At the age of seventeen Robert began exploring the world, hitch-hiking across the United States, Mexico and Europe. By twenty he had been in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Munich, Mexico City, Rome, Naples and London and many places in between. He fished in Alaska and worked the harvest in Eastern Washington and Montana. He graduated from the University of Washington in Russian and Far East History. These are stories people and places he encountered as a hiker, traveler, seaman, and Foreign Service Officer of the U.S. Department of State.