I Was Born on the Thumb of a Hitchhiker’s Curse

I Was Born on the Thumb of a Hitchhiker’s Curse

An occasionally, mostly true tale.  When my parents named me after a hitchhiker they picked up in a blizzard somewhere between Wyoming and Nebraska, I don’t believe they had the intention that I become a hitchhiker myself. But that’s what happened. I became someone...
Tom Cat the Owl Man Was My Cellmate

Tom Cat the Owl Man Was My Cellmate

Before I was taken to my jail cell, the guards made me undress and put on ‘blues’. My new wardrobe. Criminal pajamas. Then one of them taunted me by loudly spitting out from over his desk, “Hope you don’t have claustrophobia!” I did have a fear of enclosed spaces and...
In the Middle of the Night, I Searched for Stories

In the Middle of the Night, I Searched for Stories

In the middle of the night, I would wake up under a heavy, red blanket. I’d peer out into my dark, little room from high on my brass bed and survey the shadows on the walls. If there was nothing scary, I’d slide the blanket off my little body and prepare for...
A Waterman’s Homecoming and Near Death in Nosara

A Waterman’s Homecoming and Near Death in Nosara

It had been years since I paddled out. When I stepped out onto the beach in Nosara, Costa Rica, there were lines upon lines of gorgeous, glassy waves. Shimmering, blue, and peeling both to the left and right. I felt like a little boy getting ready to open birthday...