Rick Ruja

Moccasin Tracks: Second Edition Rick Ruja 2nd edition

The author is a "baby boomer" who grew up in the optimistic days of the 1950's.
Born to Jewish parents in Los Angeles, his interests were sports, pursuing lovely girls, and education.
Fate placed him at the turning point in American history, when his first day at U. C. Berkeley coincided with the "Free Speech Movement", the first lesson that taught the new generation to challenge all rules set forth by their Government (i.e., their parents). Parental influences and the Viet Nam War sent him into medical school, even though, as a straight "A" major in history, he was not following his heart or his interests. He spent 25 years in the medical profession (a fine undertaking for someone else), before a near-fatal illness convinced him to return to what he loved: History of the Western United States. Studying the Lewis and Clark exploration and the life of the Rocky Mountain fur-trappers led to further interest in the American Indians of the Great Plains. Hopping a freight train from Denver into the Rockies, the Colorado River at his feet, exploring the Grand Tetons/Jackson Hole area refl ected a life-long interaction with the area. Rick worked for the Napa Historical Society, briefl y, researching his hero, James Clyman, the greatest, yet least known, of the Rocky Mountain fur-trappers, buried in a Napa cemetery.