My wife Maxene and I are both retired and living in Petaluma, California, about 30 miles north of San Francisco in the wine country. We are both very active, and love to travel, and socialize. We met at work, the California Coastal Conservancy. I worked there for over 30 years and got to make a difference for the environment. I'm now on the board of the Sonoma Land Trust, that works to protect the environment of Sonoma County where we live and where I grew up on a small farm.

We have two kids, Sam 30 who works in international development and lives in D.C., and Jessica 28 who is a writer for the travel site, UTRIP. She lives in Seattle.

We are both very liberal politically, and often work on campaigns.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I love to meet and talk with people from around the world. We travel a lot ourselves. I remember what it is like to travel when you have little money and feel a bit lost. I get great joy out of helping people and putting positive energy into the world through kindness and understanding.

Interests

We both read a lot, especially history, science, and fiction. We are both swimmers. We are members of a local gym but also swim in San Francisco Bay where we are members of the Dolphin Swimming and Rowing Club. We also hike and bike a bit. We love to travel and have been many places over the past thirty one years together. We are very interested in politics and making the world better for everyone.

• writing
• environment
• dining
• cooking
• wine
• clubbing
• politics
• traveling
• socializing
• cycling
• hiking
• swimming
• rowing
• history
• international relations
• science

Music, Movies, and Books

I'm a blues, folk, rock and roll, and classical music fan. But I also am getting more into jazz lately. I also like world music, choral music, and just about anything else. We are super movie fans. I suppose my favorite movies of all time are the ones that made an impression on me when I was young: Doctor Strangelove, Lawrence of Arabia, Casablanca... We really like most genres except for horror or creepy slasher stuff. As for books, all of the Patrick O'brian novels, Dr Zhivago, Song of the Dodo, Game of Thrones, and Lord of the Rings.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I swam from Alcatraz back to San Francisco, a few times. Last time was 2013. Not bad for an old guy.

In my job, I had a major hand in raising over $1,000,000,000 to protect the California coast.

Maxene gave birth to two children without pain medication. Now that was amazing!

Teach, Learn, Share

We know a lot about politics, the environment, history, raising kids, wine and food, places to see and things to do in Northern California.

What I Can Share with Hosts

We are not necessarily looking to surf ourselves, probably only want to host. But if we do stay with others, we are able to help with food or bring some nice wine. We can share information about where we live and have traveled. We are also happy to help cook and clean.

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Belgium, Bhutan, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, England, France, India, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, Kiribati, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Portugal, Scotland, South Africa, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, Uruguay, Vatican City State, Zimbabwe