Adventures of a medicine man

About the Author

Over the course of the years, I have

• Sailed the deep blue waters of the Pacific.
• Lived in the bush of Africa and listened to the lions roaring just beyond the thorn-brush barrier.
• Sailed through the Panama Canal.
• Fought off hordes of mosquitoes in the Artic Circle of Russia where the sun never set.
• Been shelled and shot at in Bosnia while teaching how to care for war-wound civilians.
• Run my own river boats on some of the most fantastic whitewater rivers in the world, including the Grand Canyon, a first descent of a section of the Mekong in China and the Zambezi in Zimbabwe.

• Seen the pyramids of Egypt and traveled the Nile.
• Explored ancient Greece, from the Peloponnese to a multitude of islands. Walked the ruins of the Crusaders of Rhodes.  Sat underneath the tree where Hippocrates once taught on Kos, and swam in the Mediterranean Sea.
• Snorkeled and scuba dived in untouched coral reefs of the Red Sea off the coast of Saudi Arabia.
• Stood at the lip of a volcano as it erupted, and then danced all night around sandalwood fires beneath banyan trees celebrating the passing into manhood of local teenaged boys, on the island of Tana, in the island chain of Vanawatu,
• Hopped freight trains in the wild west.
• Climbed to 17,500 feet above sea level and looked over the countries of Afghanistan, Pakistan and China.
• Ridden horseback among the wildebeests and elephants and other wild animals of the Serengeti plains of Africa.
• Quietly sat and enjoyed the experience of being alone with a wild leopard who was resting in a tree.
• Drank too much beer at the Oktober Fest in Munich.
• Been startled awake at 5 am on a cold frosted morning by howling coyotes just on the other side of a wilderness lake.

• Ridden an elephant up a waterfall in Thailand and walked jungle trails of Burma in the dark of night.
• Hiked the Appalachian Trail and climbed 14,000-foot mountains in Colorado.
• Lived in Paris and played flute in the Metro.
• Seen the Blue Mosque and wandered around the Great Bazaar of Istanbul.
• Smoked opium in the Golden Triangle of Thailand.
• Skied and snowboarded in the Rockies and the Alps.
• Skydived over New Zealand.
• Watched African ‘demons’ dance in the glow of an African sunset filtered thru the savannah dust.
• Hunted huge-clawed coconut crabs at midnight in a dense Pacific Island jungle.
• Ridden Kipling’s ‘Frontier Mail’ rail express in India.
• Listened to music and voices resonate in the Taj Mahal.
• Ridden with Afghans in buzkashi.

The stories in this book, and others, came out of my love for a life filled with adventures.