Professor retraces historic trip of Lewis & Clark

By Nathan Weinert ’08

While many college professors devote their time away from the classroom to reading and quiet reflection, William Jewell College biology professor Paul Klawinski spent some of his recent sabbatical riding a bicycle an average of 80 miles a day for more than six weeks.

Klawinski retraced the path of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the Corps of Discovery’s return to St. Louis. His arrival in St. Louis on September 23 was the culmination of over 3,000 miles and six weeks of riding.

 “It had its ups and downs, some frustrating days,” Klawinski said after completing his solo journey. “I learned a little about what I’m capable of as a human being. I learned a lot about the land. On a bicycle, you can’t help but learn about the landscape you’re biking through.”
           
Klawinski said that there were both personal and professional reasons to ride the Lewis and Clark Trail: “One, it’s historical. It puts you in touch with this thing that happened 200 years ago. As an ecologist, I had an opportunity to observe changes in landscapes and what humans do to landscapes, and the changes in what Lewis and Clark saw and what I saw. I also learned something about slowing down and taking time off, and doing something different at a different speed.”

One of Klawinski’s most memorable experiences came in the town of Twin Bridges, Montana, where community members gathered at a calf-roping competition. Klawinski said that when he arrived it became obvious that the event was more social opportunity than competition: “It’s a way they’ve come up with to maintain communication with people that they’re separated from. We live in a landscape where we’re thirty feet from people and we don’t know our neighbors. These people are separated by 100 miles, and they purposely make time to get together and talk. They know something that we’ve unlearned in suburbia.

“You think about these kinds of things because you have eight to ten hours a day on a bicycle, and what are you going to do besides think? It gives you an opportunity to observe the world around you,” he continued. “I’m smarter and wiser at the end than I was at the beginning. I wish I could say that about every six-week period of my life, but I probably can’t.”

During the trip Klawinski would eat a light breakfast and lunch with snacks every hour, then eat a large meal for dinner. Most nights he camped out using equipment he carried on his bike, although he occasionally stayed in a hotel.  Klawinski battled weather during part of the trip, including nine days riding into a headwind, fires in western Montana and two days of rain in South Dakota.

Biking the Lewis and Clark Trail gave Klawinski an increased appreciation for the achievement of the Corps of Discovery. “Lewis and Clark and these 40 other guys headed off across the country into the wilds to a place where no white people had gone,” he observed. “It’s a wonder that they didn’t all just die. I have acquired a new perspective and a new sense of appreciation for their accomplishment–for what they did physically and logistically. It’s just amazing.”

For more detailed information, visit Dr. Klawinski’s blog site at http://lewisandclarktrail.blogspot.com