The Last Bush Pilots

In 1876 Mark Twain published the ultimate story about youth, the wilderness, and the unbridled exuberance of adventure that we know as “Tom Sawyer”. Jump ahead 100 years to a novel written by Eric Auxier, “The Last Bush Pilots”.

Eric replaces Missouri and the Mississippi River, the riverboats, and the riverboat captains with Alaska, the Alaskan coast, the bush planes, and the variety of personalities of the pilots and people who work there. That’s how this story starts, and that will also be where it ends.

Rafts that once traveled up and down the Mississippi river, often to end up marooned on sand bars, are now propeller aircraft, plying their trade between the cities and the hunting and fishing outposts.

Tom, Huck Finn, and Becky have become DC, Allen, and Tonya (or perhaps Stephanie?) Aunt Polly’s cat is replaced by the antics of 3 bear cubs. The strict rules and conformity of Tom’s school and church are now the Government and the FAA in the Lower-48 trying to impose their rules on the frontier that is Alaska.

Yes there is risk, there is danger, there is love, and yes there is death. This is the frontier, and some aspects of this novel are not going to be suitable for the very young. But if you are between 15 and 95, this is a book to read if you have a spark of memory left in you about what adventure used to be, and can still see yourself as a modern day Tom or Becky.

As Dusty, a memorable character, says in this novel: “The adventure’s still out there son. You just gotta go find it.”

Fasten your seatbelt, push your own raft off into the currents, and get ready to explore around every new river bend the adventure that life is offering. And once in a while, look up, and taste the salt on your face from the water drops left behind as an eagle passes overhead with a salmon in its claws.

Visit Eric’s website at http://www.CapnAux.com

 

 

Note: all these photos are mine and may not be reused w/o crediting!