I’m not the kind of guy who knew his destiny at six years old. I didn’t decide to be a writer at an early age and pursue that goal relentlessly day after day overcoming all obstacles.
I don’t even remember six years old. I don’t remember high school, either. I drifted through life in a fog till I was nearly twenty.
In college I discovered I was good at something: I wasn’t afraid of math and I enjoyed English literature, writing, and grammar. I chose math as a basis for a career but also had a strong desire to write.
But about what? I’d never been anywhere, never done anything, didn’t know anything. I wanted to write but had nothing to say.
I left Minnesota after college and in 1962 found a Computer Systems Analyst job in New York (I was called a Programmer back then). I went on to do the same job at another company in Arizona in 1967 and then Alaska in 1974. I retired after 33 years in computers in 1995. I never used any of the math I studied except the underlying logic of it all, the process of doing things one at a time in a logical sequence.
In 1973 I backpacked the 2,000-mile Appalachian Trail with my wife and ten-year-old daughter. I’ve backpacked another 2,000 miles all over the US since then. Finally with something to say, or at least tell about, I wrote Walking North about the seven-month Appalachian Trail journey and Taking the Long Way Home about a selection of my ensuing treks.
I’ve also used what I learned wandering in the woods to write Manford of MorningGlory Mountain, a collection of children’s adventure stories featuring a fanciful cast of animal characters (that’s me dancing with one of them in the drawing above). Read more about these and my other books elsewhere on this site.
I now spend my time working with my brothers in Minnesota (LowtherBrothers LLC ), doing volunteer work with the Denali Safety Council in Alaska, building cabins with friends in Colorado (Rocking Moose Mountain Ranch), and writing new adventure stories in my mountainside apartment in Alaska.