I was born in southeast Oklahomain 1956. I spent most of my life there, but have lived in Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho and now in Arkansas.  I'm retired from the US Air Force. While in the Air Force, I didn't get to "See the World" like the recruiter said! I spent most of my time stationed Texas, Colorado then Idaho. I received a service related injury while serving in the Air Force, so they retired me early. After my military retirement, I started repairing and restoring rods in the early 80's as a hobby while I attended college. It took me almost as long to get my first fly rod completed as it did to get my Engineering degree, but finally I my completed my first bamboo fly rod in April of 1988. I was a part time or hobbyist rodmaker until the late 1990's when I decided to pursue it full time. I've been making fly rods full time since then, except for a short retirement due to medical problems. I now live in North Central Arkansas near the White and North Fork rivers and have a shop located North of Mountain Home, Arkansas less than 10 minutes from some of the country's finest Blue Ribbon trout waters. While I love trout fishing and love making bamboo fly rods, I would have to say that my greatest accomplishment as a rod maker is the friends I've made in the bamboo community.