How could anyone not be curious about someone named Rinker Buck?

Even if I made bad photos of him, it would be very interesting to meet this person.

As it turned out, Rinker Buck was even more fascinating than his name, and my photos for his latest book turned out OK.

He is a writer of serious note. Seems its partly genetic; Rinker's father was Thomas Francis Buck, publisher of LOOK magazine.

But family does not account for Rinker's success. His book, “Flight of Passage,” was and still is very popular, in a way similar to “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.” 

“Flight of Passage” is a book about flying across the U.S. from New Jersey to California. In 1966, Rinker, age 15, and his brother Kernahan, 17, put their father's Piper Cub back together and took off. True story!

It's about their flight which, interestingly enough, passed over Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, (home of the “Piper Cub”) just east of where I grew up.

At Black Moshannon Airport, 10 miles from my family home place, there were Cubs parked everywhere. Our family used to grab soft-serves at the local Tasty Freeze then drive to the airport to watch Alleghany's DC-3, evening flight come in. Hot damn!

Rinker is the real deal. He has worked for several big time New York City magazines, and reported for major newspapers in the northeast. He has written four books, with a new one coming out this summer and another in the works. You gotta meet this guy.

He lives here in Maine quite a bit. Many of his nine brothers and sisters live in the northeast, as does his 90-year-old mother. You won't be disappointed. Watch for the book tour.

By the way, Doc Andrews owned a Piper Cub J-3 similar to Buck's. John took off and landed, mostly, on the old grass strip adjacent to Adam's Pond.