Life
Timeline
1965
Born in Texas
My dad is Jack, mom is Neita, and brothers are Charles and Jack, Jr.
Family moved to Augusta, Georgia
1966
I learn to walk, but not too well since I fall and lose one of my front
teeth
1967
Family moved to Decatur, Georgia 1968
Most of my earliest memories of family, house, neighborhood and lots
of activities
Travel to Washington, DC, Niagara Falls, and out of the country for
the first time to Canada
1969
Learned to ride a bike as my dad held the back of the seat (without training
wheels)
1970
Family moved to Kansas City, Missouri
Learned to tie my own shoes!
Started kindergarten at Norfleet Elementary
My sister, Patti, is born
1971
Learned to swim at the Woodsen Estates community pool
My first kiss from a girl in class on my birthday (my teacher kissed
me too... the humiliation!)
Read the most books in my class for a book-reading competition (by a
margin of about 10 to 1)
1972
First of ten seasons playing baseball in the Raytown Little League
Learned to play tennis on the backboard my dad built in our backyard
First swimming competition - first place in freestyle
1973
With the influence of two teenage brothers I start listening to rock-n-roll
on my first radio
1974
My first all-star game in baseball and team championship with an undefeated
season
1975
I must have done something when I was ten...
1976
Camping trip to Colorado with dad, mom, and Patti
Celebrated the nation's Bi-Centennial as any 11 year old boy would... by
blowing things up with fireworks
1977
Started junior high school at Raytown Junior High
Mom is diagnosed with cancer and has an operation to remove it
Won my first tennis tournament in the 16 and under doubles bracket at the
age of 12 (I was literally a foot shorter than the competition)
1978
Became a teenager and starting doing teenage-things (like having crushes
on girls)
1979
Win my first medal in track and field (unlike my dad and brother Jack,
there would only be a few of these for me)
1980
Circled the American West for 7500 miles in the family car with
dad, mom, and Patti
I drive a car for the first time on the open highway in The Badlands
of South Dakota
1981
Obtain a driver's license on my 16th birthday
Won the Kansas City Jr. Novice Doubles Tennis Tournament with my future
step-brother, Eric
1982
Took my first solo cross-country trip via bus to visit
my oldest brother in Louisiana
Dad provides me with a 1979 Mazda pickup truck
1983
Absent from school (and life!) for weeks due to mononucleosis
Graduated from Raytown South High School (90th percentile)
Flew for the first time in my life in an airplane
Took my first solo cross-country trip driving a car to Maryland
Started collegiate education at William Jewell College in Liberty,
Missouri
1984
Transferred to the University of Missouri, Kansas City
Mom dies from cancer after surviving it for 7 years
Transferred to Baylor University in Waco, Texas and rented an apartment
with life-long friend, Mark
1985
First set foot outside of the US as an adult in a Mexican border town
(Matamoros)
Girlfriend Sandy gives me a black kitten named
"Boo"
Bought a little Honda trail bike
Traveled all over the state of Texas (as a "native" that hadn't
lived in TX since birth I had a lot of catching up to do!)
