Hello and thank you checking out my bio page. Hit me up the next time in the Canyon for some conversation if something strikes you as what you see below.

I grew up as a young child in a Chicago suburb called Westmont where I attended school thru the 6th grade. For my 7th grade, I moved to rural SW Wisconsin and dairy farmed with my father on 300 acres. I learned to care for animals, grow corn and alfalfa. I was able to have some very unique experiences there and that set my life in a direction of living the "rural" life over city life.

I started work at the young age 13 during the summer working for a program for farm kids. This gave me some great experiences and I found that with a bunch of hard work, I could get some things that wanted. I graduated HS at age 17 and had an opportunity to travel and live in Mexico for 3 months as an exchange student. Upon coming home from Mexico I moved off the farm to live with my sister in Rockford, IL. There I worked as a dishwasher for an ice cream parlor for the yearto save money because I knew I was going off to college in a year.. but worked that year at the parlor until I turned 18 years old. I was then off to Ripon College.. it is a small college in East Central part of the state of Wisconsin. I took the courses I was interested in and soon found that I had two majors, one in Anthropology and the other in Spanish. I also minored in theatre. I guess the gay gene was coming out then.. LOL I worked the summers for the City of Ripon, Wisconsin in the Parks Department. I started as a general maintenance guy and moved up to being lead mower. 40 hours a week on a posh riding mower that had stereo, cruise control, turn signals and seat belt with a roll bar. I worked for my education, I paid for it and took out several loans to get by. It did not come cheap.

During my college years I took my junior year and studied abroad in Costa Rica for the 2 semesters. What an eye opener.. Spanish was the primary language and all my classes and social life was in Spanish. It did not take long for me to perfect my language in everyday life and gave me a great appreciation for Latin cultures.

I came home from Costa Rica and finished my senior year at Ripon College. That was 24 years ago! Since then, I worked in my first year 5 part time jobs at the same time, temp service, tutoring Spanish speakers in class, taught ESL in the evenings, janitor at an apartment complex and bus driver. Those jobs panned out and I began a regular full time job as Vocational Rehabilitation Evaluator and worked in migrant camps in and around Rockford, IL and covered 9 counties. I stayed there for a number of years and then had an opportunity to work under a contract for the state of Illinois as a community organizer for youth programs. I managed 12 counties and worked with community leaders to implement youth programs. This was a fun job but it took me out of using my languages. I applied and was then hired as a caseworker for children in placement for the State of Illinois (Spanish speaker position). I worked in that capacity until I switched over to the investigative unit and began the rest of my career working on child abuse and neglect cases until I left that employment to follow my dream of opening a campground, and Cactus Canyon Campground was born. My road to get here was a long road, but with great efforts, great strengths, passion and enthusiasm. I am pleased with my life and my employment here at the Canyon.

Life of course is not all work, even though I truly love this unique setting and employment. I like the quiet and peaceful rural lifestyle here in the Ozark Mountains from the sun rises to the sun sets and all in between.

At the age 46 years I feel accomplished, satisfied and fortunate for many things in my life. I am healthy, carry a few extra pounds here and there from one season to another. I am a non smoker, occasional drinker, and do not do drugs. Dress preference is casual jeans/t-shirt and cowboy boots to shorts and sport sandals. I live here on 720 acres and love the space. I am an adventurer at heart and always pushing to learn and experience new things. I would like to some day for example to experience hang-gliding or sky diving. I love nature and anything that takes me out in it and in the summer times, you might find me out on the creek floating with friends in a kayak or out hiking around the area. I am a plant enthusiast and love to grow tropical plants to perennial flower beds. I have a weimaraner dog, Mocha. I like large breed dogs and outdoor cats. Another passion of mine is traveling out of the country and experiencing new cultures, languages and foods. I am fortunate that I have been able to travel to a few countries and take in the wonders of their food and cultures. I love to do construction and like a good challenge on making projects go from paper to reality. I am a get-r-done type guy that does not mind getting dirty. You will find me at times waste deep in a pond fishing to driving the tractor. But just in the same moment, I know my way around the kitchen and like to do home projects with handy crafts. I've been told not a typical gay man. My life is an adventure and I take it in stride I do not take it for granted. I make the best of what I have and enjoy life.

I Love you Mom, May you Rest in Peace

June 18th, 1936 - November 26th, 2004