2015 Update:  After Roy-Hart, I got a BS in Horticulture at Michigan State and worked at Smiths Roses until the business closed in 1979. I worked as a management consultant for about a year and then went back to school for a Masters in Public Administration from Auburn University at Montgomery. In 1982 I moved to Washington, DC and started working for the federal government. I spent 25 years working as a budget analyst and a program manager in a variety of Defense Department agencies. The best was the Office of Special Events working with law enforcement agencies and organizing committees on events like the Olympics and Paralympics. It was not quite the career I planned in high school but it was fun.

I retired in January 2007 and that October, I went into the Peace Corps. They sent me to Macedonia. Pop Quiz: Where is Macedonia? Answer: It was part of Yugoslavia and is on the northern border of Greece. After an intense 3-month training program, during which I learned to speak Macedonian, I started a 2-year assignment to help the Macedonian Habitat for Humanity. That was a great assignment. It was a super bunch of people and a great organization to be helping. I worked with teams of volunteers from the US and Europe who were coming to Macedonia to build houses. During the summer of 2008, we had about 100 volunteers come to Macedonia. I helped with their travel, their adjustment to Macedonia, taught them a little about the history of the Balkans, and tried to show them all the good food and beer. Macedonia is a very interesting country and the people are fantastic. Go there someday.

Again, things happened a little differently than planned. I had to leave the Peace Corps after only 1 year because of a medical problem. The medical problem was quickly resolved but I found myself back in the US after 1 year instead of the 2 years I had planned. My house in Alexandria was rented for 2 years and I had no place to live. That started the routine that I am still following. I spend the summer living in Canada and the other 6 months are spent traveling. I did three volunteer projects with Cross Cultural Solutions. I went to Brazil, Morocco and China to do projects with them. Cross Cultural Solutions is a great way to do volunteer travel. I also did a lot of international travel on my own. I added passport stamps from South Africa, most of South East Asia, Turkey, Greece, and a lot of Europe. I went to Prague in the Czech Republic for a month for a Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) class. I now have a TEFL Teaching Certificate that I’ve never used but it gave me a chance to travel through Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Austria.

I continue to rent out my house and use the money to travel, but now in the southern half of the United States. I drive a lot and stay in hotels about 175 nights a year. It’s interesting and, generally, unplanned. My parents passed away in 1992 and 1996. I never got married but my two brothers have 5 kids so I’m an uncle and grand-uncle.