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Lewis and Clark Route by Parachute

Saturday, July 3, 2004

Somehow the notes for the next couple of days were lost so I will try to reconstruct the events.

We had a cold sandwich on the way to the airport this A.M.  The airport is 4492 feet, the last of the higher elevations on the entire route.  There was no problem with takeoff.  The power line incident at Lincoln hasn't affected the performance of the PPC as far as I can tell.  The only thing was the wind was blowing.

When leaving, Larry recruited a bystander to help him hold the chute down until I got strapped in and got the engine started.  When I reved the engine they stepped back to let the chute go up.  The wind was strong enough that it started to pull me backwards at first with the front wheel coming up off the ground, but as the chute came up overhead it picked the PPC up almost in a vertical take off.  When I was about 50 feet up I gradually turned into the wind and away we went at 52 miles per hour.

We are now following the Yellowstone River through central Montana.  The river valleys are the life blood of the whole area from my vantage point in the air.  Out from the river it is quite desolate but still the countryside is green for the most part.

Yellowstone River, MT.

We had a quick refueling at Laurel before I skirted around the city of Billings trying to stay out of the way of traffic from the Billings airport.  It worked because I never saw another aircraft in the air.

The landscape was getting lower and flatter as expected and I was actually getting a small tail wind by the time we refueled at Hysham which had a grass strip along a country highway.  After lift off I took a shortcut across the country side to save a few miles, I could see the river valley in the distance but got over some pretty rough badlands before landing at Terry for fuel.

Landscape Eastern MT.

I thought we could make one more hop before calling it a day.  Our tail wind had diminished during the day and now had a small head wind to slow us down but Glendive was only about 30 miles so we took off.  We were still following the Yellowstone and the first half went slow but steady and I was in radio contact with Larry following along on the highway.

I soon crossed to the opposite side of the river for a more direct route.  The head wind picked up some more.  I had dropped from 23 mph to 20, then 15.  I decided to take a shortcut by the most direct route possible which put me over the hill from the highway and Larry's radio.

It was getting late in the day.  The winds became stronger.  I was now down to 10 mph and out of contact.  The countryside was a series of hills and draws interspersed with dryland cropping on higher flat ground.  It was enjoyable to spot a couple herd of antelope spooked by the presence of the PPC as they ran over the hills and through the draws below, of course they soon outran me.

The sun was getting lower and the speed was now only 4 mph part of the time.  I was within a few miles of the airport which I could see on a bluff NE of the city and only about 6 to 8 miles away.  I could hear Larry calling me but he couldn't hear my transmissions.  I finally disconnected my radio wiring then hooked them up again, they could now hear me on the other end.  It was soon after they could see me, but it looked as if I was sitting still.

A Big Sky airliner arrived at the airport and in the dusk I could see him take off again later while I was gradually getting closer.  It wasn't completely dark by the time I come in over the top of a hanger and landed crossways on the tarmac and rolled onto the grass with a crowd of spectators watching me make a bouncing landing, but I was finally down.

Pat Lifto was among the group to meet me.  He offered the use of his hanger, which we gladly accepted.  George Sullivan and Leon Baker the airport manager helped us refuel.  By the time we left the airport to find a room and get our first meal of the day, it was it was 10:30 PM.

Sunday, July 4, 2004

We had breakfast with Pat, George and Leon this morning because the weather, rain and wind, was not going to allow any flying for us today.  This group of aviation buffs from Glendive are really a good bunch.

After breakfast and aviation stories for an hour or so we met later at the hanger where Pat furnished the tools.  He also helped us do some maintenance and changed oil in our engine.

Larry, Pat & Bob in Pat's hanger doing maintenance

Pat, Bob & Larry

Butch, a Halliburton employee who lives on the airport, offered his computer to Larry and I to send out reports.  He has worked in Alaska and North Africa with Halliburton and was in the armed service prior to that.  He also has one wall of his hanger covered with photos of the liar's club, which seemed to be quite a distinction.

Monday, July 5, 2004

This is another day of waiting for better weather.  After breakfast with Butch, Pat and Leon, we drove up the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers and looked at fort Union located there.

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