Not What I Thought

Leo on the far left

I was so happy to get home, Culebra is like the big magician, pulling rabbits out of hats on a regular basis. But the post I was going to post two days ago was full of my flight home. I was going to whine a bit that I had to wait almost three hours and was the only person on the plane. I wanted to whine that I didn't get to sit in the babe seat, wanting to wax unphilosophically about being beyond the babe seat, my time had come, invisible woman, all of that, in a bit of a sardonic and hopefully slightly interestingly humorous style. Then, morning came.

With morning came word of the death of the very pilot who flew me in. The guy I told made one of the best landings I've ever had coming in. Over eleven years and a lot of trips, that's saying something and I meant it. I wanted to post the whole trip in, which I photographed. And I will. But I also want to just say, Leo rocked the skies for me. And I'm not saying that just because I was probably his last passenger, I'm saying it because I'd already planned on saying it, but leaving him nameless, just 'the cool pilot who gave me a cool flight home.'

Here's to you, Leonis Viouf, or Leo as those who knew you called you. I'm beyond sorrow that your flight to deliver newspapers to Vieques and then Culebra, a flight you must have flown so many times, was the one that was the last one. I don't know what happened, but I do know from our last flight, that you were an excellent pilot and something went very wrong. I'm so sorry.

Trip from Isla Grande to Home. Sorry for the unedited blots and bits of my dirty camera, I can't really look that much on these.

Close, so close, to leaving the world

Looking for home

Home coming in view

To some, 'the most beautiful beach lalala'.  To me, I'm almost home and hell yes, it's beautiful!

Here we go! Start looking out the windshield.

Sweetly down over the road, through the hills

A slight turn, we're almost on it

No jumping jolt, a professional like a good chef flipping eggs over easy, not a yolk broken.

That's all I know to say. I don't know what happened. I only know he flew me safe home. Salud, Leo.