Traveling with a purpose is the latest buzz-phrase in the travel business,  and I always get kind of a kick out of it,  because I can’t imagine any other kind of travel.   It is a fairly broad category which includes traveling to learn,  to provide public service to underprivileged parts of the world,  eco-tourism,  stretching your personal comfort zone,  and sometimes even adventure travel. For me it has always meant learning about  “what happened here”.   It doesn’t have to

We have certainly come a long way from the days when American schools began to introduce media – ever so cautiously – into the curriculum to stimulate interest and enhance the learning experience.   As a Boomer, I was constantly subjected to experimental instructional programs sparked by the launch of Sputnik, which sent the entire American educational system into a panic and launched a massive effort to “catch up” with the Soviets.   I consider myself lucky to have survived.

“Seeing the elephant”, I’m told, is a purely American phrase which gained popularity in the early 19th century. Coincidentally, the first circuses reached these shores from Europe in the 1830’s and they invariably included exotic animals that no American had ever seen. They were HUGE – almost overwhelming – and they spawned a phrase that has been inextricably associated with the Westward Expansion Movement ever since – though it doesn’t appear that it started out that way. Li

One of the hallmarks of our tours is that we offer the opportunity to walk where history happened. When you think about it, this really is a powerful motivation. While American history is a great deal shorter than that of the rest of the world, one can still get goose bumps standing in actual ruts made by covered wagons filled with the hopes and dreams of pioneers a hundred and fifty years ago. Experiences like this occur nearly every day on one of our Vanishing Trails Expedi

If you have ever surfed the upper reaches of the cable channels in desperate search of semi-literate diversion, you have probably run into the numerous channels which seem to be determinedly devoted to “history lite”. You know the ones I’m talking about. They feature shows called “Ten things you didn’t know about…” or “America: the Story of US”; “How the States Got Their Shapes”, “America’s Book of Secrets” , “Unsolved Mysteries” or “Who Do You Think You Are?” This last one w

I should probably preface this by stating that “climbed” is a definite overstatement of what I did last August.  More accurately, I “strolled”, or maybe even “ambled”.  Spirit Mound is not exactly Mount Everest.  No climbing gear was involved, no harnesses, no spiked boots, no rappeling ropes, not even a lowly walking stick.  I was wearing sandals and a skirt, for Pete’s sake. I make no claim to extraordinary- or even modest – heroics.  Spirit Mound, a historic site on the Le

I have been leading modern-day explorers over the Lewis & Clark Trail more or less regularly since 1997, and as you read this I have embarked with another enthusiastic group on our own great journey west. As I prepared for this year’s expedition and found myself growing more and more excited about it, I wondered why – given the enormous amount of work entailed – I keep doing it, and more interestingly, why I like it so much. After all, despite annual fine tuning and improveme

There is a wildly popular restaurant near me that offers only two entrees on its evening menu: big steak and little steak! In this day of proliferating options in every category from soup to nuts (pun intended), it’s kind of reassuring that sometimes the simplest choice is the best. Downsizing is a natural reaction to a complex world with stress levels sometimes off the charts. There is a growing nostalgia for a simpler time with fewer choices – not more. The recent orgy of a

One could argue – I would – that some of the most enjoyable days I’ve spent on tour were those covering many miles of what early settlers mistakenly took for the “Great American Desert”.  It’s ironic that these settlers – nearly all of them farmers – didn’t recognize fertile agricultural land when they saw it.  But because they didn’t, much of this land has remained unbroken and undeveloped, for us to enjoy today.  One of the reasons our travelers are so taken with the West i

There is a category of my business known as “adventure travel”. It evokes images of llama trekking in the Andes, zip-lining across the Amazon, hang-gliding or similar vigorous pursuits which would have made Teddy Roosevelt proud. By this definition, we don’t do adventure travel at Shebby Lee Tours. But – in my opinion – adventure travel doesn’t have to be dangerous to be appealing. I think that the tours we offer are adventurous because they encourage participants to step out

Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and the Corps of Discovery departed St. Charles, Missouri on May 21, 1804, to begin their expedition into the unknown. Their journey was backbreaking, fraught with danger and took 28 months. This summer you can see and experience the Lewis & Clark Trail in air-conditioned comfort via motorcoach, and it will take just 16 days. The journey begins in St. Louis with a get-acquainted dinner on historic Laclede’s Landing. Get an overview of where yo