By Kevin Lavery, KWMU
St. Charles, MO – The real Lewis and Clark received a hero's welcome when they returned to St. Louis at the end of their expedition.
State planners today are preparing for a similar event in September 2006.
Robert Archibald serves on both the state and national Lewis and Clark bicentennial commissions.
"We're going to focus on the rivers, we're going to focus on music, we're going to focus on native people in one final grand celebration to end the bicentennial period," Archibald said.
Just as in 1805, the keelboat used in the reenacted voyage up the Missouri River will return to St. Charles tonight. Expedition crewmembers sent the vessel back once they reached shallow river waters in present-day North Dakota.