Jessie and Jim McMenamin of Slippery Rock rode in a replica of a keel boat like the one Lewis and Clark used to travel up the Missouri River. The McMenamins took a road trip following the paths of the famed American explorers last fall.

A Slippery Rock couple retraced the route of the famed Lewis and Clark expedition last fall, leaving from St. Louis and arriving in Astoria, Ore.

Of course, Jessie and Jim McMenamin rode on buses and completed the trip to the West Coast in 18 days. The original explorers traveled by keel boat, horse and on foot and took two years and four months to map the Louisiana Purchase, establish relations with Indian tribes and bring back samples of plant and animal life.

This is an excerpt from a story that appears in Sunday's Butler Eagle.