I used to think I'd like to have been a pioneer on the Oregon Trail, experience untamed America.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Over the years, I found myself traveling parts of the Lewis and Clark Trail, putting my hands in the river where they set out from St. Louis, viewing the Great Falls of Montana, standing by the same Pacific Ocean they saw with such joy.
So I picked a field where I had a little exposure. Where I thought I could have an enormous challenge, and have a chance to really do some good, to be a pioneer in an area, and not just be like everyone else.
My father was a pioneer in so many ways. He was fearless, and I think that I kind of picked that up from him as well.
It is not easy to be a pioneer - but oh, it is fascinating! I would not trade one moment, even the worst moment, for all the riches in the world.
I grew up in Oregon, where as a teenager I worked with my grandfather Axel on his i shing boat at the mouth of the Columbia River.
I'm the kind of person who, if I were living in another time, if I had to pick any time, I would probably be a pioneer. I just love the simplicity of what it means to work hard with your hands - to eat and survive.
As a lifelong Oregonian, I prefer our forests green, not black.
I went to Alaska as a young man just looking for adventure. And like so many of us in the '70s, we found it.
In a word I was a pioneer, and therefore had to blaze my own trail.
As long as the sun rises over Ontario and sets over the Pacific, I will dedicate myself to bringing the people of Oregon what they want and need most - an era of hope, change, and economic renewal.