| What is your most memorable childhood experience? | In my early childhood the memory of digging a mud hole in the backyard and playing in it with friends stands out. In retrospect I’m surprised my mom let us run the hose for hours on end. Later, when I was a teenager, I would have to say my first backpacking trip to the Sierra Nevada mountains made a great impression on me. |
| What immediate family member do you closely identify with and why? | My great-grandmother left the United States in her nineties, where she had lived her entire life, and moved to Australia to be with her daughter where she lived the rest of her life. She and I were never particularly close as I grew up hundreds of miles away from her. I only saw her one more time when my family went to Australia for her hundredth birthday. This isn’t something I identify with, but it is a piece of my family's history that I find somewhat profound and interesting. |
| What character traits do you admire in an individual? | The three traits that I admire most are honesty, empathy, and intelligence. |
| What is the funniest thing ever to happen to you? | In 2016 I hiked the continental divide trail. It is like the Appalachian trail, but it runs from Mexico to Canada through New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. While hiking through Montana, I had been hiking in my underwear because my pants were too hot and causing chafe. The trail doesn’t go directly through many towns and most of the time the best option for getting to a place to buy food was to hitchhike 5 to 40 miles from a place where the trail crosses a road or highway. On this day I arrived at a road where I needed to catch a ride. As soon as I put my backpack down to fish out my pants a car came around the bend. I stuck my thumb out and waved. I didn’t think they would stop, 95% of cars aren’t interested in picking up a smelly hiker, much less one without pants. To my surprise this car pulled over. A woman with brown curly hair probably in her 40s was driving alone. I briefly explained that I was hiking the continental divide trail, where I was trying to go, and she offered me a ride. I thought to myself “Should I put on pants now before getting in the car? No, that would be weird.” We began to make small talk as she drove, and I wondered whether she had noticed my pants situation. My bewilderment quickly shifted as I realized I was riding with a woman that looked and sounded just like Sara Palin. My mind was racing for the rest of the drive: This can’t be Sara Palin? I had black boxer briefs on, and if you didn’t notice the fly on the front they looked like bike shorts, kind of. Why would Sara Palin be driving alone through the middle of nowhere Montana and why would she pick up a hitchhiker? Did she notice my lack of pants and not care or …? I soon learned that she was traveling for work. I forget exactly what she did, but it was definitely not an executive position in the Alaska State government. She ended up dropping me off in the middle of town and I profusely thanked her for the ride and then ducked into an alley/side street to put on my pants. |
| If time and money were not an issue, where would you travel and why? | If you give me an unlimited budget it’s probably going to involve a sailboat, some kayaks and the Pacific Ocean. It would also entail paying some good friends to be “crew” so they could ditch life and come with me. Just given unlimited time I would probably hike another long trail. The Pacific Northwest Trail is next on my list if I ever do another long hike. |
| When and if you ever have children, what would you like to pass on to them? | I do want my own children that I will raise someday. I definitely want them to think for themselves, have empathy, and respect for others and the planet. I imagine that what exactly I want to pass onto them will change over time as priorities and circumstances change and they grow and change as people do over time. |
