# Pioneers, Partners & Patriots



## qwertyportne (May 9, 2014)

O beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties above the fruited plain!
​In 1804 President Jefferson gave Lewis and Clark a formidable assignment: explore the frontier west of the Missouri River and find a route to the Pacific Ocean.

In 1980 I gave my ten-year old son a difficult assignment: read a book about the Lewis & Clark Expedition and write a 500-word report. Lewis and Clark took two years to complete their task so I gave my son his summer vacation to write his report. 

Six weeks later he said, "Here's that report, Dad. I hope you like it." Like it? I was profoundly moved by it! He had explained what he learned from the book and how the Expedition had affected him personally. Where had this young man found the insight and resourcefulness to write such an informative and inspiring report?

Lewis and Clark had a more difficult assignment than the one I gave Andy but they were young men themselves. Where had they found the courage and motivation to face the wilderness with limited supplies, 18th-century tools and equipment and only a vague idea of where they were going and how to get there? They trekked 4,000 miles across rugged terrain enduring physical and emotional challenges most of us will never have to face. And after reaching the Pacific they had to back track those same grueling miles to be home again with their friends and family. 

Lewis and Clark were the first Americans to cross America and did it without maps, cell phones or fast food restaurants! Writers shouldn't use exclamation points more than twice in a lifetime but I'm breaking that rule for Lewis and Clark -- they were partners, pioneers and patriots!

You and I can travel the route they explored without even packing a suitcase because we can buy clothes, supplies and food anywhere along the route and enjoy the comfort and convenience of getting there and back in our own car.

Jefferson's goals for the Expedition were political, economic, geographical and scientific and Lewis and Clark achieved most of them. Most Americans back then didn't fully appreciate the significance of the Expedition but you and I can look back and understand that Lewis and Clark made it possible for America to stretch from sea to shining sea.

Writing those words reminds me of a day when I was about the same age as my son was when he wrote his report on Lewis & Clark. My YMCA team and I were standing on a football field listening to a woman singing "America the Beautiful."

As our coach pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his eyes, I felt tears in my own eyes. I had just finished reading about Lewis and Clark and knew they and everyone with them on that Expedition had experienced the same things filling the hearts and minds of everyone on that football field with me. The Expedition is still a powerful reminder of the natural, expansive beauty of America.


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## Pandora (May 10, 2014)

Beautiful qwerty in so many ways. Pride in our country, pride in our world is something that slips by, I know we still have it but it isn't focused on like long ago. To have lived in a time of exploration would have been grand, tough but very rewarding. Making history, I have not but I sure love reading about it. Thank you sir, you are also a wonderful Dad! I know where your son found the insight and resourcefulness to write such an informative and inspiring report . . . clearly that is easy to see and feel . . . it is you!


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## Plasticweld (May 10, 2014)

I am glad I am not the only dad who gave book reports to their kids to do.

Mine where under different circumstances. My son and my daughter when they were punished had to write a book report, always on the same book. [The punishment read] "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie.   This was not for normal teenage mistakes but for times when they where inconsiderate of others, to me the ultimate blunder in things that matter in life. My son had read the book and done 5 book reports by the time he left home, my daughter only once.  My son  is in his mid thirties now and successful.  I had asked him one time what did he consider some of the more important aspects that  let him succeed as a young man. He sighted motorcycle racing and all of the things involved and how it required him to be so responsible and with a wry smile.   "That F en book" 


Sounds like you are providing your son with a great role model to follow thanks for sharing your words..Bob


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## qwertyportne (May 11, 2014)

Pandora, Plasticweld - what nice comments. Thanks. Motorcycle racing had a lot to do with my growing up, too. In my case it was Motocross, then Desert. I'll post a memoir of my days in the desert later this afternoon. I call it "Ribbon & Lime". What kind of racing did your son do?


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## Plasticweld (May 11, 2014)

My son Russ and I at Summit Point Race Track in WV we have both raced both on and off road, Russ competed nationally riding observed trials and was ranked second in the nation in the high school class in 1998


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## qwertyportne (May 12, 2014)

What a great picture. Perhaps you'll write a memoir someday about those days. I'd sure like to read it if you do. You know how I feel about memoirs.


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