1986
Dad remarries to Linda Caskey
Traveled to Southern California for Spring Break by bus with
Mark
Dad gives me mom's 1979 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, I give the truck
to my step-brother
1987
Earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Baylor University
1988
Started graduate school in psychology at the University of Richmond,
Virginia
Presented my first psychology paper at a conference in New Orleans,
LA (and experienced the first-hand effects of Pat O'Brien's
hurricanes)
1989
Co-authored
my first psychology publication
Spent the Summer with Mark in Winston-Salem,
North Carolina
Transferred to a PhD program in Experimental Psychology
at Iowa State University
Bought a 1982 Yamaha Maxim motorcycle
Traveled with friends to Niagara Falls, Boston, New York and Maryland
for Fall Break
1990
Traveled with friends across Florida for Spring Break
Motorcycled from Iowa to Texas to North Carolina in the beginning
of Summer
Worked for
part of the Summer in Winston-Salem, North
Carolina
Traveled across Europe from England to Cyprus to Scandinavia
and back to England with Mark
Motorcycled back to Iowa from North Carolina at the end of Summer
1991
Traveled to Hawaii where I hiked and camped across 4 islands
- hiked the incredible Kalualu Trail on Kauai
Earned a Master of Science degree in Experimental Psychology from Iowa
State University
Treated myself to a graduation gift with a trip to Spain for New Year's
Eve and half of January
1992
Traveled in Spain and first set foot on the African continent near Morocco
Started my professional career as an intern in the Human Factors
Laboratory at IBM in Charlotte, North Carolina
Picked a tabby kitten from a friend's litter and name him "Alias" because
I'd had called Boo a hundred names already
Travel to the Maritime Provinces of Canada - New Brunswick, Prince Edward
Island, and Nova Scotia
Bought a car for the first time on my own (1988 Ford Bronco II)
Drove cross-country from North Carolina to Utah; hiked in Zion NP
1993
Had to put Boo to rest because of cancer
Traveled to England and Scotland
Made the decision not to return to Iowa State to finish the PhD
Traveled to Utah and Colorado - biked the incredibly challenging and
rough "slick
rock trail " near Moab, Utah
Moved to Fort Worth, Texas to start a new job in the Usability
Department at American Airlines/Sabre
Met my future ex-wife, Maria
Fly to a city across America almost every weekend as a perk from the
job at American
Traveled to Puerto Rico
Traveled to Costa Rica
for Christmas and took my little sister, Patti
1994
Traveled to Belize with Maria
Co-founded a business unit at Sabre and became a co-inventor of a
new business system
Bought a house in Flower Mound, Texas
Married Maria
Traveled to Santarini, Greece for the honeymoon
1995
Traveled to Alaska (the 49th state I visit)
Adopted my dog Caesar from the Humane Society (I knew instantly that he was going
to be my best companion)
1996
Traveled to Birmingham, England and Madrid, Spain
Bought a 1988 Volkswagen Vanagon
Sabre sent me to London, England for a month-long research project
1997
Traveled to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico with a bunch of other crazy airline
employees
Bought a 1986 Volkswagen Westphalia campervan
Traveled to Cape Town, South Africa
1998
Traveled my last flight as an airline employee to New Orleans,
LA
Resigned from Sabre and the cheap flights to take a job at c2o
Interactive Architects in Dallas
Separated from Maria
Bought a 1997 Volkswagen Jetta GLX (the newest car I would probably
ever own)
Caesar recovered from a bad leg wound and from getting heartworm
(I'm so sorry Caesar)
Camped at Chaco Canyon NP in New Mexico and Mesa Verde NP in Colorado
Camped at Big Bend NP in Texas
Traveled to Prague, Czech Republic for New Years Eve with friend Tony
(American Airlines)
1999
Resigned from c2o to take a job at a start-up company, Netpliance,
in Austin, TX
Caesar, Alias and I move to Austin
Traveled to Nice and Paris, France
Camped at Seminole Canyon, TX
2000
Divorced Maria
Alias was killed by a car on Easter morning
Took numerous camping trips in the Hill Country of Texas
Traveled to Jacksonville, FL
Traveled to Asheville, NC
2001
Resigned and traveled with no time barriers in Australia, New Zealand,
and Indonesia (I had the time of my life!)
