Lanterna Rally

Author: Brian Finkle

Publisher: Trafford Publishing

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 388

ISBN-13: 1412019257

It's one man's story from childhood to his mid-fifties and counting. He never went looking for adventures or answers to life but because of timing, coincidences, synchronicities, (call it what you will) that started early and have never ended, he has been blessed with a lifetime of stories and then some. He spent his first twenty years in small town Iowa before the U.S. Army decided that they had a need for him. It was February of 1968 and it proved to be a bad time to be entering the military. After a year in Vietnam he came home intact but a changed young man. He packed up a van and headed west with everything he owned. (Except for the baseball cards that his parents had already thrown away. Damn!) After joining Vietnam Veterans Against the War (John Kerry was their president) he went to D.C. and threw his medals away on the Capitol steps with a thousand or so other vets who realized that as a country, we could make mistakes and this time we had. He was thrown in jail in Denver with 78 other vets for simply trying to march, as an organization, in the Veteran's Day Parade. It was a tough time for people to stand up to their government but he felt it was important and so did many people. Those actions changed the direction of our country. "Maybe something like this" the author suggests, "is needed again today". After some bad relationships, he hit the road for 2 1/2 years without an address to call his own. He spent two fairy tale winters in Mexico and Guatemala where he explored caves, found untouched ceynotes, met many characters as well as great friends, and all the while, he compiled stories. It was then that he began journaling and has never stopped nearly 30 years later and neither have the stories. He had the most vivid dream of his life, which magically, eventually led him to his lovely bride. They have now shared the past quarter of a century together including kids, and grandkids. It's all there along with the lessons and confessions.