Two hundred years ago Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led the Corps of Discovery to the Pacific Ocean. The journey began in Pennsylvania in 1803 and ended in 1806 on their return to St. Louis, Missouri. Linda and I plan to follow their journey this summer but we will have advantages over those explorers. We will need only ninety days to complete the trip traveling in a luxury motorhome and following a GPS mapping system.

We have always been interested in history and the challenges faced by Lewis, Clark and their men. A few years ago we followed and studied part of the trail in four western states. The Museum of the Rocky Mountains in Bozeman, Montana told us they planned to have a large Lewis and Clark display and exhibits in 2004 and asked us to return. At Fort Clatsop, Oregon, the 1805-1806 winter quarters of the Corps, we told a National Park Ranger we planned to travel the trail and write about it on our website so she presented us with a very nice book about the men. At the Louisville ceremony in September 2003, the National Park Service gave us their Media Press Release Guides, a folder full of information.

Meriwether Lewis was born in Ivy, Virginia and as a boy visited his neighbor Thomas Jefferson at Monticello. Lewis joined the army and served a short time under William Clark whom he would later ask to join him as co-commander of the expedition. When Jefferson was elected president Lewis became his personal secretary and lived in the White House often dining with scientists and world leaders. Jefferson asked Lewis to lead an expedition up the Missouri River and try to find a route to the Pacific Ocean, collect animals and specimens and to enlist Indians to become partners of the government.

Lewis began nearly two years of studying and planning for the trip. When his boat was completed in Pennsylvania in 1803 he floated down the Ohio River and stopped in Clarksville, Indiana (across the river from Louisville, KY) where he picked up Clark and the "nine young men from Kentucky" who became the core of the Corps of Discovery. William Clark was the brother of Revolutionary War hero George Rogers Clark.

On October 26, 1803 the men floated down the Ohio and up the Mississippi River where they set up winter camp at Wood River, Illinois. In May of 1804 the Corps of Discovery continued their explorations that changed the United States forever. After two years and four months the Corps returned to St. Louis where they were treated as heroes.

Lewis had an early and tragic death in 1809 at Grinder House on the Natchez Trace in southern Tennessee. Today the National Park Service has a monument at his grave and a nearby free campground.

The National Council of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial has authorized fifteen signature heritage events during the years 2003 - 2006. The first event was at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home, in January 2003. We were not at the opening ceremonies but arrived later to see the displays and plaque. The second event was jointly held in Louisville, Kentucky and Clarksville, Indiana, cities separated by the Ohio River. At those cities Lewis and Clark met and selected the core of men to take on the expedition.

This month (May) we will attend the next three signature events held in St. Louis, Missouri; Wood River, Illinois and St. Charles, Missouri. The first of those events will commemorate the 200th anniversary of signing the Louisiana Purchase, the second is where they camped over winter and the third is the first city they encountered after entering the Missouri River.

We will start following the Lewis and Clark Trail mid-May of 2004 and hope to reach the Pacific Ocean within ninety days. Of course we'll report on our travels for those interested in Lewis and Clark, but can not follow their trail. Many times we will venture off the trail to see other sights.

Suggested reading: Undaunted Courage by Stephen E. Ambrose, Simon & Schuster, NY (1996). The story of Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West. (This is the best book I have ever read.)

Suggested video: Lewis and Clark - The Journey of the Corps of Discovery by Ken Burns, PBS Home Video (1997). (PBS has shown this 240 minute series on TV several times and will surely show it again. We wanted to see the video often so we bought a copy.)