The Idea

A reader on my Facebook page, on hearing of my new book, asked simply, "Where did you get the idea?" I thought about trying to answer, but the space for replying is pretty small. But I give it a stab in the intro to The Routes of Man.

I'd say it started with bicycle riding, and the wish to get away from home and see the world when I was still pre-drivers license. Friends and I in Colorado started taking overnight tours into the mountains. The summer I was 15, my parents let me and a buddy do a...