HasTowelWillTravel's VirtualTourist Home Page

Send Photo to a Friend

Always have a towel at the ready

Why a Towel?

"The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy has a few things to say on the subject of towels.
A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value - you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand-to- hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindboggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you - daft as a bush, but very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitch hiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have "lost". What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with."

4/23/2009: Hello to all. It's been a while, I know. Research is going well, keeping me busy a lot of the time, trying to get everything wrapped up by the end of the summer. Recently I got to go to New Orleans for the Experimental Biology conference, presenting a poster of the Alaska work I've completed so far. It was a great trip, got to see a lot of the city I missed the last time down. And this summer, a research trip to North Dakota is in the works, which I will hopefully be able to do some camping afterwards (see down).

However, all this work means that I've had to postpone my trip to the British Isles/Argentina. If all goes well this year, I'll definitely take an extended trip next year to reward myself for a job well done. I am getting antsy though.

I have some work to do in North Dakota in the summertime, a joint grant with some of the American Indian tribes up in that portion of the country. It seems intruiging, a place I have not visited ever. I was gonna try and convince them to drive instead of fly, which means afterwards I can hop around the area... Theodore Roosevelt NP, then down to South Dakota to see the Black Hills, Badlands NP, and Custer SP. Despite it's very 'un-exotic' nature, it seems to be an interesting place, great for hiking, camping, and maybe some good photography. We'll see.

Also, as part of an ongoing, long-term project, I am in training to gear up for a bike ride across Asia. This has been a goal of mine for a while, and I'm telling myself that when I graduate with my degree (whether MS or PhD depends on how impatient I am), I will undertake a bike ride across Asia. That is a couple years away, perfect to get into good riding shape and save some money for the 5-8 month journey. Right now it is looking like Istanbul to Kathmandu. But an extension through Southeast Asia would be a lot of fun as well. We'll see. If you have any input, feel free to let me know.

Send Photo to a Friend

Riding out a sandstorm, waiting for the sunset

A Bit About Me

I pursue ethnobotany, photography and cooking to inspire and capture those moments that truly mean something, and that is why I travel, interact with people, exist.

I am currently a graduate student studying ethnobotany. This is a fabulous discipline, as it involves chemistry, medicine, anthropology, botany, and travel. It has already led me to Ecuador, Alaska, and trips to North Dakota and perhaps Africa are in the works. I am ecstatic to be studying this arena, and am looking forward to completing more studies as time goes forward.

In my spare time, I enjoy exploring the great outdoors. I am an avid backpacker, hiker, biker, and kayaker. My idea of a great weekend is hopping off to a local mountain (hard to find in Illinois) and roaming around for a few days.

There's much more to me than I can fit in this tiny space, so I will leave it at that, with an open invitation to all to come and meet more of me...

--"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be." Douglas Adams

--"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts." Mark Twain

--"Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as a fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life." John Muir

--"I have no idea where this will lead us, but I have a definite feeling it will be a place both wonderful and strange. " Dale Cooper (from Twin Peaks)