CURRENT MISSION

I just want to take great big bites out of life

ABOUT ME

I went to Huntsville, AL in 1969 to work in the Space Program just before we went to the moon. I got to spend a lot of time working underwater in the neutral buoyancy tank and in the KC-135 Zero Gravity Aircraft testing Space hardware ... everything from toilets to the moon rover to scientific experiments. I raised a couple of awesome kids (last onepresented me with my first grandchild a few months ago). I have had the opportunity to play a small part some of the greatest challenges of my lifetime: 1) exploration of the moon; 2)building the first space station (Skylab); 3)the first laboratory in space (Spacelab); 4)the first commercial laboratory in space (Spacehab); and 5)worked on the Missile Defense Program. Along the way I led a team that built a commercial furnace for melting iron in space and met some real heroes. What a ride its been!

When I retired I reconnected with Kate, a wounderful woman I had dated 50 years earlier. She joined me for five days of a month long (10k mi) motorcycle trip in 2014, flying out to meet me in Seattle and riding south along the Pacific Coast Highway to San Francisco where she boarded a plane for home. We have been on a remarkable, wondrous journey ever since. We married in November 2019 and live in Linn Creek, on the Lake of the Ozarks in a little house overlooking the water.

PHILOSOPHY

Some favorite quotes:

"They can because they think they can."- Virgil

"Whether you think that you can, or that you can't, you are usually right." - Henry Ford

"Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell 'em, 'Certainly I can!' Then get busy and find out how to do it." -Theodore Roosevelt

Perché sono iscritto su Couchsurfing

WHY WE PARTICIPATE

We think this is a great opportunity to meet interesting folks from all over. Share ideas and experiences.

HOW WE PARTICIPATE

We offer a "couch" or a room when we can; we are often available to meet for coffee or a drink or a motorcycle ride or just to share information about the arera.

Interessi

We like people and love to meet folks from different cultures. Mike likes to ride motorcycles and bicycles, scuba dive and snow ski, hike and camp and discuss darn near anything over a few (or more) drinks. He loves poetry (he sometimes preforms) and singing and music (though he can't carry or play a tune). We like plays and concerts and movies and museums.

• poetry
• singing
• concerts
• coffee
• partying
• drinking
• motorcycles
• movies
• music
• cycling
• hiking
• camping
• surfing
• scuba diving
• skiing
• lakes

Una cosa incredibile che ho fatto

Reconnected with my first love after fifty years and settled on the Lake of the Ozarks with her.

Saw the ball drop in Times Square on New Years Eve 1999/2000 at the biggest party in the world in the greatest city in the world. (went back four more years)

Worked in the KC-135 Zero Gravity aircraft - testing space flight hardware.

Spent ten days in the Bridger Wilderness along the Continental Divide on the west slope of the Wind River Range in Wyoming hiking, camping and living on fresh trout. (went back and did it five more times)

Went over Bull Sluice Rapid on the Chattooga River (on the border of Georgia and South Carolina) with four people in an eight man raft on a swollen river ... very hairy!

Explored the Empire Mica 110 feet deep 64 miles out from Panama City.

Learned to ride a motorcycle at 62 years old. Now I ride anytime the weather permits. In November I camped my way to Key West and back, about 2K mi round trip.

Did a 5k mi motorcycle trip to the east: went straight north, crossed into Canada at Sault Sainte Marie, MI then went east along the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway; crossed into the U.S. at the northern most point of Maine ... went south along the coast to New York, down thru the Appalachians (Skyline Drive and Blue Ridge Parkway) turned west at Chattanooga and made it home... along the way I stayed in one hotel, stayed with four friends, four couch surfing hosts and camped out three nights.

Did a 10k motorcycle trip to the west: Huntsville, AL- Aberdeen-Sturgis-Yellowstone-Glacier-Jasper CA-Lake Louise-Vancouver-Seattle-San Francisco-San Diego-Las Vegas-Grand Canyon-Albuquerque-Oklahoma City-St Louis......

Cosa posso offrire ai padroni di casa

We think we have an interesting story or two to share and are always interested in new people, new places and new ideas.

Paesi che ho visitato

Canada, Japan, Mexico, United States

Paesi in cui ho vissuto

United States

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