Fall is passing rapidly. On this day in 1805 the Corps of Discovery was hurrying down the Columbia not just with the anticipation of the long dreamed of Pacific just over the horizon but of the more practical need to find winter quarters before fall gave way to winter. We travel with a much more relaxed attitude though with a desire to peer at the Big Water through history's lens, to try to sense the Corp's view of the dream.
There is the undertone that when we disembark in Portland that the season is over. For the Sea Bird the river seems set to sleep. The season will indeed change, the upper river will know the grip of frost, and the lower river will more often feel the stroke of the winter rains and fog. But the Sea Bird will, as other birds, head south to the warmer climates where there are new things to see and new lessons to learn until the greening of spring calls her back to the Western River of Lewis and Clark.
Emotionally, the burnished leaves will last until the river banks are green and the Bird returns to touch again the wonder of the Corps of Discovery and the magic of the Columbia and Snake.
