As a kickoff for his 2025 Lewis and Clark trek, Clay visited and toured Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's primary home and plantation in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Clay checks out The Peaks of Otter in the Blue Ridge Mountains, which Thomas Jefferson speculated were the country's tallest mountains.
Clay stopped by Natural Bridge State Park in the Shenandoah Valley. The site so captivated Thomas Jefferson that he purchased it from King of England in 1774.
Clay at Poplar Forest
Kicking off his 2025 transcontinental Lewis and Clark trek, Clay spends the day at Poplar Forest, the beloved personal retreat of Thomas Jefferson, the mastermind behind the famous Corps of Discovery.
LTA truck and Airstream at Poplar Forest
Clay begins his 2025 Lewis and Clark transcontinental journey in the land of Thomas Jefferson, the patron saint of the famous 1804-1806 expedition.
Oxford English Dictionary

A Word About Dictionaries

A short dissertation on my infatuation with dictionaries.
Thomas Jefferson's majestic second home, Poplar Forrest, in Lynchburg, Va. Clay Jenkinson will lecture there at 2:00 pm, May 6, 2025. (Photo Poplar Forest)
Clay will lecture at 2:00 p.m., May 6, 2025 on Thomas Jefferson’s vision for Lewis and Clark’s “Corps of Discovery.”
Thomas Jefferson long harbored a desire to make Cuba part of the newly forming United States. In 1809, he wrote to James Madison outlining his dream to erect a column on the Southernmost limit of Cuba inscribed:
The United States has a long, tortured relationship with Cuba, including Thomas Jefferson’s imperial designs on the island. As Clay travels to Cuba this week to lead a cultural tour, he reflects on a bit of forgotten history between the U.S. and the island nation 90 miles from Key West, Florida.
Clay
Clay details plans for his upcoming cross-country journey following Lewis and Clark’s celebrated 1805 -1806 expedition across the continent.
Beginning in April 2024 and concluding just before Thanksgiving, Clay traveled over 21,000 miles and visited 41 states, roughly following John Steinbeck’s route as chronicled in Travels with Charley. Clay notes he undertook the cross-country journey partly to gain his own appraisal of America as it approaches its 250th birthday.