It is said that one learns a lot through travel. My own business travels throughout the United States over prolonged periods to 46 of them have provided a unique opportunity to capture the nature and character of a great and relatively new country, just some 250 years after its birth.

This collection of short stories and vignettes attempts to capture the flavour of life through the recording of personal encounters and events experienced in the course of those travels. All reflect genuine incidents and experiences on business visits, in situations which the more restricted tourist is less likely to witness.

Each tale in some way or another is a benign observation of an individual or individuals whom I have had the pleasure and privilege of meeting, reflecting their own particular circumstances: Their triumphs, their tragedies, their mundane routines in life, and their aspirations for living this life to its fullest. Some will make you laugh, some will make you cry; and yet others will entice you to say “there but for the grace of God go I".

The United States, with its meticulously designed constitution and seemingly endless landscape, stretching beneath the vast skies above it, is a fresh country which presents a dynamic atmosphere in which the human spirit can choose to thrive.

Where appropriate, brief historical and geographical descriptions accompany the tales to put them in context. The locations around the United States are randomly selected and the stories have no particular order: In only two cases are they sequential. The first story is set in Lake Charles Louisiana on the Gulf Coast in the Deep South. Imagine a steamingly hot and humid afternoon and all the office staff are suffering.

So, let's get going, and I hope you enjoy the adventures,

Sam