The Arrowhead

The arrowhead is yet another one of the intriguing indian tools we have discovered on our journey. It is a stone carved in a triangle shape with a point at the end of it. It's commonly made of flint, obsidian, or cherts. It is like the tomahawk, except it is lashed forward instead of the direction to the side. They are lashed on the end of a long stick to make an arrow. The indian arrowheads though seem to be sharper and harder than our European ways of making them. They are also lashed to the end of spears to make deadley war weapons.

The Tomahawk

The tomahawk is a traditional indian tool commonly used in almost all tribes.  They are made of a sharp Stone slates that are commonly used in indian rituals.  These stone slates usually have a hole carved down the center so they can be used as pipes.  This stone shaft is lashed to the top of a rounded piece of whittled wood.  The types of wood are always made as hickory, maple, or ash in indian culture.  They are one of the most versatile tools commonly used for butchering animals, fighting, chopping large pieces of wood, pipes, and a lot more that I shall not go into.  These are perhaps the best tool that we have found the native americans to use.  I hope that we discover many more tools along the way for Jefferson will douse us in gifts and luxeries that will make our names go down and history............

"The Grizzily"

We were sailing calmly up the river after finally leaving Fort Mandan after a cold long winter when we encountered a tremendous looking animal. it was a brown creature with large teeth and facial parts. It also had the most peculiar ears. We shot one the first day as it was a very easy kill, but several days later we encountered a much larger one and it was a extreemley hard to kill......... Then as we were along the river our canoe capsized! Luckly Sacagwea came to the rescue as when happens whenever the canoe capsizes. Me and some of my best hunters went to go kill the large animal we now call a grizzly bear. The grizzly charged me and my men and we had to retreat back to the ships. we shot it with several slugs and we failed to kill him. The men on the shore though were ready and after many guns fired and blood shed, a slug hit it through the head and killed it. We've encountered them many times now and they are very respectable creatures and troublsome........... We believe these creatures our monsters sent to devour us and down us like an extra ration of whiskey.........

Sacagewea

Today is exactly one year after the expedition has started, and some dreadfull things have happened. The canoe had tipped over spilling our provisions, instruments, medicine, books, and even this very journal. I thought we were going to lose everything and have to call off the expedition. But then Sacagewea came plants, animals, languages, and some secrets to everything that not even my best men know............ So I have devised a plan to get her to come along with us on the expedition so that to our rescue by rescuing it all in waist deep water with her baby strapped to her back. She was traveling with her husband and owner Toussaint a french trapper. We are very interested in this young women. She is one of the most knowledgeable persons i've met. She knows all thewe may be able to travel home safer and swifter. First i will invite Toussaint to come along with us saying that he is one of the best trappers we've met. Then him owning sacagewea he will take her along with us. It is vital to our expedition that she comes with us for i fear the Teton Sioux will try and intercept us at every point possible............

The Dream Catcher

The Dream Catcher was quite an interesting "tool" of the Native Americans. They come from the Ojibway tribe. The dream catcher is a wooden circle with fine leather strings wove in it and feathers dangling from it. They are wove in a pattern so that there is a circle in the middle. This circle is where the good dreams go to and go into the feathers so they can be dreamed of again. The design is very complicated so that the bad dreams get caught in it so when the sun rises they burn and never come back. I find it's inspiration is probably a spider web. It seems to function in the same way as in catching and keeping everything good. So far on the journey i've found that the Native Americans can become very interesting and Hospitable persons if you treat them with respect. I hope to learn more from their interesting culture seeing that they may give us great ideas that could help us survive....................

