I have been hosting backpackers since 2008. I tend to grow my network where I plan to travel. This is a sharing community so I give priority to couch surfers who have been hosts.

Anyone who has hosted me, or I plan to travel to their country is guaranteed a bed or a couch, if I am in residence.

Preference given if you can unhack my Yahoo and Facebook accounts, or help me with the extra bike I'm building for couchsurfers

I also give priority to couch surfers who travel light. I ask that you keep your luggage closed when not using it.

I caution men to not mark their territory when using the pissoir.

Kudos to anyone who actually reads my profile but it's not a hard and fast rule.

My next trips will be to Norway and Southeast Asia. (hint!~)

POLITICS and PHILOSOPHY
Neo-Marxist Revisionist Marxism for the 21st century, peaceful evolution, not violent revolution; eco-socialist, secular humanist.

I am a devout atheist. I believe in science; the Big Band/Big Crunch. . . Especially now that the James Webb telescope has discovered galaxies from other Universes older than our baby universe.

I suspect there are evolved beings so far beyond humanity that we cannot perceive or comprehend them. Those who sense them peripherally often revere them as spiritual deities.

I was an Army brat and grew up on various Army bases in Japan, Oregon, Texas, Hawaii and Washington State; traveling is in my blood.

I'm a political radical, science fiction fan and futurist thinker waiting for the post human, technological singularity, if I live long enough... 🖖

As a teenager I played in 'The Swingteens'. I was a paperboy delivering the Tacoma News Tribune. I mowed lawns, shoveled snow, and did chores. My father believed in 'spare the rod, spoil the child'. I was expected to earn my keep. It taught me responsibility. . .

I served in Vietnam; my various careers; musician, teacher, parole agent, and flight attendant.

The career I loved the most was as an international flight attendant, supervisor and manager for supplemental (unscheduled) charter airlines. I traveled all over the world transporting passengers to exotic locations, prisoner flights, emergency disaster relief, evacuating refugees from war zones, transporting US troops and United Nations Peacekeepers.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

As a young hippie in the 60s, long before the internet, I traveled the world looking for adventure, crashing wherever I found space. Joanne Woodward's abandoned sailboat in Tahiti, an old windmill in the Netherlands, a lighthouse in Spain, a boatel in Amsterdam, a fishing boat on the Ganges, caves in the Mediterranean. I met Joni Mitchell in 1969 in Matala, Crete, where there was a community of hippies living in caves that were used as graves by the Romans and as a leper colony in the middle ages.

The 60s to the 80s were a golden age. Kindred souls would flash the peace sign✌when I was hitch hiking and offer a place to "crash". It was the Brotherhood of the Road.

Couch surfing is a way for me to pay it forward, and I give priority to anyone who has, or will host me. I also have 40 acres of rugged land in Shasta County near French Gulch and Whiskeytown, not far from Sutter's Mill where gold was first discovered in California. My Green Party Eco-warrior friends are reconnoitering the property for an intentional community, living off the grid in earth sheltered housing. It's difficult to access; anyone interested can contact me to camp on my property.

COUCH SURFING EXPERIENCE

Most of my guests have been wonderful people; honest, mature, responsible individuals and have received positive references.

I've had a few bad experiences; one woman who claimed to be a Buddhist monk. She had really bad hygiene and was probably homeless or 'unhoused'.

The worst experience was a persistent German woman with no money and no references. She showed up on my doorstep late at night. I said she could stay for one night and I would provide her with a reference to find another host. She wouldn't leave. She was hungry so I fed her and loaned her my bus pass, which she never returned. She became extremely hostile when I told her I had other couch surfers arriving. She finally left after robbing me of my rent money while I was taking a shower. I reported her to couchsurfer staff.

Another couchsurfer, from Italy, stole my passport wallet. I blame myself for leaving it out; she is also no longer on couch surfing.

We have a lot of 'homeless' in California because of the weather and abundant social services. One young homeless girl begged to stay. Her parents had kicked her out and she was posing nude on the internet. I referred her to local resources for housing and other social services. She is now attending Santa Monica College and back on her feet.

I am extremely careful who I host now, but occasionally someone will pilfer small items they think I won't miss. I would most likely give it if asked. I have items I don't need; t-shirts, blue jeans, collared shirts, jackets, etc. If you need something, feel free to ask. Couchsurfers also leave things behind they can't fit in their backpack or roller board.

