At first, it seemed an impossibly long journey, hitchhiking and taking buses and trains going overland from San Jose, California, all the way to Machu Picchu, Peru. Thousands upon thousands of miles needed to be traversed across third-world countries, where he didn't speak the language or understand the customs. It was all so different from what he knew. He caught a few hours of sleep when he could, constantly driven by a quest to reach his destination before the money was gone and there would be no way to make it home. Ahead lay desert wastelands, unimaginable illnesses, dense jungles, and eventually the towering frozen mountains of the Andes. Along the way, new friends were made, old friends visited, and a few strangers waited, hoping to steal what little he had. What could drive someone to take such risks, going all that distance alone, just to see the Lost City of the Incas? This is the true story of the common man who was living his dreams, hoping to find himself and visit civilizations much different from where he came. Doing that, he'd find out just how fortunate he'd always been.www.billgirvinwrites.com