Cloud Clippers

"The big storm over Amarillo was breathing down our necks now, having reversed itself completely, and I had the choice of flying the canyon, something I would not do in a light plane under any circumstances, or landing on someone's ranch. Suddenly the plane rose just a fraction of a second, then wham! Down she went.

I heard a loud crack as I pulled the throttle clear back and nosed her down. There goes a wing, I thought, but Fred shouted in a muffled voice that it was just his head going through the top! And it had, through the inner canvas roof. I looked back and there he sat, baggage tumbling around his shoulders."

Cloud Clippers: The High-Flying Life of Marie Rae Miller Hubert is the story of a woman's daring and remarkable life. Marie was a teacher, meteorologist, artist, writer, poet, private and commercial pilot, and completely unique mother. Flying was her passion. She earned her private pilot's license in 1945 at age twenty-four, then marched into a bank and requested a loan to buy her first plane, a Piper J3 Super Cub. She earned her commercial license at twenty-seven, taught aviation at a military school in 1945, set a Piper Cub altitude record in Oregon in 1950, and helped shape generations of students as a high school teacher.

At age twenty-eight, Marie married a Navy veteran, Frederick Emil Hubert, twenty-six years her senior. Together they flew several cross-countries, most of them fraught with storms and close calls. They eventually settled in Florida, where, at ages forty and sixty-six, they received unexpected news: they were going to have a baby. Karen eventually became her mother's co-pilot and travel partner, and their numerous adventures together created an unbreakable bond.

In total, Marie owned three airplanes, each of them dubbed Cloud Clipper, in which she completed twelve circumnavigations of the United States. As a child, Karen flew with her mom on four cross-countries in a 1958 Forney Aircoupe. Remarkably, it's still flying the skies of Oregon.

Marie continued her journeys by car, RV, cruise ship, and airline long after she sold her final plane; well into her eighties, often accompanied by her Siberian husky. Drive alone to Alaska for two months at age seventy-nine? Check. Marie explored every state in the U.S. by small plane, car or RV; and visited Mexico, Canada, a myriad of Caribbean islands, and most of Europe. She sailed on seven cruises, around the Caribbean, to Canada, and to Mexico. Impressively, she journeyed to forty-eight out of our sixty-three National Parks.

Included in Cloud Clippers are Marie's original flight logs, photos, newspaper clippings, and stories she wrote of her adventures. She was a fierce feminist before there was such a designation, and her voice shines bright over the course of her ninety-four unique, adventurous years. At its heart, Cloud Clippers is a love letter from a daughter to her mother.