The Amish are usually associated with Pennsylvania and it’s true the first settlement of Amish in the US dates back to 1730’s in Berks County, PA. However, there are also large settlements of Amish in Ohio and Indiana, and other mid-western States. The largest settlement of the
In September 2017, Garner and I scheduled over 3 weeks to hike the final section of the Appalachian Trail. Mt Katahdin, an ominous, granite rock formation protruding from forest floor is the final obstacle to reach the end of the trail, when you hike from south to north. However, we
For the first few years we backpacked the AT on short section hikes, usually 3 or 4 nights over a weekend, hiking some 35 to 40 miles of trail through Georgia, North Carolina and the first part of Virginia. At one time or another I hiked with all my family
Note: my memoir is for sale at the link above Portions of the southern Appalachian Mountain chain consist of Precambrian crystalline, gneiss, and other ancient rocks that are 1.2 billion years old, whereas the Rocky and Sierra Nevada Mountains ranges, in comparison, are less than a million years old.
On this 2nd day of October, I'm reliving happy memories of hiking the Appalachian Trail in the fall. My inaugural hike, which I wrote about in a previous blog, was a section in Georgia with my son, Alec in August 2004, that had been inspired by reading Bill
I was intrigued by the giant baobab trees in Senegal earlier this year when Michele and I toured a game preserve an hour or so outside of Dakar. Our guide told us how oral historians of indigenous people were venerated and buried inside the massive trunks of baobab trees. After
My brother, Alvin, and I spent four nights recently at Sacha Lodge deep in the Ecuadorian jungle with no road access, arriving by a short flight from Quito to Coca, followed by a two-hour ride on a speed-boat down the Napo River, an immense tributary of the Amazon
Order Farm to Table here! In the first half of my book I write about growing up in an Amish family on a farm in northern Arkansas. My parents lived in a traditional Old Order Amish community in Daviess County, Indiana, but they did not approve of some customs of
In January 2010, I gave a talk to the Caducean Society of Greater Ft Lauderdale (made up of physicians who give a 3-minute presentation about something of interest in their specialty) about a patient I had treated who had shot himself in his head with an industrial nail gun,
In 1983, two years after we had moved to Ft Lauderdale from Portland, Oregon, Michele and I were enamored by seeing the Surrounded Islands, an unique artistic exhibition that could be found about 30 miles south of us in Biscayne Bay. Miami was still in the throes of the partisan
When Michele and I recently visited our friend, Wayne, who lives near Diamond Head, we took early morning walks along Diamond Head road next to the extinct volcano. Tropical Storm Fausto had just passed by northern island chain and we observed a large number of surfers riding the waves toward
My first cousin, Ira Wagler, published a New York Times best-selling memoir titled, Growing up Amish (2010) that tells the story of leaving his Old Order Amish family and church at age twenty-six. Ira was torn by family ties and the attachment to his church so that in
While writing my memoir I was often asked when my book would be completed and become available. I now have good news--an actual copy of my book is in my hand and is called a proof. (It was formerly called a galley proof that referred to a long tray
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My first condor The Passenger Pigeon was our largest and most colorful wild pigeon but became extinct when the last pigeon died in the Cincinnati Zoo in 1914. It was once the most abundant bird in North America. After the Civil War, these pigeons were observed migrating in gigantic flocks,
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While growing up during the Cold War in the 1950s and 1960s my brothers and I often saw B-52 bombers flying over the Ozark skies. The plane had a distinctive appearance but we usually identified the airplane before we saw it because of its unique sound. I have some
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July 4, 2023 The earliest firecrackers date back to China in the 2nd century BCE when bamboo stalks were placed on a fire to keep evil spirits away. The heated stalks exploded with a popping sound and led to the development of firecrackers. During the Tang Dynasty, 600-900 CE,
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Michele and I recently visited the Congressional Library in Washington DC, the largest such library in the world, housing 2.9 million documents. It prominently displays the Gutenberg Bible (one of 21 copies still in existence) produced by Johann Guntenberg in Mainz, Germany in 1455, based on the text of
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Approaching the American Falls As the last scheduled event for the Center for Inquiry conference that I attended recently in Buffalo, NY, a group of us participants piled into two buses and made the forty-minute ride to the Niagara Falls. Enroute, our guide quizzed us with obscure facts about
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Tunnel at the beginning At the end of our 17-day tour of the northwest African coastal region, Michele and I flew from Marrakesh, Morocco to Paris for the last leg of our trip. Both Michele and Megan urged me to visit the Paris Catacombs, something I had missed on
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During a week-long cruise along the northwest African coast, Michele and I joined a day excursion from the port city of Agadir, Morocco (founded by the Portuguese in 1505) on a bus that traveled inland through the arid countryside with fields and olive trees. We passed villages, some in
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Mexican tree cacti Jacques Majorelle (1886-1962), was born to a famous Art Nouveau furniture designer in Nancy, France, who wanted him to study architecture, but Jacques chose to study art at the Académie Julian in Paris. During his formative years, he lived in Egypt for a few years where
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Blog No 26. The Desert Snake--the World's Longest Train Michele and I returned from a 22-day journey to northwest Africa with a stopover in Paris. The highlight was a week voyage on the Swan Hellenic Diana, a 5-star polar ship (a class of its own)
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Large synovial cyst at L4-L5 Soon after I began practicing neurosurgery, I wrote, “Why Back Surgery Has a Bad Name,” that was published in my local medical society’s periodical. Essentially, nothing has changed. The main reason for “failed back surgery” is because the patient was not a suitable
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In 2018, my brothers Alvin, Garner, and I, with a few close friends, camped in this wildlife refuge southwest of Oklahoma City at the beginning of April. Fortunately, our friend Jack T had just acquired a huge shelter that along with a fire, shielded us from a cold front that