Dramatis Personae
for Travels with Samantha by Philip Greenspun
Alan Buddhist philosopher in Telluride,
Colorado
Ali and Michelle Australians on a post-college world
tour, Glacier National Park
Alison "I've never dated a man who wore a
suit to work" (Alaska Marine
Highway)
Amber 16-year-old clutching doll in
Theodore Roosevelt National Park
(North Dakota)
Arleigh crushed my long-cherished delusions
of irresistibility (Yellowstone)
Arthur HIV+ for nine years (Moab, Utah)
Bruce old friend and business partner
Carl Mormon engineer demonstrating True
Manhood in Yellowstone with wife and
five kids
Charles ironworker, scholar, Macintosh wizard
(Anchorage)
Charles struggling in Aspen to fund a round-
the-world bike trip
Chicca Italian girlfriend, lives in Rome
Cid left husband to teach school in
Eskimo village, Homer
Claire Francophone Montrealer with no
Anglophone friends
Christina visiting from Germany on a Marlboro
cigarettes tour (Utah)
Darryl and Leif "You can get anything you want if you
have a pure desire" (Jasper)
Dave 78-year-old wildlife photographer,
Katmai
David, Doug, and Sue praying for the Jews to return to
Israel (Salt Lake City)
Dawn wistful 22-year-old super-
Midwesterner-but-dying-to-live-the-
adventurous-Western-life (Missoula,
Montana)
Denise demonstrated just how far up the wall
a woman can drive me in two days
(Portland)
the Dukes British family making their 14th
journey across North America
(Whitehorse)
Dwight, Emily, Karla superhosts in Portland
Eero old friend, former MIT grad student,
professor at Penn
Elder Pomeroy answered polygamy questions in Salt
Lake City
Elke East German Fulbright Scholar
(Vancouver)
Emma striving "cupcake" at Katmai
Eric and Laurel fled the rat-race in Minneapolis
Erika stunning Hungarian single mother
(Whitehorse)
Frank moved back to the ghost town in
Montana where he was born in 1912
Gil and Shavit Israelis who thought Alaska was the
Promised Land (Alaska Marine
Highway)
George Samoyed dog, died June, 1991
Glynn left an assortment of wives,
girlfriends, and children to be
single in Homer
Brenda Griffin George's last veterinarian
Harry my brother, an anesthesiologist in
Baltimore
Heather 21-year-old divorcee in Montana
Henry old friend and business partner from
Hong Kong
Walter Holland walked across America, walked from
Mexico to Tok, Alaska
Jackie completely invested in victimhood
(Cambridge)
Jennifer beautiful Jewish woman in Boulder
Jim Baptist Army chaplain who wants to
shoot all the wolves (Denali)
Jim professor at University of British
Columbia
Jo-Anne Australian actuary living in
Vancouver
Jody and Eric "We're probably the only Jews on this
boat" (Seward)
John selling insurance to polygamists
(Monticello, Utah)
John and Judy Northern and Southern Ireland meet in
Calgary
Joel old friend from MIT (Seattle)
Joseph Blackfoot Indian with a taste for Ted
Kennedy jokes (East Glacier,
Montana)
Judy, Jason, Justin tough, beautiful single mother and
her sons from Memphis (Skagway)
Kaarin Arctic biologist living in a
condemned house in Whitehorse
Karin und Walter "In Europe, old people look old"
(Denali)
Keiko and Kazuyo inscrutable Japanese girls, my
companions from Banff to Lake Louise
Keith "I'd rather face a charging grizzly
bear than start a conversation with
a strange woman." (Homer)
Keith bum in Salt Lake City, "[The Mormons]
are better at helping their own."
Kelly truck driver on the Alaska highway,
"Why would anyone call himself
'Jewish'?"
Kelly a mother at age 12 (Kansas City)
Kirk can't wait to get out of Duluth
Ted Kerasote author of Bloodties -"don't go to the
supermarket; shoot a deer"-Katmai
Kleanthes physicist and urban philosopher at MIT
Lavonne living Christian in Petersburg,
Alaska
Lily first love (Cincinnati)
Lisa Jewish ranger in Katmai, half of
local production of Dido and Aeneas
Lisa New York artist moved to Telluride
Liz old friend from MIT, professor in
Boulder
Lloyd heavy equipment operator
straightening the Alaska Highway
(Whitehorse)
Maple Chinese-Canadian college student in
Ottawa
Marcia and Tony my hosts in Fairbanks
Mark writer and social worker, Denali
Michael engineer/photographer met in Egypt,
Vancouver
Michael Germany university student. "Germany
is full of Jews. In my life, I've
actually met five." (Moab, Utah)
Mike gave up $100,000/year paramedic job
in Anchorage for the simple life
Patrick managing 600 fish-gutters in
Petersburg, Alaska
Ralph teaches British Columbia school-by-
mail (Lake Louise)
Randy fell in love with Yellowstone 14
years ago and couldn't leave
Randy and Cathy Fairbanks attorney and transplanted
Chicagoan
Ranger Lisa Jewish park ranger in Katmai
Rebecca second love (Seattle)
Richard and Cindy itinerant preachers, Petersburg,
Alaska
Roland rehabilitates the homeless, Mormon
style (Katmai)
Ronen torn between American blonde and home
in Israel (Glacier)
Sadie just your average Indian transvestite
fisherman (Seldovia)
Sallie and Ben hot dog roasters on the Alaska
Highway
Samantha Macintosh PowerBook 170 computer
Sam and Ken frontier woman and oil worker in
Skagway
Scott and John iron ore miners in Marquette,
Michigan
Stan grizzled bush pilot in Homer
Stefan biked LA/Yellowstone in the rain
Stephanie trophy wife singing the praises of
the Midwestern WASP women (Homer)
Steve New Age avalanche skier in the
Canadian Rockies
Steve moved from Montana because of the
fences, Katmai
Dr. Stobie veterinarian
Susan a free spirit living for today in
Homer
Susan woman in Boston who couldn't
bear to hear of a world without AIDS
Teddy nightclub owner in Aspen
Terry and Rebecca serving espresso in 100-degree heat in
Moab, Utah
Thomas Danish superman in Lake Louise
Tom and Lisa quit their yuppie jobs to roam the
continent in a motorhome (Alaska
Marine Highway)
Wendy and Angie high school graduates in Sauk Centre,
Minnesota
Woody "if it didn't fit into my backpack,
it didn't fit into my life," Denali
Yvonne came all the way from London to see
Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump
Chapter I: White fur, red blood
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