Jim Friend currently lives along the porous, barbarian no-man's land amidst the semi-primitive ethnic Oregonian and warring indigenous Californian tribes within the exanimate borders of the State of Jefferson. When not otherwise engaged in negotiations with the skirmishing amirs and maharani of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, he has managed to travel to 49 US states, six Canadian provinces, and has scampered back and forth over the cartel-infested Mexican border on numerous occasions. Recent international trips have taken him to the Arctic Ocean, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia, and Afghanistan. He has been to Europe several times, crossing the Arctic Circle northward during a trip along the coast of Norway, risking his hand through the fence into what was at the time, the Soviet Union, to steal several communist rocks under the watchful eye of a 50 foot guard tower. A "retired" surfer and rock climber, Jim is still an active mountain climber and has stood atop numerous 10,000+ foot mountains and still bags peaks whenever possible.