The morning broke crisp and cold, with the wind howling in from the west. The dugout canoes wallowed as the swells began to build. When the whitecaps started forming all across the river Captain Meriwether Lewis urged caution on the part of his crew. “We cannot continue in the face of this terrible storm. We must put into shore and wait for it to diminish.”
Today, nearly two hundred years later, we awoke to a similar windy stormy day. We are traveling on the Columbia River in the wake of Lewis and Clark. There are some differences. Where they had crude dugout canoes made of Ponderosa Pine, riding low in the water with too much cargo, we are comfortable on board the cruise ship Sea Bird. Where they were drenched with spindrift coming off the whitecaps,we are dry and warm, riding high on the bow of our ship. They had little idea of where the channel of the river was, though our Captain has access to the latest navigational equipment and charts.
Two things become evident to us. [1] The people of the Voyage of Discovery were courageous and hardy souls. [2] We appreciate that we can experience this surging river from the comfort of the Sea Bird.
