson in Oklahoma.)
The communities that we have been in all have sirens and it has been interesting to see the different types of storm shelters (basements, out buildings, shelters dug into the ground etc).
The areas of Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa that we have driven through have been mainly rolling hills with hardwood forests alternating with flat plains. We are currently in Iowa and they have miles and miles of corn fields.

Fort Atkinson, Nebraska (CoD July 30-August 3, 1804)

It was at this site on August 3, that Lewis & Clark had their first formal meeting with the Indians. Members of the Oto and Missouri tribes attended the council and Lewis gave a speech telling the Indians of the Louisiana Purchase and that their lands were now governed by a new “Great white father in Washington”. To impress the Indians, the Americans were in full dress uniform and presented them with presents and demonstrated firearms, including their new air gun. If you look closely at the first photo, you can see tourists trying to help in these negotiations.
The site of this council would become the home to Fort Atkinson, which was built in 1820. 1100 troops of the Sixth Regiment were stationed here as a deterrent to hostile Indians and the British traders that might wander down from Canada. Photo 2 is taken inside the fort, which is built in a rectangular shape.
We camped across the river from the fort, in Iowa’s Wilson Island State Park. Although only 1.8 air miles separated us from the fort, it took about 30 miles by car to drive there. The SP is beautiful, with open fields and shady groves of cottonwood trees. We got one of the best sites in the park, with 300 yards of grassy fields leading down to the river on one side and a forest of mixed trees on the other side. Behind us is about a mile of wilderness. See photo three. We can see other campers if we walk to the front of our RV.
Wilson Island State Park is a few miles north of Omaha, Nebraska, where the Platte River joins the Missouri River. As we drove through Omaha, I remembered Lois R, a Cocoa High School class mate, talking about her grandmother living in Kearney Nebraska, about 200 miles up the Platte Rive from here. What a long way from Cocoa Florida!

Weston Bend State Park, Missouri (CoD July 2, 1804)

Well, we got here in much less time than the CoD, since I-70 is faster than paddling up the Missouri river. This is a small state park located on the river in northwest Missouri. The woods are about the same as when the CoD was here; with hardwood forest and lush under growth (see photos). We were concerned that the parks might start filling up with family vacationers, but this park is not 20% full. So we had our pick of some very nice sites.
We drove over the river to Atchison Kansas today, the birthplace of Amelia Earhart. The pony express also originated here, during its brief existence. They have a nice museum in town that chronicles the town’s history.

St Charles, Missouri (CoD May 16-21, 1804)

The Corp of Discovery (CoD) finally broke winter camp on May 14, crossed the Mississippi and headed into the mouth of the Missouri river. On May 16 they arrived at the small town of St. Charles on the north shore of the river. They spent the days readjusting the keelboat load and preparing for the trip ahead. They also were waiting for Captain Lewis, who was finishing up business in St. Louis.
St. Charles is the first permanent European town on the Missouri river, settled by French trappers. It is still a charming town, with brick streets and buildings and many fine pubs and restaurants. The 1st photo shows Pris in front of the towns' brewery. The town fronts on a lovely park that is on the river front. Next to the river, there is a large stone boat house that is the permanent home for the Discovery Expedition of St. Charles and their keelboat and pirogues. The 2nd photo shows the boathouse. The 3rd photo shows a close up of the aft of the keelboat; a dummy can be seen inside the cabin on the port side. The mast of the boat is down since the boat is inside the building. The Discovery Expedition followed the route of L&C across the country in 2003-2006, and these are the boats they used.

Camp River Dubois, Illinois (CoD Winter 1803)

After the Corp of Discovery (CoD) left Clarksville Indiana in September 1803, they continued down the Ohio River to it’s confluence with the Mississippi. They then turned north into the Mississippi’s current for the slog to St. Louis. They camped on the Illinois side of the river opposite St. Louis, on December 12, 1803 and spent their first winter on the trail here.
The CoD cleared land in the woods and built the first of 3 forts on the expedition. The first 2 photos shows a re-creation of that fort, built for the bicentennial. The 3rd photo shows a replica of the keelboat, inside the visitor center.
Over the long winter, Capt Clark worked with the men of the CoD to shape them into a military unit capable of the long and arduous undertaking.
During their stay in Illinois, the Louisiana Purchase became official and on March 11, the American flag was raised over the Louisiana territory for the first time.