~Meriwether Lewis

Week 3

This was quite an interesting week just happening to be filled with Rootbeer, Hills, and most importantly (according to Cameron's mom) Dr. Scholls Odor Destroyers. On Sunday when we were still were at Monticello some press members of The Daily Progress (Charlottesville Newspaper) came and interviewed and took pictures of us. Hope they didn't get one of us going across the lawn ;). Then on monday we go up to one of the newspaper dispenser things and what do you know right there on the front page was us riding or bikes! I find it one of my best accomplishments considering we beat Lance Armstrong to the front. Then Cameron's parents came over to give us a visit. Cameron's mom took one whiff of our shoes, made a wierd face and said they're repulsive! So to make the stank go away she sprayed it with Dr. Scholls Odor Destroyers. Obiviously feelong generous they took us out to dinner. Twice! I'm no math wiz but if my calculations are right Teenagers+Food+Teenagers Don't Pay for Food=Lots of $$$$$$ We went to 2 places to eat, an Old Famous Tavern from 1784 and a place called Sweetbones. I wanted to see if they lived up to their reputation so I lifted the bone towards my mouth when camerons parents gave me a funky look. I guess i'll never find out.......... After they left we went to a A&W restraunt. They hold Isaac's favorite Rootbeer so we had to make the stop. I was suprised John payed for his meal consedering he had a Deluxe Bacon Cheeseburger, Fries, Rootbeer, and the must have Rootbeer Float. I guess if enjoyed it, it counts.......... After bulging our stomachs for 2 days we started onto Blue Ridge Parkway. It reminds me of back home and Dragons Spine because of all of the hills. Then we come to the cookie lady. So since the dinasours of 1976 went extinct this nice old lady has served a house to stay in and cookies to wake up to. She will always bring bikers in and she was delighted to take us in. She has a normal looking house on the inside but like they say "Don't judge a book by it's cover". When you stepped in that house it was like a hole different world. There were postcards and thank you letters all over the place. Guess she's been doing it for a long time. Shes had that collection for 26 years and counting. I think it's great that she's doing things like that for cyclists so we gave her our 2nd peace medal. After that we stopped at this place called "Gerties Country Store & Deli. They have a wierd thing where you can camp in there backyard. They were really nice and gave us a warm welcome with a smile all the way through our stay. Then (it's a tradition at there place) we signed the wall of signing so the world can see that some teengers can ride there bikes across america. Now i'm just sitting in my tent writing and cooling off from the dreadfull 100 degree weather. Even though it sounds terrible, it sure was worth it after seeing the sights. I guess you can say this amazing week was full of Hospitality and Corny jokes in a journal but I'm sure somethings coming up our gonna be much greater and much harder....................

The Lakota

This Week we encountered the well known Natives the Teton Sioux. They are also called the Lakota, perhaps the most powerfull of the Native American Tribes. We thought we could easily befriend them but it turned out much harder than we imagined.... It started when we stopped to camp out on the South Side of the Missouri, very close to the mouth of the Bad River. Three younglings appeared on the other side of the river and swam over to come meet us. Luckily they knew sign language so we could comunicate with them. They told us they were Lakota's so to welcome them we gave them gifts of tobbaco for the band chiefs, and we arranged for a parley on the 24th. Then we sent Pvt. John Colter to go hunt for some food on horse-back. He killed four Elk and called for our help to get the carrcass'. I had some of the crew row the boats across the river when Pvt. John Colter signaled alarm, for the Sioux stole his horse. Then when 5 boys appeared on the shore we told them in sign-language that that we had come as friends and didn't want any trouble, and that we would fight back if neccessary. The next morning 3 of the head indians and lots of warriors came to have a meeting with us. The gave us a large amount of buffallo meat and we gave them a medal, hat, and a military cloak. They seemed unimpressed with our presents so they demanded more. We were afraid they might attack us so we invited the chiefs aboard to have a drink of whiskey with us. Then when we asked them to go back ashore they didn't want to leave, so we had to force them into a boat and row them back shore. When we got ashore I got mad at the chief who wanted more gifts. I refused and the Sioux knocked there bows aimed for us so I called for more men. Then I unsheathed my sword and signaled the boat to prepare for action. Since the chief saw the Cannon loaded he had his men back off. Then they came to our campground to patch things up and we smoked peace pipes. Some of the slaves of the Sioux saw us and warned us they were trying to attack us and end the expedition. We took a risk and stayed for another 2 days. As we were leaving one of their warriors grabbed our docking ropes. The chief didn't want us to leave but we had to so we had a standoff. This time we both prepared to fire at the same time, but they largley out numbered us. We manged to barley get away as we are now afloat upriver away from the Lakota..............