Shunted off by his self-absorbed, materialistic parents, Jack was raised by his beloved grandparents on a farm in the Midwest. They inculcated in him their values of social justice and respect for the environment they'd acquired in the 1960s. When they died, he was left with a bequest and their wish that he would get the college degree he would need later in life, then leave Ohio and see the world. So began his sojourns, working his way across North America on a quest for a genuine, authentic way of life.