Other than those rare exceptions, I have had wonderful experiences with couchsurfers, some have become friends for life. I almost always give glowing references.

Interests

My sports are baseball, body surfing, skiing , cycling and boxing. I have cycled New Zealand and ran my last full marathon at age 50.

I have a deluxe Scrabble board; couch surfers for whom English is not their native tongue can use their phone to cheat. 😉

I am a voracious reader and traveler. I travel to Green Party, science fiction and world fantasy conventions. I usually travel solo using my flight attendant travel benefits. I can bring a companion, on occasion a couch surfer who has hosted me.

Couchsurfers sometimes offer to clean or cook; I don't ask or expect it. I will not accept money so please do not offer. I often make an American breakfast for my guests. Pancakes, bacon and eggs, or for my vegetarian guests, oatmeal, yogurt or cereal. I also make my famous pasta or Mexican burritos. For vegans; salads and plant based hot dogs.

I try to practice a minimalist lifestyle and maintain a low carbon footprint. I am an anti-establishmentarian, eco-warrior, climate, internet and political activist.

• politics
• traveling
• cycling
• camping
• surfing
• skiing
• baseball
• science
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

Cli-Fi, Cyber punk, Steampunk, hi-tech cutting-edge, near future hard science fiction, urban fantasy, alternate history and speculative fiction in general.
Sapiens and Homo Deus, Green Earth and The Ministry For The Future by Kim Stanley Robinson. Earth and Existence by David Brin. The Genius Plague by David Walton, Narcissus and Goldmund by Hermann Hesse, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, Catch 22 by Joseph Heller, etc. I am a beta reader for David Brin. David Walton acknowledged my contributions in "The Genius Plague".

Movies: Birdy, Baghdad Café, 2001, Alien, Bladerunner; more listed on my Facebook page.

Classical music, Bebop, Dixieland, Reggae, Soul, Blues, Rock, Punk, Bluegrass and some Rap.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

In 1963, as a young Navy Seaman based at Anacostia Naval Air Station outside of Washington DC, my friend, John Evans and I went AWOL to attend the Poor Peoples March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom with Martin Luther King.

We were told there would be a race riot and confined to base. It was the most peaceful demonstration I have ever been to. It opened my eyes to racism and inequality in the early days of the Civil Rights Movement. America still has a long way to go to end bigotry and the class struggle.

After the Navy I would hitchhike to rock concerts and demonstrations all over the country; Kent State, the Battle in Seattle, Million Mom March, and every anti-Vietnam moratorium.

I have backpacked in Europe, Southeast Asia, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, Singapore, Australia and Tahiti. I have slept under the stars in my rainproof bivouac sac.

I was a Peacekeeper for Bernie Sanders at the Democratic National Convention in August 2016 and stayed in the basement of the Arch Memorial Church with other activists. I was very disappointed when Bernie threw in the towel and supported Hillary Clinton and when he rolled over when the primaries were rigged again for Biden in 2020. That was when I realized progressives were the controlled opposition.

Teach, Learn, Share

I often mentor as well as learn from young couch surfers. We share travel stories and tips on how to travel on a low budget.

In 1975 I quit my government job to become a flight attendant. I never regretted the reduction in income. I have helped several couchsurfers how to get a job with the airlines. It's the perfect job for those of us with the travel lust.

LGBTQ friendly, women are treated with the respect they deserve; CS is not a dating site. . . My pronouns are Me, Myself & I 😉

My Facebook page was hacked; I lost all my data and travel photos since 2006. I lost all my Yahoo data from 1995. If anyone can recover my data, you are guaranteed a couch for a month.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I have hosted many couch surfers over the years and they have enriched my senior years. It gives me great pleasure to share my humble abode. I still have my collection of Lonely Planet and other travel books.

I have been hosted in Spokane, San Jose, Helsinki, Belgium, Norway, Glasgow Finland, Dublin, Bakersfield, Tenerife, and in Salt Lake City for the Annual National Meeting with Jill Stein. I lost count of all whom I have hosted, especially in the early years. Many of my references seem to have disappeared.

Couchsurfing has grown and changed since it became corporate. There is less incentive to be a host, many let their membership lapse if they're not traveling and I no longer available to host.

Countries I’ve Visited

Afghanistan, Australia, Chad, England, France, French Polynesia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea, Thailand

Countries I’ve Lived In

Chad, Egypt, England, France, India, Japan, Morocco, Norway, United States