The Adventures of Steve: From Young Reptile Catcher to Amazon Explorer to Lawrence of Arabia and airplane pilot.
Steve's love for adventure started at a young age when Mr. Holstein brought him a big red eared slider turtle. As Steve grew up, his love for adventure only intensified. He found himself drawn to Rummel Creek, where danger lurked in every corner. Every time he went out to catch reptiles and fish, he knew he was taking a risk. The creatures he was after were quick and agile, and one wrong move could lead to a painful bite or sting.![]()
Despite the danger, Steve's skills only grew with time. He became adept at catching all kinds of creatures, and soon enough, his backyard was filled with 50 reptiles! Even riding his stingray bike for eight miles to Addicks Dam to catch turtles was no big deal for him and his friends.
But it wasn't just the creatures themselves that posed a threat. Steve had to be quick and agile to avoid getting bitten or stung. He had to be on his toes at all times, ready to react at a moment's notice. Many times while running through the Youpons Steve stopped his friends from running into a certain snake bite. And even when he thought he had everything under control, he still had to watch out for the giant soft shells stowed in bicycle baskets that tried to bite his heel every time he pedaled his bike the 8 miles home.
Despite the danger, Steve never lost his passion for adventure. He explored and mapped all the drainage pipes south of I-10 and north of Memorial, always looking for his next thrill. And when he wasn't exploring the waters, he was out surfing the waves at Freeport, Surfside, North and South Padre Island.
Steve’s father Andy had a knack for adventure. He was an avid reader of National Geographic. Each summer Steve's parents hitched the trailer and packed up the station wagon setting out to tent camp in all the National parks. By the time these trips ceased they had visited nearly all the lower 48. Great times tent camping, catching that 1st fish and getting to see the mountains, pacific and atlantic oceans, great sand dunes to the grand tetons .
But Steve's love for adventure wasn't just a hobby. He worked hard to pay some of his education expenses, taking jobs at gas stations, restaurants, and grocery stores, eventually working floors, tripping pipe and wrenching rods for Moores Petroleum. For Steve, danger and excitement were just a part of life, and he wouldn't have it any other way. Steve's last Summer Session at TAMU was looming
With a freshly-minted degree in Industrial Engineering from Texas A&M University, Steve embarked on a journey of epic proportions that would shape his destiny in ways he could scarcely imagine. Drawn by the allure of adventure and the promise of exotic locales, he answered the call of Dowell Schlumberger (DS), an oil and gas behemoth that beckoned him to the Dominican Republic, (Note: double click links to see a preview) where he would befriend the intrepid John Sykes and embark on a quest to explore the island's many wonders.
2 weeks after graduation, amidst the shimmering turquoise waters and sandy shores of the DR, Steve and John stumbled upon a macabre sight that would haunt them for years to come: a medical school filled with lifeless, dissected cadavers laid out on open-air cement tables, surrounded by hurricane fencing. This grisly encounter left an indelible mark on Steve's psyche, but it was just the beginning of his remarkable odyssey.
After sixty days of struggling to learn the machine-gun Spanish of the DR, Steve set off for the Bolivian Training Center (BTC) to begin his new job. But Bolivia was in a state of upheaval, just emerging from a Coup d'état days before, and the Bolivian Air Force was out in full force, lining the ramp at Aeroeste with fifteen P51-Ds that had recently strafed the Santa Cruz Plaza. Despite the danger that loomed at every turn, Steve pressed on, inspecting the palm trees with bullet holes in the very plaza where he would one day meet the love of his life.
