Sunday afternoon we arrived at the Sundermeier RV Park in historical St. Charles, MO (the oldest town in the state and the last settlement of whites the Corps saw till they returned 2 1/2 years later) - the town where the Lewis and Clark expedition began back in May of 1804. It was here that they boarded two small boats called pirogues and a 55 foot long keel boat carrying all their supplies that they rowed, sailed, pulled, and poled up river seeking a route all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Judging by the speed of the current right now it must have been a daunting job!
Two other couple friends(Bob and Glenda Christian and Frank and Bette Foulke) from our Mid Florida Winnies camp group will be traveling with us. They came in right behind us on Sunday so for this stop we are parked right in a row.
When we put out our slides after parking we heard a horrible CLUNK on the driver's side. After checking it out, we discovered it would not come back in as the bolts holding one of the arms had come out except for one that was sheared off. Needless to say our spirits took quite a fall. But God sure was looking out for us. By Monday morning we had arranged for a service to come out and take a look and today, Tuesday, they were back out and put us back together again. Here is our slide with its "artificial legs" holding things in place for a fix.
Yesterday, we drove to the Boat House and Nature Center to see the recreated keel boat and two pirogue boats used during the bicentennial celebration but they were all under wraps in preparation for a trip up north later this week where HBO is filming a Lewis and Clark Expedition movie. We did enjoy a few dioramas and other such displays telling some of the story of their travels while we were there.
Then last night after Happy Hour and a nice taco meal provided by our hosts and tailenders, the six of us enjoyed a DVD that the Christians had brought along with them created by National Geographic telling the story of their travels.
This afternoon we had our opening meeting, a brief happy hour social, and then a catered meal at the campground clubhouse. Ken and I shared our table with the hosts, Don and Merith Cowden, and tailenders, Dan and Patty Johnson.
Afterwards, we drove out to the Jones-Confluence Point State Park where the Missouri River joins the Mississippi River just to see the two mighty rivers coming together. The Missouri is at flood stage and in fact is expect to overflow on to land by tomorrow night so it is moving mighty fast and is loaded with all kinds of tree branches and trunks that have been swept along. In this picture, the Missouri is on the right and full of wood while the Mississippi is on the left and clear. Both rivers are very brown and muddy looking. Our guides refer to the "mighty Mo" as being too thick to drink and too thin to plow.
And this is looking up the Missouri toward the St. Charles shoreline where they first set sail.
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