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Mike's Journey of Discovery: The Lewis and Clark Chapters.

You may be asking, what's this all about? I'm glad you did ask because now I'm going tell you.

I've been sharing some posts about Lewis and Clark.

That's because I'm embarking on a grand plein air painting adventure, following the Lewis and Clark Trail from the St. Louis, MO area to the Oregon coast near Astoria. I've been studying up on what an amazing feat this was, reading three different accounts as well as their journals.

My journey will begin where they began, from the winter camp of 1803/04 at Camp Dubois on a tributary of the Missouri River, near St. Louis. I will officially depart at 3:00 in the afternoon on May 14th, 218 years after they did in the spring of 1804 on May 14th at 3:00 PM.

More than 40 men, mostly military, and a few French voyagers who were excellent river men, a few guides, a few interpreters and a few hunters set out under the leadership of Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark who were dispatched by President Thomas Jefferson, to explore the newly purchased Louisiana Territory and to seek a water passage way to the Pacific Ocean...the Northwest Passage.

They were known as the Corp of Discovery.

Their story is a most intriguing one. A story of not only exploration and discovery, but also of courage, starvation, adventure and a will to succeed.

It is also a story of the Native Americans they encountered along the way. A people, to whom they tried to explain, who had a new great chief and that they were now living on land that belonged to this great white father. They were told not to fear however, that their new chief would take care of them.

These first Americans, the native ones who lived free on this land didn't understand how they could have a new great chief who would look after them. Some of them shrugged it off. Some chose to accept it. Most ignored it but almost all helped the Corp of Discovery when they needed it the most, saving them from starvation and guiding them.

They were venturing off into the unknown, not knowing if they would return. Their maps were non-existent and the their intelligence mostly faulty.

They had the Missouri River to follow however, and hearsay told them that a one day portage over some mountains at the head of the Missouri River would place them on another river that would take them to the Pacific Ocean.

My mission is to follow their story, camping where they camped and paint the sites and sights of their journey.

I would be most happy to have you join me. You can follow along through via the written word on my blog at www.mikesimpsonart.com

via video on my YouTube Channel, at Mike Simpson Art, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJfRAaAvlPz46Gw314Nf6rw

as well as right here and on my FaceBook page Mike Simpson Art https://www.facebook.com/mikesimpsonart

How long will we be gone? Hard to say. Maybe a month or two or maybe a year or two. As long as it takes.

Welcome aboard.