Upon finishing school, I delved further into the paddling lifestyle, working an assortment of random part-time jobs so that I could live hand to mouth while kayaking as much as possible, and periodically maxing out my credit cards to travel and see new and different rivers. I did freelance web work for various paddlesports industry companies before taking a job with a kayak company where I worked for several years, learning the ins and outs of how the business side of kayaking works. Ultimately, the call of the rivers I hadn’t seen yet was too strong, and I returned to the kayak bum lifestyle, using my experience to start a company with my wife Andria making guidebooks and DVDs. Since then, we’ve spent four to six months on the road each year, exploring the rivers of our continent from our kayaks. My goals are to be a local boater wherever I go, and to experience as many whitewater rivers as possible. I hope that as an AW board member, I can work to further the connection and communication of what AW does to all paddlers, providing greater organizational transparency and encouraging more people to support and become involved in AW.