
My earliest memories are of hunting camps, eating food cooked over a campfire or a Coleman, and sleeping on cots in canvas tents.
Our first home in Montana was a cabin my father built from logs in the Gallatin Canyon on the side of a mountain. I grew up climbing rocks and trees, wading in creeks, catching fish with my hands and daydreaming.
I made up stories from a very young age – often involving cowboys since I was born in Texas and grew up in the Wild West. It was wild back then and all my heroes were Davey Crocketts and Daniel Boons. On vacations we often went to Virginia City, rode in stagecoaches and visited the tombstones of outlaws.
We never lived in town even when we lived closer to civilization. I learned to ice skate, sled, build snowmen, fish and hunt. I learned to shoot.
My father was a contractor so I also grew up around tools and learned to build things. I can make mortar, plane wood, hammer a nail.
More…