Bought an 84 Ford Falcon Wagon in Perth, Australia and drove it
for 16,000 km across "OZ"
Met Liesbet in Broome, Australia and traveled
together for 11 weeks
Got stuck for a few extra days in Sydney because of the flight ban
after "911"
Traveled to Belgium to visit Liesbet in her home country
Traveled to Luxembourg
Traveled to Turkey
Caesar and I moved to Belgium to live with Liesbet
2002
Traveled to Switzerland and France
Traveled back to Austin, Kansas City, and Chicago to receive a residency
visa for Belgium and then returned
Traveled to Germany and Czech Republic
Traveled to The Netherlands
Traveled to Paris, France
Moved back to America to take a job at Lockheed Martin in Baltimore,
Maryland
Traveled the Mid-Atlantic States
Traveled to Belgium to visit Liesbet
Traveled to Florida
2003
Traveled to Belgium and The Netherlands to visit Liesbet
Traveled "home" to Kansas City, MO to attend my high school 20-year reunion
Start out on extended travels across North America
with Liesbet and Caesar
Continued to freelance part-time with Lockheed Martin while on the road
Visited
Great Smokies NP, Everglades NP, Big Cypress NM - among many other places
2004
Traveled from one end of continuous road to the other from the Florida
Keys to
Prudhoe
Bay, Alaska on the Arctic Ocean
Finally achieved visiting all 50 of the United States (North Dakota
was the last state for me!)
Traveled across western Canada - Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia
and The Yukon
Joined the Polar Bear Club by submerging myself into the icy
Arctic Ocean - au naturale
Hiked "Into the Wild" to the bus where Chris McCandless
was found dead after trying to live off the land
Visited Denali NP, Mount St. Helen's NM, Oregon Coast, Redwoods NP
Parted ways with Liesbet in San Francisco, California
Visited Yosemite NP
After a month long stay in LA, continued to travel solo (with Caesar)
2005
Traveled across California, Nevada, Arizona and parts of Northern
Mexico
Visited Death Valley NP, Grand Canyon NP, Organ Pipe NM, Joshua
Tree NP
Led my first rock climbing routes at Red Rock Canyon, Nevada
Traveled to Puerto Penasco,
MX on the Sea of Cortez
Worked and lived for several months around Scottsdale, AZ while on
a short-term contract
Turned 40... it seemed so surreal! I still don't feel like it's true!
Hiked from rim to rim and back again across the Grand Canyon (50 miles)
- see Travel Journal entry
Hiked to the top of Mt. Wrightsen (9,400 ft)
Left Phoenix to travel again prior to another full-time job
Hiked to the top of Arizona's tallest mountain, Humphrey's Peak (12,600
ft)
Visited Bryce NP, Zion NP, Cedar Breaks NM, Capital Reef NP, Canyonlands
NP, Arches NP)
Biked Moab's bone-jarring Slick Rock Trail once again after doing it
12 years earlier
Started a new job as an User Experience Designer at LSI Logic
in Austin
Continued rock climbing around Austin
2006
Bought a house in Austin's Allandale neighborhood
Caesar is diagnosed with chronic kidney failure
Traveled to Montreal, Quebec
Caesar is diagnosed with cancer in his lymph nodes; I put him to rest
two weeks later when his quality of life suffers
My father undergoes quadruple by-pass surgery, successfully (he starts
playing tennis again just 2 months later)
Traveled to Ireland
Climbed at El Potrero Chico, Mexico
2007
Got second place in the Intermediate Category of the Limestoner Rock Competition
Returned to Red Rock Canyon, NV to climb there again
Climbed at El Potrero Chico, Mexico twice this year
2008
Climbed at Ton Sai, Thailand and visited Bangkok
Stopped over in Tokyo, Japan on the return from Thailand
Climbed around Boulder, CO
Climbed at El Potrero Chico, Mexico
Met Annette Lynn Pelletier and began dating her in December
2009
Stayed on Liesbet and Mark's catamaran in the British Virgin Islands and Saint Martin/Sint Maarten
Worked and climbed in Boulder, Colorado for 6 weeks where I sent my first 5.12a. Thank you Jason for putting me up!
Took Annette to El Potrero Chico where I repeated the 5.12a difficulty twice and Annette sent her hardest lead at 5.11b
Annette and I learn that we are going to be parents together. We are ecstatic about it!
I fracture my fibula helping a Di move from her apartment. Although I heal very quickly, I miss out on climbing for 5 weeks.
2010
I start out on
a gimpy leg and as an eagerly expectant father-to-be. There will be much adventure in finding a house for my new family Annette, her daughter Corrine and our baby that is expected to be born at the end of July. Stay tuned for more!
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