CURRENT MISSION

I love to travel and meet people with different backgrounds and experiences from myself. My kids are grown and gone and I can hit the road again. Life has has been good to me and I want to share what i have as others shared with me throughout my life.

ABOUT ME

divorced father of two grown kids. Traveled through south and central America prior to college, family, kids for several years. I have always enjoyed sharing my home with others and joining others in theirs. When I was a boy, my parents would bring hitchikers home, feed them dinner and send them off in the morning. I have traveled by thumb over much of the country back when this was easier. I can offer a good place to head off to Seattle, the mountains, and anywhere in the north west of the USA. Tacoma offers beautiful views of Puget Sound, the Olympic, and Cascade Mountains.We have a wonderful museum of glass, art museum, historical museum,beautiful parks, and great restaurants from a variety of cultures and nations. This is a wonderful place to live and visit. On Clear days, Mt Ranier towers over us two hours away. I'll show you around with hikes, biking,ferry rides, maybe kayaking. I like to cook and share meals with friends and try new foods and recipees. We can bake bread and I will share honey with you from my bee hives.

PHILOSOPHY

We all grow and become better persons through sharing our lives with others. The greatest treasure we can have are our memories. When we are young, we value our friends, our dreams, our goals, our values. as we grow older, we add to that our memories, our families, the community we develope over our lives. I try to live my life sharing my life with others with a goal of having fun, creating memories, encouraging others to persue their dreams, goals, and values while I persue my own.I look forward to hearing the tales of adventurers and offering them safe refuge to inspire my new adventures.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I have a couch or bed for singles or couples in a room that is private to sleep in but common space in the day time. 1-3 nights are best. You can use my home as a base if you are going into the mountains and need a place to leave stuff. Happy to share meals and introductions to friends and family across the country that you can visit.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I have had guests from China, Germany, Russia, New Zealand, Australia, France, Korea, Ice Land, and USA. I have surfed in Peru, South Africa, had CS meet ups in Nepal, Egypt, Botsuana, Zimbabwe and USA.

Interests

bike riding, kayaking, hiking, reading, gardening, friends, discussing anything we can agree or not agree on. I am interested in how others perceive life, values, dreams, goals, religion, etc. the things that make us human. I started bee keeping tenyears ago and the amount I still have to learn is constantly reinforced.

Music, Movies, and Books

i will read just about anything, almost compulsively but lean toward nonfiction. I subscribe to 11 magazines. My music leans toward the music of my youth, like most people but if you introduce me to something new, I'll probably like it. I like movies but don't take time for them. I shy away from emotionally difficult or trying topics as I see to much of that professionally as a hospice nurse. I would rather listen to someone else's story over dinner or a drink or two.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

canoed from Lago Agrio down the Agua Rico river in Ecuador to the Napo River on the Peruvian border by myself taking about 2 months to do it. I learned fishing with hooks and dynamite and toxic plants. Toxic plants is easiest and a lot less scary. trading with natives on the tributaries for fruit and yucca to eat. sprouting grains, legumes, in plastic bags for salads. Was cured of dysentery by a Brujo. Got arrested at a Peruvian army outpost as I crossed the unmarked border into Peru with my shotgun, fishing supplies, two cases of aguadiente and several cartons of cigarettes,the most valuable trade goods in the jungle. It showed me how lost I really was! We spent the next 10 days drinking, smoking and fishing. When the contraband was gone, they sent me back up the river and we parted friends for ever.This was in 1973.
Since then, I have hiked the Wonderland Trail, biked from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas, helped build a community center in Peru and a water project in Nepal. Helped build a waiting mothers shelter in Zimbabwe. I just returned from a trip to Botsuana and Namibia where we distributed 60,000 books to 80 public school libraries. I did this with my Rotary Club.
What I am most proud of is raising my son and daughter who have become joy filled, generous, thoughtful, ethical, moral people human beings that I like and enjoy spending time with.

Teach, Learn, Share

I'm semi-fluent in Spanish, have been a nurse for 40 years. I know a lot about a lot of practical stuff that may or not be valuable to the traveler and am willing to share it. I can make a tasty meal out almost anything, how to grow sprouts for traveling for cheap nutritious cooking free food. I can teach you about bees and show you a hive in the summer.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I'm an easy guest. I clean up after myself and don't spread out to much. My life attitude toward life is a joyful one. I get up with a smile and keep quiet until the time is right. I would love to cook you a meal or enjoy yours. I'm curious about just about everything so I won't be bored or to boring. I can fix a lot of stuff that needs fixing you haven't gotten around to yet. If you are a talker, I'll listen. If you are a debater, I'll take the opposing side just for fun. I love to learn and to share and enjoy try new things and laugh.

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Egypt, Honduras, Jordan, Lesotho, Mexico, Nepal, Peru, South Africa, Spain, Venezuela

Countries I’ve Lived In

Ecuador, Turkey, United States, Uruguay

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