The picture of Jerry and me and John the cat was taken in 1977. I know exactly because of the shirt Jerry’s wearing and the major mis-communication that occurred that October. He had gone hunting six hours north; I had planned a long weekend with friends in Ashland, Oregon four hours south.

A few years ago, I was privileged to be on a stage with two National Book Award winners, Barry Lopez and Ivan Doig. It was a great evening for me personally to be answering questions, talking about writing and stories with the likes of these two fine writers. I recently read an interview done by David Jaspar of the Bend Bulletin with Mr. Lopez, In the article, the nature writers talks about storytelling and how exploring that activity with indigenous people has been such a huge part of his travels and writing.