I finally got to give someone a ride Tuesday evening. My cousin Spencer had the honor. While we were taxiing out to the end of the runway I asked him how much he had flown and he told me that he had NEVER been in the air before. Although, he let me know he had spent a lot of time flying Microsoft Flight Simulator. I told him that did not count because his ass had never left the ground. Here he is with his hand on the controls while I try to take a picture of him He did a pretty good job once he got the hang of it.

Since I had a copilot I was able to open my door and take some pictures. The water in the background is the Chesapeake Bay. The island is all marsh with no dry land at all. A great place for fishing and crabbing I am sure. We were flying over the eastern side of the Nanticoke River when I took this picture of the sun setting in the west. Did not come out as nice as it looked when we were there. Was much more dramatic.

This was taken after we landed. We flew for just over an hour and Spencer seemed to enjoy the entire flight except perhaps for the steep turn demonstration. He became a little unsettled which is not unusual for his first experience with increased “g” forces. Two g’s in this case. This gives an idea of the view when the door is open. The black strap in the upper left is used to pull it closed. Sometimes I fly with my door open for the entire flight. The airplane handles the same but I keep the speeds down. Believe it or not, it is not that windy at all with the door open but it can get chilly.

I got back in the air yesterday morning for a couple of hours and spent much of the time with the door open. The Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries is home to dozens and dozens of small settlements clinging to small patches of dry land far out in the marsh but closer to the bay. Some are on islands and only accessible by boat. This one is connected to the mainland by a long narrow road over the marsh. Only a few feet above sea level, these roads flood often. Being out at here puts them closer to their livelihood, the Bay.

This is the same settlement and you can see the road stretching across the marsh. I think the structure that can be seen in the water just off shore is a “Shed House”. They enclose floating pens that contain hard shell blue crabs that are close to being ready to shed. This is how they grow and when they shed the new shell is soft for a few hours. They are collected at this point and become the “soft crabs” that are part of the local cuisine. We had smaller pens of this sort that we kept tied to our pier when I was growing up. A smaller version of the same operation seen here.

I took this picture as I was heading back to Bennett Field.  An old farmhouse by a creek that meanders towards a river and then the bay on the horizon. Driving up to a farm like this you might not even realize how close the water is. It never seems to be far away.