Customer Reviews

Lewis and Clark Road Trips: Exploring the Trail Across America (Great American Road Trips series)

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Whether preparing for your Lewis and Clark journey or arm chair traveling, Gira Gale's masterful guide book will be indispensable. Divided into ten coast-coast color-colored regions, it provides regional and city maps, mileage charts, Lewis and Clark points of interest, plus nearby attractions, all briefly discribed and detailed instructions to find them. Each region's Corp's of Discovery relevance is discussed, and a bibliograhy listed for each. For those who have labored to locate camp sites, a twenty-two page table will end your quest. Meticulously researched and complete, it is a reference book as well as a guide book, and can be opened at any point as your interest leads you.

Let's face it. Most of us who dream about one day traveling the route blazed by Lewis and Clark won't do it. There are just too many things that get in the way, not the least of which is the necessity to earn a living. Nearly none of us have the time or the resources (or the stamina, for that matter!) to do the entire trip at one swoop.

Kira Gale of Omaha did do the entire trip, beginning in Washington DC, where Jefferson first commissioned Lewis, all the way to Fort Clopstock on the Oregon Coast, and circling back to wind up in Tennessee. She reckons that she was lost about 20% of the time, even after spending a full five years pouring over the Journals no fewer than three times. So she decided to put her personal experience to good use by writing this road trip guidebook for the rest of us. It's ideal for exploring the Lewis and Clark trail in small chunks--the only way most of us can.

Gale's guide divides the trail up into 10 regions, beginning east of the Alleghenies and winding up, on the return, to the Natchez Trace, the Tennessee trail Meriwether Lewis traveled before killing himself at that lonely roadside inn. Summer vacationers with minimal time can easily choose one or two of the regions to explore, depending (for instance) on which part of the Lewis and Clark Journals especially appeals to them.

The chapters devoted to the ten regions each include an historical introduction, topographical maps, road maps, a few photographs of select sites, extremely helpful descriptions of attractions (complete, in most cases, with phone numbers and/or web addresses), and a bibliography. At the end of the book is a region-by-region guide to all the expedition's campsites (in and of itself, a remarkable resource), a very convenient region-by-region checklist of destinations, and a very good general bibliography. One of my favorite features is on the inside back cover: a timeline, culled from the Journals, which parallels with the ten regions. This makes for easy chronological as well as geographical orientation. Finally--and thankfully!--the entire guide has a pretty good index.

This is an invaluable resource for anyone who wants to travel the in one grand journey or--more likely--who wants to do the trail bit or bit or only a portion or two of it. Highly recommended.

Kira Gale has written the consummate guide to the Lewis and Clark Trail across the America! This is THE guide to have and to keep for years and years to come. It is chocked full of useful info on where sites are and a great description of why they are significant in history. The country is broken down into 10 segments...from "sea to shining sea"...from Virginia and Philadelphia in the Eastern legacy states to Washington state and Oregon in the West. Not only are there pictures and descriptions of Lewis and Clark sites but also other historical places in the same area of the trail and known ancient sites that will be of interest both to families who travel the trail on vacation as well as history buffs. It is clear that the author has an indepth understanding of early American and Lewis and Clark history as well as the talent in bringing the right information together to make traveling the trail as easy as possible with helpful maps. This is the Lewis and Clark book that will be used time and time again for historically oriented travel. A must have!

Lewis and Clark Road Trips is an absolutely gorgeous compendium of information, maps and sidebars on the explorers' routes and what to see on the way.

Author Kira Gale and her husband traveled more than 8,000 miles on the Lewis and Clark Trail in preparation for this oversize, full-color book, and the result is an incredibly detailed look at every mile of the Trail. The book is divided into regions, including (1) East of the Alleghenies (2) Pittsburgh to Cincinnati (3) Louisville to Wood River Camp (4) St Louis to Kansas City (5) Nebraska and Iowa (6) South Dakota and North Dakota (7) Montana to the Rockies (8) Western Montana and Idaho (9) Washington and Oregon (10) and New Orleans andthe Natchez Trace. The author has also set up a Web site with a companion Trip Planner with individual maps, a newsletter and a blog on the Trail.

This lovely book will inspire many a trip through time and history and will intrigue American history buffs, modern-day explorers and especially RVers in search of a theme for this summer's vacation.

I have used this book for 2 trips following the L&C Trail and found it absolutely indispensible! It is (delightfully) overwhelming in its range, but doesn't miss a beat. You can take in as much or as little as you want. The directions and the descriptions (including bits of history) enhanced the trips greatly and I heartily recommend it in conjuntion with Julie Faselow's Falcon Guide,"Traveling the Lewis and Clark Trail." Together, you are guaranteed a rewarding adventure.

Millions of people participated in the recent commemoration of the bicentennial (2003-2006) of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The lucky ones had the opportunity to travel along the route followed by the Corps of Discovery and to read excerpts of the journals kept by the two captains, the sergeants, and even some of the enlisted men. For those planning a trip along the trail, or even just a visit to a single site along the way, by far the best way to prepare for the voyage and to make the most of it is to have a copy of Kira Gale's Lewis and Clark Road Trips: Exploring the Trail Across America. It is one of the series entitled Great American Road Trips, and I cannot think of a better such road trip or a better guide to the Trail.

Gale's book covers every place that Lewis and Clark visited, from Charlottesville, VA and Philadelphia, PA all the way to the Pacific Ocean and back (their route eastward was slightly different from their trek west). This guide has it all: maps, photographs, descriptions of hundreds of sites from roadside markers to major museums (with operating hours, admission prices, phone numbers, and web addresses). Gale includes concise summaries of important events of the Expedition and numerous references so that the curious reader can find more books on the subject. There is even a list of the locations of all the campsites (and forts) used by the Expedition, with keys to the book's maps. There is also a very useful checklist of all sites organized by small region (i.e., Three Rivers Valley of Montana) and an extensive index.

This book is very carefully researched, engagingly written, and beautifully produced. Anyone who wants to travel the path taken by this most important exploring expedition in the history of the United States should have a copy of this guide, the best of its kind.

An excellent book for those Lewis & Clark enthusiasts to keep in their library - very comprehensive.

As a Lewis and Clark author myself, I have bought a lot of guidebooks about traveling their trail. Some have great pictures ... some have journal excerpts ... some list the sights to see. But none of them bring together all of these things, plus more, the way that Kira Gale's "Lewis and Clark Road Trips" does.

I bought this book to plan an elaborate driving trip through Montana and Idaho, and boy did it deliver. For each region of the country, you get an overview of the Lewis and Clark significance of the area, a reliable general map, and then detailed maps of individual driving tours. The sights to visit are numbered on the map, described, and have detailed directions. These include both Lewis and Clark sights that might be difficult to find on your own, and then other points of interest in the area that you might want to see and enjoy during your visit.

This book really helped us prioritize what we wanted to see and plan an interesting, safe, and realistic itinerary. I loved "Lewis and Clark Road Trips" and look forward to using it to plan future trips on the Lewis and Clark trail.

The book does not focus entirely on L&C expedition as I had hoped. A lot of other tourist sites are added to the maps with very brief explanations and information added. The maps are confusing and not as user friendly as a regular fold out road map. Dissapointed with purchase for my use. Wanted to focus on the western states of MT, ID, OR, WA and did not find information enclosed I have found in outher sources.

This is an amazing book. It is divided into sections or areas and spotlights interesting things to see all along the proposed routes. There are wonderful pictures and written reviews of the highlighted sights to see. My husband and I are looking forward to a road trip next Spring and we will be guided by this book.