On our way

We are well and proper on our way now. Our first stop was Decatur Alabama on June 18. Lewis and Clark never saw Decatur, but Confederate General John Bell Hood did. He fought a four day battle in Decatur involving cavalry, infantry and gun boats. His goal was to reach Nashville and cut General William Tecumseh Sherman's supply lines and bring to "March to the Sea" to an end. He failed.

Our trip to Decatur, however, was a success. We planned to spend some time with Gail's Niece and her family, and were met with David's steaks on the grill and birthday cake. The highlight for John was that sweet Beth made him a cherry pie. Beth spent some time with us in Pensacola, and leaned that was the way to his heart, and she came through on Fathers Day for him.

                                                              Gail, Emma and Beth

Today we traveled through some very interesting terrain. We crossed the Tennessee River several times. This river is part of the Mississippi River watershed, but it's way to that great river is blocked by a ridge of very hard rock. It therefore is forced by that ridge to head south, and then turn north for a long way, before it joins the Ohio River and then flows into the Mississippi. I-65 and I-24 cut right through that ridge and provide a very interesting landscape for the freeway traveler. Our destination today was Fort Massac, in Illinois, right across the Ohio River from Paducah Kentucky. This is where we first touch the route of Louis and Clark. Fort Massac has played an important part in our nation's history going back to 1757 when it was built by the French. During the Revolutionary War Colonel George Rogers Clark (our William Clark's older brother,) led his "long knives" regiment into Illinois at Massac Creek and was able to capture Kaskaskia, 100 miles to the north by a cunning display of military strategy and deception. This took the entire Illinois Territory for the state of Virginia and the fledgling United States. Who knew that Virginia's western boundary was once the Mississippi River?

Lewis had the keel boat built in Pittsburgh. The 55 foot boat, with an 8 foot beam, was finished on August 15, 1803, and Lewis headed her down the Ohio River within hours of it's completion. On November 11th and 12th the Corps of Discovery stayed at Fort Massac before continuing down the Ohio and Up the Mississippi to their winter quarters at Camp River Dubois on December 12, 1803.

                                                                     Fort Massac

Tomorrow on to Pontoon Beach Illinois, across the Mississippi River from St Louis, near where the Corps of Discovery spent the winter of 1803 before embarking on their great adventure.