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I was born in Germany and spent my early childhood in Turkey, but have lived most of my life in British Columbia, Canada. For the last three decades, when I have had an address it has usually been somewhere near Nelson, BC, in the unceded territories of the Ktunaxa and Sinixt peoples. But in general I am a nomadic soul and have moved about a great deal, racking up many many nights in my tent or under the stars, sleeping in wild places.
I got the long distance wilderness backpacking bug in the mid 80s and have had a few awesome adventures on foot since then. In 2000, I tried cycle touring for the first time; my first overnight trip was several thousand kilometers and took me past the arctic circle to Inuvik. I fell in love with touring and have done a number of tours since, all on the same non-suspension mountain bike (a Specialized Rockhopper which at some point in our adventures together gained the nickname Red Baron).
In the summer of 2016 I bought and roughly camperized a mini van (a dodge grand caravan a.k.a. the Silver Pig) which has served as 'luxury' accommodation for a few road/camping trips since. I still hope to spend more time exploring the wilds with a backpack and a tent, but I am not aging all that gracefully and arthritis is setting some limits on what I am able to do.
I'm now more or less retired, but even before that I worked just enough to fund my trips. I am trained as a land survey tech, and did work in that field a fair bit, but over the years I have also driven cab, delivered fliers and catalogues, worked as a wilderness guide, and done various other jobs in order to keep going.
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