DISPATCHES FROM THE ROAD

Earlier this summer, Clay Jenkinson traveled to the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers at Cairo, Illinois. Sitting on the banks of the Mississippi, Clay read from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and talked about the novel and its author, Mark Twain, who enshrined this mighty river deep in American mythology. 
Clay reports in on his adventures at the conclusion of his recent Montana Lewis and Clark Cultural Tour.
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A statute of Lewis and Clark and the expedition's
Clay checks in from St. Charles, Missouri, near the mouth of the Missouri River, at Frontier Park, on one of the finest Lewis and Clark statue groups in America.
Clay wrestling with his leaky RV shower. (Image courtesy of Clay and ChatGPT)
Thanks to YouTube, persistence, and bloody knuckles, a hot shower gets pretty close to paradise.
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Screenshot of Clay, Frank, Dennis
Clay and his Listening to America “Corps of Discovery” celebrate the 4th of July along the Lewis and Clark Trail.
Clay at the Missouri River just east of Great Falls, MT. In the background is Belt Creek, where the Lewis and Clark Expedition began their 18.5-mile, one-month portage around the five falls of the Missouri River in June/July of 1805.

At Great Falls, Montana

I’m spending the 4th of July at the Great Falls of the Missouri River in north-central Montana, where Lewis and Clark visited on the same day in 1805.
Ryan Dam, one of five hydroelectric dams on the Missouri River in Great Falls, Montana. (Photo Visit Great Falls)
Our Lewis and Clark explorer, Clay Jenkinson, says that Great Falls’ reputation for being one of the less attractive places to visit in Montana is highly unfair. He shares his “must see” stops.
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Registering the new pickup truck. This, too, is America.
On his recent visit to the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Clay visited the Memorial to Enslaved Laborers on campus. Dedicated in 2021, the memorial commemorates the estimated 4,000 enslaved people who worked on the University between 1817 and 1865.
Thomas Jefferson conceived and designed the University of Virginia as a unique “Academic Village” where students and professors would live and learn together.