Traveler finds end of the road

PALMER -- John Smith may have a rather ordinary name, but his life is anything but ordinary.

Smith has lived in six different states, spent a year in Switzerland, and has enjoyed a number of different careers. He is in his fifth year as an Alaskan, and he said that is about the longest he has lived in any one area since he graduated from high school more than two decades ago.

"I grew up in Oklahoma, and until I was in college, I had never been out of the state or on an airplane," Smith said. "So I decided I was going to see everything my parents missed out on. I wanted to see the world."

After graduating from Memphis State University, Smith took a year off "from the grind of the real world," as he said, and went to Switzerland to live with a friend he had met in college. He enjoyed his time there, but longed to return to America.

"It was a great place to visit, but it wasn't home to me," Smith said.

It was back to Tennessee for a few years, where he worked in the communications field, and then off to Oregon, where Smith worked in construction. He said he enjoyed Oregon, but could barely make ends meet, so he moved to California, getting back into the communications field as a public relations agent.

"After about a year, I got sick and tired of all the California b.s. and had had it with everybody down there," Smith said. "When I decided to move, I knew two things -- I wasn't going to work in that field again, and I didn't care if I ever stepped foot in California again."

From California, Smith moved to Texas for another few years, where he held several odd jobs. As the age of 40 loomed, Smith felt as if he had one last move in him, and he decided to make it a grand one.

"I packed everything up and moved to Anchorage," Smith said. "Alaska had a mystique about it, and that was the only thing that got me here."

Smith moved to Palmer two years ago from Anchorage, and this traveler said he has finally found a home.

"I like it here. I can't see myself living anywhere else now," Smith said.

He built a small, two-room cabin on a five-acre piece of property outside Palmer, and he said it gives him everything he needs to remain an Alaskan for life.

"I have my own little piece of Heaven, where it is quiet and peaceful, but if I need anything, I'm only a few minutes from Palmer and an hour from Anchorage," Smith said. "There aren't too many other places like this in the world."

While Smith said he doesn't regret all of his moves a bit, there is one drawback to being a carefree, spontaneous soul.

"I never settled down and had a family, and that is something I miss now, later in life," Smith said. "There were times when I thought I was in the right place with the right person to finally settle down, but things never worked out. I love kids, but I've never been married and never had kids of my own. That's probably the only thing I'll look back on and wish I had done differently."