Clarksville, Indiana (CoD October 15-26, 1803)

“When they shook hands, the Lewis and Clark Expedition began”. This is a quote from Stephen Ambrose’s book Undaunted Courage, describing Meriwether Lewis meeting William Clark in Clarksville Indiana on October 15, 1803. Lewis had ridden to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, to take delivery of the Corp of Discovery’s (CoD) keelboat, while Clark was staying at his brother’s home in Clarksville Indiana. While there, Clark recruited 7 other young men to join the CoD. Lewis floated the keelboat down the Ohio River to Clarksville, where they joined forces for the first time on this expedition. The (CoD October 15-26, 1803) indicates the time the CoD spent in this location and the nomeclature will be used in future blog postings.
The photo of the statue depicts this hand shake. It stands outside the Falls of the Ohio Interpretive Center in Clarksville. The Falls are a two mile series of rapids, with the river dropping 24 feet. A portion of the rapids is visible behind the statue. A replica of the Clark cabin is shown in the second photo. It is situated on a bluff called the Point of Rocks, about 2 miles downstream of the Interpretive Center, thought to be the original location of the cabin.
Clarksville is named for William Clarks’ older brother General George Rodgers Clark, who is a revolutionary war hero. General Clark’s small army cleared the then northwest frontier of the British and made it safe for American settlers.

Heading east to the start and meeting friends

Unlike Lewis & Clark (L&C), we have 2/3 of the country to get across just to start their journey! Since we are interested in spending our time on the L&C trail, we are trying to make time getting to the start.
On Monday May 11, we got off to an early start and made it all the way to Flagstaff Arizona, 470 miles from home. Flagstaff is a nice town with great weather, being at over 7000 ft altitude. It also has great shopping and we use it to stock up on groceries. I also found out 2 years ago that my cousin Barbara Beckman Johnson, lives in Flagstaff. So Pris, Barbara and I had dinner to get caught up on history. The last time we had seen each other was when her father took their family to my grand parent’s 50th wedding anniversary in Florida. She was a junior in high school and I was a sophomore then! Only 51 years ago! We had a great time finding out what can happen in such a short time. We agreed that we both had not aged at all in that time.
We then headed east on I-40, spending the next two nights in Blue Water State Park and Santa Rosa State Park, in New Mexico. We dry camped at both and had them to ourselves.
We had intended to spend the next night at a State Park south of Amarillo Texas, but it was full, so we headed further east into Oklahoma. We stayed at lovely Foss Lake State Park, about 50 miles east of the Texas border and 7 miles north of I-40. They also supplied entertainment, as within 3 hours of arriving the tornado alert siren sounded and we headed to the shelter (concrete bathrooms that look like bomb shelters). The wind howled and the rain was horizontal for 45 minutes, but no tornadoes were sighted. At 3:30 the next morning, another storm cell came through the area and almost blew the RV over. We got up and dressed, just in case we got another alert, but it never came. So we went back to bed at 4:30. We were so tired and the wind and rain were still present when we woke up, that we decided to stay put one more day at Foss Lake. Good thing we did, since the wind blew hard until mid afternoon.
On Sunday May 17, we headed off to Tulsa, to see another friend Donna S. We last saw Donna in Seattle in 2007, on our way back from Alaska. She and George have moved to Tulsa and are living in a lovely downtown apartment/loft, in a 1920s art deco building. Tulsa was having a “Mayfest” celebration down town, so we had a festive afternoon. The photo was taken in their elevator lobby.
On Monday, we were off to Branson Missouri to see another cousin, Ronny Beckman. We haven’t seen Ronny since the mid 60s and we had a lot of catching up to do. The photo shows John and Ronny. Ronny is the one with the grey beard. Branson is an interesting town, with lots of entertainment, hotels and restaurants. I would liken it to a mid western Las Vegas.

Following the Lewis & Clark Trail

The Lewis & Clark expedition of the northwestern part of our country is probably the most exciting exploration undertaken by the United States, even surpassing the Apollo missions to the moon. The trip was sponsored by then President Thomas Jefferson. As soon as he was elected, he hired Meriwether Lewis as his “secretary”. Meriwether was 26 years old and was knowledgeable of the then frontier, having served 6 years in the army and risen to the rank of Captain.
The planning for the trip started shortly thereafter. The trip consisted of following the Missouri river to its confluence, crossing the great mountains, following the major river (thought to be the Columbia, which had been discovered by then) to the Pacific Ocean and then return. Provisioning for the trip began in 1803. The expedition, known as the “Corps of Discovery”, wintered in the St. Louis area and set out in May of 1804. The winter of 1804 was spent at Fort Mandan, current day Bismarck ND, and the winter of 1805 spent at Fort Clatsop near Astoria OR. The return trip, basically following the outward route, was completed in 1806. They arrived back in St. Louis on September 23, 1806.
And now, the Beckman’s will try it! This trip has been on our minds for some time and we have been researching it for over two years now. The National Parks service sponsored a Bicentennial in 2003-2006, which spurred a renewed interest in the trail. Many new books have been published, including volumes on trip planning and current camping opportunities. We have been pouring over these and are ready to go.
Our trip will be about 7,500 miles, door to door. Left click on the above image to see it in more detail. Since we don’t have to walk and paddle boats, our travel time will be somewhat less than Lewis & Clark, about 2 months.