My problem with most athletic challenges is training. I'm lazy and find that workouts cut into my drinking time.

A journey is measured in friends, not miles.

The dirty little secret about adventure writing is that something has to go wrong.

New Orleans jazz is a complex and embracing art form that began about the same time as the blues and encompassed many of its excellences.

Charlie Patton, who was born in 1891, recorded some of the very first blues. In 'Pony Blues' and 'Peavine Blues,' he manages to pile dense layers of rhythms one upon the other.

In my life outdoors, I've observed that animals of almost any variety will stand in a windy place rather than in a protected, windless area infested with biting insects. They would rather be annoyed by the wind than bitten.

Many people go into the wilderness to experience it, and if they experience it in comfort, there's very little in a literary sense for them to write about.