Confinement Ended

Journal 2005 11 15     
Confinement Ended

“The rainey weather Continued without a longer intermition than 2 hours at a time from the 5th in the morng. untill the 16th is eleven days rain, and the most disagreeable time I have experienced    Confined on a tempiest Coast wet, where I can neither get out to hunt, return to a better Situation, or proceed on:    in this Situation have we been for Six days past.—    fortunately the wind lay about 3 oClock    we loaded  in great haste and Set out    passed the blustering Point  below which is a Sand beech, with a Small marshey bottom for 3 miles on the Stard. Side, on which is a large village of 36 houses deserted by the Inds. & in full possession of the flees”

Eleven days camped in the rain. Sounds like fun doesn’t it? I remember a time many years ago when Danita was barely moving in her mother’s womb and we embarked on a loop around the Olympic Peninsula. One night of rain in a tent in the cold campground and the local motel looked like a palace. The rest of the loop was indeed a car trip with a wet tent stowed in the trunk. These guys didn’t have the Kalaloch Lodge as an option. No Best Western, Shiloh Inn or Motel 6 at Ilwaco either.

It is hard not to be repetitious in recounting these days. Because it was repetitious. Rain is different on the eastern shores of the Pacific Ocean (which is the west coast of our great land). The weather patterns are not yet tempered by their passage over land. Storms roll in, pass over and are followed by either a short respite of clear sky or another storm. It is an ongoing series of smaller weather fronts under the context of a bigger storm system.

The Corps of Discovery was introduced to some of the worst conditions of winter weather that exist on the coast. Captain Clark records again today how fortunate they are that at least the weather is not frigidly cold. He notes that “the bulk of the party would suffer very much” if they had to depend upon their current wardrobe for protection from the severe colds of winter they were accustomed to in the east. His desire is for them to kill enough deer and elk to allow the men to tan new hides into winter clothing ASAP.

If you are looking on a map, the party is able to escape their “Situation” and round what we now call Point Ellice, just west of Megler on the Washington side of the Columbia River. They reach a large abandoned Indian Village on a long sandy beach. Well it is abandoned by the Indians, who the Corps recognizes as a new tribe, the Chinooks. The men soon realize it is still inhabited. By a loads of fleas! Clark says they are in “full possession” of it!

Their meeting with the Chinooks does not go well either. I mentioned in an earlier post that their time with the Chinooks is contentious and in no way comparable to the spirit of hospitality extended by almost all the other tribes they have encountered. Twice during the day men of the Corps lower their rifles on Indians who have stolen goods, including two rifles, from the Corps. The Captains let the Chinooks know in no uncertain terms that they will not tolerate any bad behavior toward them and that they are willing to defend themselves and their goods with their weapons.

Welcome to the other side of the continent Lewis and Clark!

With the Pacific Ocean now clearly in view William Clark, the expedition’s cartographer, records that they have traveled 4,142 miles from the Missouri River. I need to let that sink into my brain for a minute. And I hope to do a recap sometime over the next few months as the men are camped waiting for the mountain snows to clear enough to allow their return.

So once again, success is at hand and hardship is attempting to tag along. “Oh the joy” says William Clark upon seeing the Pacific Ocean. He might want to add “Oi vay” after meeting the neighbors, hanging on the riverbank pelted by storms and finding refuge in a flea infested camp.

But these guys are indomitable in their hearty spirits. They physical hardships are not the focus of their records or their work. The mission drives them through all hardship.

What is driving us? Is it enough to push through obstacles, the hardships, which attach themselves to the greatest successes? Are we willing to pay the price required of greatness? Great success will always be accompanied by great discomfort. Anything worth accomplishing is at war with the forces of nature. “For what the flesh wants is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit wants is opposed to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, and so you do not do what you want to do.” (Galatians 5:17)

“I'm not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don't get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward--to Jesus. I'm off and running, and I'm not turning back. So let's keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision--you'll see it yet! Now that we're on the right track, let's stay on it. Stick with me, friends. Keep track of those you see running this same course, headed for this same goal.”(Philippians 3:12-17)