Life can be surprising. From this point on my life’s journey, I look back, and it almost seems surreal. As I gaze through that long traveled pathway of time, I can honestly say that had I had a chance at the beginning to glimpse forward to see where this traveled road would take me, I wouldn’t have believed it. And so, this is probably true for a lot of us in my generation. We were born into a time of change, significant change. The kind of change that would set our lives and those of the following generations apart from those of just one generation ahead of us. The previous generations secured our future. They paid for it with their personal sacrifice and unrivaled bravery. That future has also served to make the world a smaller place, whether it be by audio and video communications, computers, or the commonplace of jet travel. As part of this “new” world, I have gone on to see and do things that seemed to be out of reach from that generational point where I entered this life. As I have reached the more “senior” years of my life, I have found the temptation to document a lot of life’s little adventures, or “misadventures” as they may be. I am also responding to those many people who have said “you should write a book”. The technology of today has also made this temptation easy and practical to implement. This book is my first pass at this endeavor, at least in the non-technical realm. The subject matter was an easy choice. The events covered in this book affected many things in many ways. These effects include both future generations and the geographical aspects of the regions involved. More importantly, this story, at least in part, shares common elements with many other people and communities. In some cases, these same things are occurring right now, in probably very similar circumstances. This book just may provide helpful insight to others who now stand where we once stood. Bob Strauss