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09/19/2003 By John Sonderegger
Then again, why did re-enactors begin a journey in Pittsburgh this year? But that's another story. The real taking off point for this historic expedition was St. Charles, where William Clark and Meriwether Lewis hooked up in the spring of 1804 to begin fulfilling the request of President Thomas Jefferson to explore the Missouri River and its tributaries to the Pacific Ocean. Exploring the unknown and fighting the elements of the river and the weather and risking their lives on this expedition are the stuff dreams are made of - that's why so many of us are fascinated with Lewis and Clark. But what purpose
was served by chasing the Lewis and Clark dream in a small aircraft
called Cloud Chaser, which skimmed treetops and was like "a
canoe in the sky?" I'll let Ron Lowery, 59, a commercial photographer
and airplane pilot, tell his story. Lowery said their purpose was "to capture the essence of the Lewis and Clark expedition from an angle never seen before, from the air." You can check out Lowery's photos and read some of their journals online at www.chasinglewisandclark.com. They plan to have a book ready by March called "Chasing Lewis and Clark Across America." The cover photo will show Lowery's plane following the river from above. They had to rent another aircraft to get that photo. Walker will write the text and Lowery will supply the photos in what should be a fascinating tale of their trip, which logged 13,000 miles. They explored many areas several times, looking for the best photo possible. For example, if they found some mountains in the afternoon that begged to have a sunrise photo shoot, they'd put the aircraft down at a small airport or on a rancher's grass landing strip, and the ground crew would rendezvous with them for the evening. Lowery said they were self-contained with their own generators and could land just about anywhere for an evening's stay. They'd get up before dawn and fly to the spot to shoot the perfect photo. The photos they have online are breathtaking images of the river and landscapes. Lowery said he researched the trip for 2 1/2 years before they embarked on it in June. He is most proud of his photos from the Missouri Breaks area in Montana. "The idea was to do some serious art, not snapshots," he said. "We had wide-angle lenses and we went for the design element of the scenery." They had hundreds of landings and takeoffs in their little open-cockpit airplane, and they had their tense moments. For example, they were enjoying themselves in the cowboy town of Miles City, Mont., one night when a storm started brewing. They raced to the airport to tie down and hold the "Cloud Chaser" in the face of a 45 mph wind. Flying close to mountaintops and then down in the canyon of the Yellowstone River also proved harrowing. "When you're flying over a 1,200-foot mountain and then down into the canyon where the river is, your major concern is wind sheer," Lowery said. "Then there was no rain for two months in some areas, and we had to avoid the forest fires in Montana. We'd see lightning off in the distance, and then we'd see smoke come up. The rain would fall, but it would evaporate before it hit the ground because there was only 15 percent humidity," so there was nothing to put out the fires started by lightning. Along the way, they met many interesting folks on the ground. Their journals had a couple of entries about the St. Louis and St. Charles areas. At the beginning of their journey, they wrote: "As part of our takeoff clearance at Cahokia Airport (actually Parks) near St. Louis, the air traffic controller says, 'Maintain visual separation from the Arch.' It's the only place in the world where you'll hear that instruction. The beautiful Gateway Arch looks like it's meant to be flown through with a small airplane, and it could be done if a pilot wanted to lose his or her license." And: The Tennessee crew made entries in journals at almost every stop along the way. Lowery said they even met the great-grandson of Chief Sitting Bull. He said 60 percent of the book will deal with flying the homemade aircraft, a double-shaded green airplane that is powered by a pair of 100-horsepower Rotax 912 engines. It weighs just over 1,000 pounds, and it can take off in about 150 feet. It can fly at speeds of up to 75 mph and climb at a rate of 1,800 feet per minute. Lowery said he felt "in touch with the landscape, the air, the sounds, the sights, the smell. You can smell the mud in the river." To be sure,
Lowery and his crew saw it all from a different angle, and they
captured it with some sensational photography. |