Today's Featured Biography

 
Richard Jones

Knowing I had a military obligation to fulfill following graduation, I
joined the Army National Guard, Special Forces unit and went to Fort Ord,
CA for basic training, and then to Fort Benning, GA for jump school.

I served an LDS mission to Bavaria, Germany from 1962-1965, followed by five years of schooling at both the U of U and BYU. My major course of study was archaeology. During the summer months, I would work as a river guide.

I decided river running was more to my liking than archaeology and teaching, so in 1971, I started World Wide River Expeditions. I had operations in Moab, Utah and Salmon, Idaho. I enjoyed the business for 30 years and sold the company to my managers in 2000.

In the late 1980's I started riding by mountain bike across America. It took me several summers to complete the journey. I started with my back tire in the Pacific and finished with my front tire in the Atlantic at Yorktown, Virginia. The ride had been so enjoyable that if the Atlantic hadn't been there, I would have continued to ride to England and Europe. I concluded that if I had a boat, I could just row across the water and
complete the journey.

With that thought in mind, (rowing a boat across the ocean) I located a yacht designer in London, England who was able to design for me, an ocean-going rowboat. I built the boat in my garage in Midvale, Utah and launched it into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Lisbon, Portugal in the fall of 1998. That trip lasted less than a week. I encountered heavy storms and the "still, small voice" prompted me to return to Lisbon and try
another time.

I waited two summers and launched again from the Canary Islands located just off the coast of Africa in October, 2000. This time, I made it, sort of. Averaging 35 miles a day, it took me five months to cross the 4,000
miles of ocean. Miami, Florida was the destination point, but I was shipwrecked on a little island in the Bahamas called Ragged Island. I was rescued from the island by a freighter that took my boat and me to Nassau,
where I was reunited with my family. The boat is now stored at my property at Bear Lake.

Returning home, but no longer having the rivers to go to and still wanting to work, I enrolled in a baking class at SLCC and eventually became head baker at The House of Bread. I stayed a year and then moved to St.
George with my wife Jodie.

Jodie started school at Dixie while I opened up an on-line and retail store selling outdoor clothing, camping and backpacking equipment, sort of like a miniature REI.

Jodie finished her Bachelor’s degree at Dixie, and then commenced her Master's while teaching at the college. I closed down the retail and on-stores, and began attending school in the auto/body class. The school allowed older students to bring in project cars to work on. I bought Jodie a 1931, 4-door Model A Ford convertible and began restoration work on it.

Jodie applied to the U of U for her doctorate program (Communications) and was accepted, which necessitated a move back to Salt Lake. As of 2011, we now live in Sugarhouse.

Jodie goes to school, I have three Model A's to work on and am studying to become a Home Inspector.

When Jodie finishes her schooling and dissertation, we will serve an LDS mission. We're hoping to work in China.

The last item on my bucketlist is to walk the length of the Great Wall of China.

Haven't made the Great Wall, but did hike the Pacific Crest Trail in 2013 and the Appalachian Trail in 2015