better lands: The Southbound Journey is the second book in a five-book suspense series. The world has fallen to its knees from an ongoing 4-year pandemic, but the story is not about its weaknesses. Rather about the strengths of human struggles trying to maintain relationships through the course of survival as some Burlington, Vermont survivors go on a tempestuous foot journey to an inland peninsula in Kentucky that professes to be virus-free. Friendships, romance, controversies, violence, and death become staples of the new world. The first book introduced 16-year-old Rosa Wells, a privileged and sheltered only child who lost both parents to the pandemic. After surviving almost being sexually victimized by someone close (Mr. Chuso), she gained her footing, joined a tent community, and eventually moved into a leadership role, partly by killing enemies. After much research on an inland peninsula in KY that professed to be virus-free, Rosa and four Vermont teams of 100 each is chosen to take the initial journey, traveling a week behind each other. Book one followed each of them through the Fort Drum Army base. THE SOUTHBOUND JOURNEY closely follows the teams as they travel through 3 hub locations in Ohio: Cleveland, Ashland, & Cincinnati. The travelers continue to face new friendships, controversies, deceit, violence, and death along their journey as other outsiders join the migration teams. A few folks step up to the plate with stronger leadership abilities. Discover if Rosa is able to maintain her position or become more of an underlying leader.

Adult suspense series about human resilience and hope for survivors of a dying world. During a deadly pandemic, survivors journey by foot from Vermont to Kentucky in search of safe, virus free lands and are met with life changing challenges.

"Engaging hybrid - part lyrical travelogue, part investigative journalism and part jeremiad, all shot through with droll humor." --The Atlanta Journal Constitution In 1867, John Muir set out on foot to explore the botanical wonders of the South, from Kentucky to Florida. One hundred and fifty years later, veteran Atlanta reporter Dan Chapman recreated Muir's journey to see for himself how nature has fared since Muir's time. He uses humor, keen observation, and a deep love of place to celebrate the South's natural riches. But he laments the long-simmering struggles over misused resources and seeks to discover how Southerners might balance surging population growth with protecting the natural beauty Muir found so special. A Road Running Southward is part travelogue, part environmental cri de coeur--a passionate appeal to save one of the loveliest and most biodiverse regions of the world by understanding what we have to lose if we do nothing.

2020 Banff Mountain Book Competition Finalist in Adventure Travel In Journeys North, legendary trail angel, thru hiker, and former PCTA board member Barney Scout Mann spins a compelling tale of six hikers on the Pacific Crest Trail in 2007 as they walk from Mexico to Canada. This ensemble story unfolds as these half-dozen hikers--including Barney and his wife, Sandy--trod north, slowly forming relationships and revealing their deepest secrets and aspirations. They face a once-in-a-generation drought and early severe winter storms that test their will in this bare-knuckled adventure. In fact, only a third of all the hikers who set out on the trail that year would finish. As the group approaches Canada, a storm rages. How will these very different hikers, ranging in age, gender, and background, respond to the hardship and suffering ahead of them? Can they all make the final 60-mile push through freezing temperatures, sleet, and snow, or will some reach their breaking point? Journeys North is a story of grit, compassion, and the relationships people forge when they strive toward a common goal.

Journeys with Open Eyes is not a travel book although it provides a wealth of information about places far-away and sometimes very close to home, both locationally and psychologically. Nor is it a history book, although the author, Hugh Roberts, was present in or around many of the world's trouble spots immediately before or after some of the epoch-making events of the 20th and early 21st centuries. This is a book about people. As such, it is concerned with Hugh's empathetic approach to members of the human race, be they indigenous residents of the High Andes, Soviet functionaries, Arab princes, white South Africans of the Apartheid era or numerous others. There can be no doubt that empathy helped him in his career as an international Urban Planner but empathy like this is only found in those with a genuine love for humankind. Hugh judges systems of government but rarely the people operating or imposing them. As a result, he invariably gets the best out of his fellows whether as friends, work colleagues or chance acquaintances. Journeys with Open Eyes will entertain and educate the reader in full measure and should be required reading for all who care for the inhabitants of this planet.