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When I was six, my father’s work made it necessary to move from Northern California to the East Coast for a year. We loaded up the car and drove there, taking three weeks to see all the sights along the way.  The following year, we drove back along a different route. Here’s me standing in front of the White House.

I’m about 13 in this shot, crawling around in an ice cave near Eagle Lake.

That's me at age 15 (second from the left, under all the hair).  Believe it or not, this motley crew was a rifle team that won several marksmanship contests, one of them international.

Atop Mt Lassen.

The location is a roadside amusement park somewhere in Arkansas.  Although you can’t see them, I’m stretching my legs after several hours at the wheel.  A couple of friends and I were taking turns driving, trying to reach Nashville in two days. No, we didn’t want to see the Grand Ol’ Opry.  We had signed up for summer jobs there.  The jobs (of course) were a disaster, but the experience was amazing.

Here I am in the role of “Hornbeck,” the Big City newspaperman, in a local production of Inherit the Wind. That electric-blue suit and pink shirt really set me apart from the overalls the other characters were wearing.  I got laughs simply by walking onstage!

Tubing down the Sacramento River.  For those of you who might not know, "tubing" means reclining in a large innertube, and letting the current take you a few hours downstream to where your car awaits.  I've heard rumors that some people consume beer while doing this.

At a mayor’s conference in Sacramento.  I was trying to take a nice picture of my Dad, but Governor Jerry Brown edged into the shot.

YOU'VE MADE IT THROUGH THE EARLY 1980s!  CARE TO CONTINUE?

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