Just Plain Lucky

Tom Lloyd could have never imagined that in the two decades after he ran his last hometown paper route, he would run a wilderness river in the Ozarks in an old wooden canoe, race through his home town with his hot rod's throttle stuck wide open, hitchhike from Boston to LA during winter, earn his Ph.D. in biochemical pharmacology from Harvard, star… Tom Lloyd could have never imagined that in the two decades after he ran his last hometown paper route, he would run a wilderness river in the Ozarks in an old wooden canoe, race through his home town with his hot rod's throttle stuck wide open, hitchhike from Boston to LA during winter, earn his Ph.D. in biochemical pharmacology from Harvard, start a heritage apple tree company, and become an 'Established Investigator' of the American Heart Association. In the second half of his 25 evocative short stories, Lloyd tells, with a grin, how seven of his comedic misadventures turned into near-death experiences. He describes finding himself in criminal court for rolling a stop sign, nearly setting his house on fire while making whiskey, and rescuing logs destined to become firewood and using this lumber to build wooden boats and furniture.This collection of short personal stories are one guy's description of the America he grew up in during the second half of the twentieth century. It was a time before we were numbed by screens and when everyday face-to-face contact was a steadying gyroscope. Lloyd's vivid descriptions give insight into the lives of Boy Scout camp counselors, oilfield roughnecks, boutique winemakers, mountain men loggers, and a spectrum of colorful characters who he thanks for their kindness and humanity.