From Hard Knocks to Hard Rocks: A Journey in My Shoes Book Two

While Book One covered about 40 years of the first part of my life and took place mostly in my home state of Missouri, Book Two covers 43 years, the second half of my life and focuses on many more world travels, more adventures. These adventures were in many cases fun, while others were both ethically and technically challenging and then there were those with some life threating stores. As to the latter, I'm anxious to tell you about my narrow escape from being captured by the infamous "e;Shining Path"e; in southern Peru, which was a story which sounds like Indiana Jones episode than a mining assignment; then there was the snow "e;white-out' that kept me stuck in Polaris, Little Cornwallis Island (about 200 miles from the magnetic north pole), where the outside temperature dipped to -70 degrees F for several extra days; and where only two weeks before I had experience the sultry heat on my short visit to a mine in the Amazon. I describe how it felt to be treated like the "e;ugly American"e; in Panama during the Noriega reign. I had a near death experience in Cancun, when I had an allergic reaction to some medication, where my throat swelled shut. Then there was the scary health experience that occurred while doing due diligence on a group of mines on the Tibetan plateau on my second trip to China. These are just a few of the places and stories that I know you will find interesting. Some of the countries which I describe experiences during those travels were: Australia, Austria, Bolivia, Canada, China, Chile, Honduras, Germany, Mexico, Peru, Switzerland. Then there were also those trips for pleasure to Greece, Turkey, England, Wales, Scotland, Spain, Portugal and Morocco. Of course, there are many stories about my travels in the USA including Hawaii and Alaska. You will also get a small insight into the task of due diligence as it is precariously performed in the mining industry, that I believe will surprise even the most experienced of our industry. Several of the projects which I was assigned were very challenging to severely scrutinized and to keep the feasibility engineering accurate and not misleading the investor; but then that is the job of the due diligence team. So, I hope that you will travel with me on the second half of my life's journey. You will have company, as my Guardian Angel will be traveling with us, or the journey would have been much, much shorter.

While Book One covered about 40 years of the first part of my life and took place mostly in my home state of Missouri, Book Two covers 43 years, the second half of my life and focuses on many more world travels, more adventures. These adventures were in many cases fun, while others were both ethically and technically challenging and then there were those with some life threating stores. As to the latter, I'm anxious to tell you about my narrow escape from being captured by the infamous "e;Shining Path"e; in southern Peru, which was a story which sounds like Indiana Jones episode than a mining assignment; then there was the snow "e;white-out' that kept me stuck in Polaris, Little Cornwallis Island (about 200 miles from the magnetic north pole), where the outside temperature dipped to -70 degrees F for several extra days; and where only two weeks before I had experience the sultry heat on my short visit to a mine in the Amazon. I describe how it felt to be treated like the "e;ugly American"e; in Panama during the Noriega reign. I had a near death experience in Cancun, when I had an allergic reaction to some medication, where my throat swelled shut. Then there was the scary health experience that occurred while doing due diligence on a group of mines on the Tibetan plateau on my second trip to China. These are just a few of the places and stories that I know you will find interesting. Some of the countries which I describe experiences during those travels were: Australia, Austria, Bolivia, Canada, China, Chile, Honduras, Germany, Mexico, Peru, Switzerland. Then there were also those trips for pleasure to Greece, Turkey, England, Wales, Scotland, Spain, Portugal and Morocco. Of course, there are many stories about my travels in the USA including Hawaii and Alaska. You will also get a small insight into the task of due diligence as it is precariously performed in the mining industry, that I believe will surprise even the most experienced of our industry. Several of the projects which I was assigned were very challenging to severely scrutinized and to keep the feasibility engineering accurate and not misleading the investor; but then that is the job of the due diligence team. So, I hope that you will travel with me on the second half of my life's journey. You will have company, as my Guardian Angel will be traveling with us, or the journey would have been much, much shorter.