On the Hippie Trail: Istanbul to Kathmandu and the Making of a Travel Writer (2025) is selections from 23-year-old Rick’s 1978 journal on the “Hippie Trail“.

It was no “Magic Bus” experience. They did this trip the hard way — independently.

They didn’t have the first Lonely Planet guide, rather only the first BIT  (“Bible of the East”), a free half a dozen or so duplicated foolscap sheets stapled together with no cover. 

Rick’s posted travel photos of himself and best pal Gene reflecting on how the journey through Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Nepal changed his life.

My own travels in Europe 1976 in an orange Volkswagen van were a piece of cake compared with the Hippie Trail. I had no interest — though a High School friend, Ian Baird, did end up in Kathmandu drinking Chai and eating pie on Freak Street. He got quite sick as did almost all the westerners who tried that adventure.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.