Flying with J D Quillin

Decided to put some excitement in my life today and took J D up on his kind offer to take me flying.....I've been pestering him for about twenty years to take me up, never thinking it would ever actually happen. Yesterday he appears at the bike shop on his bike and says tomorrow at 1 pm liftoff..........so I get to the hangers and the open one has an antique piper cub in it... vintage 1941. It has 86 horse power, no radar, no door (actually there was a door, it was folded down) and a cockpit tighter than you know what. You turn the prop to start it. J D says it's what flying is all about......Since I've already wet my pants when I realized this was what I was going to be in, I figure I might as well do it. J D showed me how to slither into the cockpit seat behind his....there's a big metal stick sticking up between my legs...it's how you fly the plane.....no room for nothing, my cameras both hanging around my neck in some sort of choke hold........After starting her up by manually spinning the prop he got in and off we went into the sky. We flew for an hour, burned 4.5 gallons of fuel. Took 850 photographs and wasn't even scared (much) when we landed (on the grass) at the airport (its easier on the tires.) Freeking most awesome day I've had in YEARS!!!!!! There was a lot of haze in the air preventing a lot of detail but I still am enjoying the images and reliving the experience. Flight of a lifetime for me no doubt! For you Assateague lovers I shot some of the hunting lodges including Bob-o-Dell which I have never been to as it is on an island. Good shot of Buntings Lodge and road, valentines, and the Clements house and boat shed. I will add more images as I get them processed. Enjoy!