To develop many of my first person illustrations and stories, I've been able to draw from a broad and varied base of experiences. Of course I've never gone after these experiences s such, they just sort of came my way. As I'm older now it's great looking back at a life of adventure and reliving some of those times. Below I have listed some, but not all, of my adventure benchmarks.

• Born poor during the great depression. Grew up poor.

• My father an artist, entertainer and public figure ... but poor!

• I was seriously hit by a car as a pedestrian in walkway. (Pacific Hwy/San Diego.)

• Serious highway crash in my V.W. Van. Teenager driving.

• Had several of my war cartoons published in Christian Science Monitor.

• My war cartoons and two puppet shows aired by T.V. Channel 8.

• Had to make decision to pull cord on 13 year old Mexican boy named David. Brain dead after drowning in a local Christian camp. Had to tell his mother her son was dead.

• Ran over my own leg twice in my own car. (V.W. Vanagan) You can do it if you try.

• I've had nearly a dozen medical procedures, so I know what hospital life is.

• Worked as an aircraft mechanic for fifteen years. (Convair). Youth work in the evenings on the side.

• Spoke in most of the key missionary schools around the world and most of the missionary schools in South America.

• Have been in two major earthquakes. (Long Beach about 1932 & San Francisco 1989)

• Had lunch with Billy Graham (Four of us).

• Had several meals with Wycliff's Camron Townsand.

• Watched my youth group grow from thirty to five hundred.

• I have written and/or co-written four books.

• Joined the army and fought in Korean frontlines as a machine gunner on halftrack. (Four 50 caliber guns in a turret)

• Took a boat trip (troop ship) across the pacific and back. My only cruse.

• Climbed Mt. Fuji.

• Have flown around the world twice.

• Traveled the world. I have visited forty countries. Done the tourist thing. Visited Europe, the Eiffel tower/Coliseum/Mars Hill/Holy land, etc.

• Climbed one pyramid in Egypt.

• Photographed big game in Africa.

• Hunted tiger in Assam India.

• Took a trip by elephant in the Indian jungle, Assam.

• Visited over a dozen primitive indigenous tribes in several countries around the world. Most in S.A.

• Hiked, hunted and lived with the Yanowamö Indians. Venezuela. (eaten everything from live grubs to monkey & sloth)

• Have seen and stayed with Indians that never had seen white men.

• Photographed two Indian groups fighting each other.

• Watched a witch doctor do his thing to a dying man.

• Had several Indians pull arrows on me.

• Robbed on the street in Lima Peru.

• Been in several revolutions and demonstrations in Bolivia (tear gassed).

• Assisted in several medical operations in India and Mexico..

• Flew in the flight deck of a commercial airline from LaPaz to Lima. (Boeing 727) L.A.B. Airlines.

• Flew in an old WWII twin engine Catalina seaplane in Peru.

• Flew in a DC3 from Cochabamba Bolivia to Miami.

• Took a boat ride over lake Titicaca. Bolivia/Peru.

• Took a train ride across the Peruvian altiplano.

• Visited Cusco and Machu Picchu in Peru.

• Just about crashed while flying over the Bolivian jungle when our single engine conked out for a time.

• Boated often on the Amazon and Orinoco rivers. I have seen the Nile river.

• Overturned in a boat on the Amazon river near Manaus. Almost drowned.

• Broke my left knee while hiking in the Venezuelan jungle (9/11/) carried by pole to NTM airstrip by Indians. A month with broken knee in Venezuela.