I've just relocated my base of operations to the Dripping Springs area by Austin Texas. For the past two summers, and for the foreseeable future, I'll be driving around the country. I'm trying to hit as many national parks, forests, and playgrounds that the small byways and highways I find myself on take me. I go wherever the whim might blow. I hope for those interesting things that tweak my attention. There's nothing better than being free and on the road.
I am a retired electrician and a former EMT, WSI, and what the heck am I doing this work for kind of guy. I write and strive to be a writer but unfortunately I'm rarely satisfied with what I write to see it in print. I tend to volunteer my services and time and reach out to help the homeless and downtrodden.
I have been studying the secret society that underlies our country. The 'dirty kids', the homeless factions who 'wonder' our towns, cities, national parks and forests. The deadheads, rainbow camps, and the drainbow kids as well. I am an over-educated and quite naive individual who is really curious about what is actually going on out there. And that's the kind of stories I want to write.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

To meet you. Not to be trite or cute but it seems to me this couchsurfing community is all about that. Good people meeting good people. Generous and trusting their home is open to you. These open doors allow a stranger to visit a new place with the "cook's tour". The chef may not be available but that invitation, often accompanied by a smile and finger point, gives access that a quick dash through cannot possibly match. My very first hostess invited me into her family's Thanksgiving feast! I'm a writer, I love the chances I get to see the landscape of a community, town, and country. To meet it's differing characters, settings, and moods. By couchsurfing's very nature I am able to observe a persons true 'home', their community, and the individuals behind that door.

Interests

History and culture and the way our interwoven future is flowing. Science fiction, High Fantasy and Mysteries are my favorite readings but I find the stories behind historical events quite fascinating. Not just human interest but the geological, cultural, and economic developments that have shaped our world as we see it today. I have had to limit myself to the U.S., so far, as it is the one that not only am I most familiar with but which also that I feel the most comfortable sliding through.

Music, Movies, and Books

Steely Dan, Pink Floyd, Beatles, Supertramp, Aerosmith, classic rock. I have a collection of 25,000 songs and 3600 albums...
Science fiction, Asimov, Clark...Mystery, Dame Agatha, Dick Francis... Star Trek, the new comics, Star Wars... some action and intrigue.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I've seen double rainbows, twin waterspouts, tornadoes and typhoons. Nature in all it's fury and glory condensed to a sunrise. I've saved life, delivered a baby, attended to the dead, and briefly touched on the beautiful in between.

Teach, Learn, Share

I have been doing electrical work since I was 8 years old. I am also a veteran and worked many diverse professions including 15 seasons as a trained lifeguard and WSI, swim instructor, diver and coach, an EMT over six years, a writer, an inventory and warehouseman, even a driving instructor and long distance delivery among those many other professions and occupations I dipped my toe in. I've worked hotels on the strip in Las Vegas and in Key West, built houses, businesses and schools around the nation, but nothing compares to my time as an emergency response EMT in Clark, Ventura, and Orange counties where I found myself on the receiving end of lessons that most people never knew they even had to learn. I am a chatty person. I love to talk, and listen, sharing the stories of what I have lived and learned and those others have shared with me. I can offer some semblance of humor in a companionable atmosphere and an eclectic knowledge of such things which I'm sure we might find mutually interesting. I like to say that I do not have a checkered past so much as one that's like a Scottish Tartan full of color and subtle variations in patterns and texture... and it's still on the loom.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Need electrical help? I'm quite handy around the house. And, if you can stand it, my stories, and my sometimes (non)sence(less) of humor.

Countries I’ve Lived In

Japan