In the 1960s and '70s, a counterculture of free-spirited American youth asserted their freedom and sought a drug-infused good time along the fabled "hippy trail,” which wound its way from Europe to Marrakesh, Morocco, the Middle East and through Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nepal to Kathmandu.
Readers today can relive some of the psychedelic adventures experienced by these nomadic youth in Wanderer – The Ultimate Hippy Trail Journey, by F.T. Burke and Steve Reifman. Hippies young and old will enjoy Wanderer, a fictionalized memoir based upon Reifman's real-life experiences.
Learn more in this interview.
What inspired you to write the Woodstock character?
My friendship with Steve Reifman. Steve took a similar trip that I used to model my story. Many of the events are based on his true adventures.
Drugs, sex, and rock and roll are a big part of the book. Why?
The hippies were drawn to these facets of life very strongly. If I wrote the story and ignored these facts then it would not be authentic.
What is the spiritual take away you would like readers to get from this book?
God is everywhere, in all the people and places of the world.
Do you have plans for a follow up to Wanderer?
Yes. Wanderer – Part 2 will resume with the same Woodstock character the following summer of 1972. He will start out in the hippie haven of Goa, India and then travel throughout Australia and New Zealand for a year, meeting up with fellow intrepid hippie travelers.
How did writing the book change you?
I learned about things I had no idea even existed. So it expanded my knowledge base and inspired me to learn everything I could about the Hippie Trail.
Author F.T. Burke is a lifelong resident of the state of Michigan, with his wife, Lorie. He enjoyed a prior career in the high-tech sector, serving as a systems engineer and project manager. Burke's debut novel, The Bohemian Adventure, traces the journey of one who meets up with devoted deadheads who followed the psychedelic rock group, the Grateful Dead. He is currently developing two more books to be published in 2019.
Steven W. Reifman is a practicing lawyer and businessman. He took a journey similar in time and place to that of Wanderer's main character, Woodstock. Steve was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and has three children, two grandchildren and an enduring, love-filled marriage of over forty years.
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