📘 After leaving the army September 11, 1970 in Asmara, Ethiopia, I wandered six months in East Africa, Ethiopia, and Israel. I wanted to use the Swahili that the army had taught me. I knew "If I don't do this now while I have a chance, I'll never do it." What a prophet! This book tells that story. Journals I wrote at the time supply the detail for this rendition of the journey that started on Ethiopian New Year's Day, 1963EC. The trip was my coming out. It was the first time I had ever lived and functioned alone. Home, school, and the army had taken care of me before. I was really on my own, at 27. I fared well.