Equatorial Journal
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DEDICAT
ION:
I would like to take a moment to tell you about my father (in-law), Dick Clarens. From the moment I met him, Dick struck me as a spry, quick-witted, no-nonsense verbal sparring partner... and years later, I realize my first impressions were right. Yet, over the past 20 years of knowing Dick, he has also become a friend and mentor to me as well.
With his early education and training in zoology, Dick spent his post-graduate years of college and early teaching career immersing himself in the natural sciences. As a lover of the outdoors, Dick has shared with me, on several occasions, of his youthful summer botany work in the 12,000-ft. highlands of Colorado. And each time I return from a high-altitude climb, he listens to my adventure and then retells me of that one wonderful summer amidst the peaks of Colorado.
I know that if Dick were thirty years younger, he would jump at the chance to join me. But his senior years now have weakened his knees, so he can only sit back and listen to the tales of the climb and see the two-dimensional images that lack the crisp subalpine aromas and warm breezes.
To you, Dick, is dedicated this latest adventure in Ecuador. Knowing that I will someday share your physical limitations, I take on this adventure so as to give me one more story to share with you and and one more adventure to pass on to my children.
Below are some of the past adventures and website chronicles of Lee Hoedl.