Tomorrow at noon I'm presenting to a dozen people on Theodore Roosevelt's discovery expedition of the River of Doubt in 1913-1914. The group is made up of clients of a Merrill-Lynch financial advisor. It's the fourth time I've presented a “lunch-and-learn” and will be great fun.

As it happens, this spring is the 100th anniversary of Roosevelt's expedition. I'm surprised that more hasn't been made of that fact.

I'll be blending Roosevelt's river journey with that of Lewis and Clark from roughly a hundred years prior. The comparison of the two expeditions will be fascinating.

For example, an important difference is that two leaders define Roosevelt's trip while three leaders define Lewis and Clark's. Roosevelt was co-leader to Colonel Candido Rondon, a famous and highly respected explorer from Brazil. But with Lewis and Clark it was different. In addition to their co-leadership was a third leader, in the background but in reality the man who was the genesis of the trip. I'm referring to President Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson conceptualized of the journey west and tutored Meriwether Lewis so closely that Lewis was essentially an extension of Jefferson on the expedition.

If you find the topic of the two river expeditions, contact me and we'll chat about it.