Paddling With The Father In Law- Part 2

Pretty much every city, municipality, county, town, street, old timey shop, and about every other thing in and around St. Louis claims some sort of connection to the journey. Many consider themselves the the jumping off point for the expedition. I’ve seen this same thing in several towns and cities where historical events happened and just imagine the arguments that ensue at the City Council meetings. “No this event that happened 200 actually started where my restaurant still stands” says one. “Nuh, uh this actually started where my restaurant now stands” till eventually the only place that can legitimately claim the event is wherever the participants great, great, great, great, great grandparents were born.

What I’m saying is, you really can’t go anywhere without some connection to it.

Plus these signs are on just about every road and one would think they wore themselves out early in the process by riding around with no real direction. Many times when Clark is pointing in any direction but West, I’ll yell at the sign, “wrong way, Clark”. I’ve done this for a long time and am easily entertained. I do have to come clean, I never really check if Clark is pointing west or not. That feels better.

Here's your sign...

On my daughter’s Spring Breaks, we’ve always gone to several different L&C museums and sites around the area. I think she likes Lewis and Clark about as much as I do, but I know she likes the spyglass (now lost) and the wood carved eagle pen (once lost, now found) that she’s gotten over the course of our journeys. There really is a ton of cool locations - everything from working reproductions of their boats and a camp with real buildings they used.

Here's OUR sign...

Anyway, I finally got around to reading Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose. Despite the alleged plagiarism, this is a good read for anyone interested in the expedition and offers a great insight into the early United States on several levels. I guess I always pictured the expedition as two men up against great odds and no additional human contact during the course of the two year trip. This was not the case as Lewis and Clark assembled a team and met with many Native American tribes along the way. In some cases, becoming very familiar with the natives. One of their main goals was to offer trinkets and wares to the different tribes as introductory gifts from their new Great Father, Thomas Jefferson. Also, Mammoths. Old TJ thought the frontier was just lousy with Mammoths-3x the size of elephants along with 10 foot tall lions. And Jefferson wanted proof. Early Americans, right?

Another interesting fact about the trip was malaria. It was a real danger just outside of civilization and possibly contributed to Lewis’ eventual and much too early demise. It is hard to imagine contracting malaria anywhere in the United States, much less in the upper Midwest. So now we’re all grateful for dictionaries, medical advancement, and public works projects. (on another note, do not name your child Meriwether Lewis insert last name. William Clark named a son after his partner and that son also died unfortunately after basically inventing the Kentucky Derby. I guess doing great, memorable things then dying tragically isn't all that bad, but I’m not going to risk it)

I would say I know a little bit about Lewis and Clark and, all told,  that knowledge did not help my canoeing skills in the least. So again, I’ve gone off course. Thank goodness, we’ll be hitting the Meramec River which is almost impossible to go off course.

Now, I can only assume that you think this is turning into some sort of buddy comedy where two mismatched partners are forced together and comedy ensues. As it turns out, this was nothing like Lethal Weapon, Lethal Weapon 2, Lethal Weapon 3, Lethal Weapon 4, Shanghai Noon, 48 hours, Rush Hour, Tango and Cash, Bad Boys, Midnight Run, Another 48 hrs, Bad Boys II, Men in Black, Men in Black 2, Men in Black 3, Hot Fuzz, Beverly Hills Cop, Beverly Hills Cop 2, Beverly Hills Cop 3 etc. (there are a lot of these types of movies and I’ve grown weary of this “joke”). And, as always, all my two man trips are much more like Point Break (the original, not the perversion they released last year we will never speak of again). Unfortunately, I am more like the Gary Busey character than either Keanu Reeves or Patrick Swayze.

So, I probably hadn’t been on a canoe in 15 years or so and wasn’t all that good to begin with, but at least I’d never flipped one. Most of my floats involved one of those rafts that require no skill because I was floating for reasons other than enjoyment of the outdoors. So we finally set a date and with the unseasonably warm fall, the outlook was good. I was getting a little nervous since I am  pretty knowledgable about the outdoors, but not so great on the water. I love streams and rivers, but prefer wading. In my mind, boats are just something else to worry about and maintain, taking away time from fishing. Really, I just haven’t had the means or will to learn more. So it’s all stems from a lack of confidence and not wanting to look like an idiot. Especially to those who know me, you would think the fear of looking like an idiot wouldn’t bother me so much. Weirdly, not the case.