About the authors

Jeff and I are controversial figures in our own right, both Libertarians with 3 campaigns behind us, and have strong opinions and a deep compassion for people.  We also very much enjoy exploring the ideas, opinions and insights of other people everywhere we go; at home or abroad.  We have had many debates and conversations, sometimes quite heated in every country and state we have been.

Please note that names have been changed to protect the innocent.

We hope this book inspires conversation and gives some perspectives the reader may not have considered.  We also hope the reader enjoys the beauty and culture of our Great Country, even as we face these tumultuous times.  There’s really a lot to be thankful for in this great nation, as we fall in love with America again and hopefully you do too as you road trip with us across her.

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Jeff E. Jared is a lawyer from Kirkland WA (across Lake Washington 20 minutes from
downtown Seattle), who has been practicing law for 25 years in criminal defense, family law and foreclosure defense. He is also an avid traveler and part-time political writer. He’s been to 79 countries and all 50 states.
In 1999, he spent 6 weeks riding the trans-Siberian express through Siberia, starting in Russia’s far east at Vladivostok, going through Irkutsk, Moscow and then St. Petersburg, ending up in Prague, Czechoslovakia, then home to Seattle—around the world. He wrote about it in an unpublished book called, “An American in Vladivostok.”

He first road tripped in 1980 at the age of 17. And at age 18, he went to Mexico for his first trip outside the U.S. (other than Canada.) He dropped out of college in 1983 and took 2 years off to do a 6-week road trip across the U.S. and a 6-week backpack trip through Europe. He has never stopped traveling since then. He worked as a waiter throughout college and through his first year of law school. He was a dishwasher and line cook in high school, then a busboy and waiter in college and law school. He worked at a French restaurant off and on for 9 years and also worked at several Mexican restaurants in California and Massachusetts. In 1989 after graduating from college, he and 3 friends bought a VW van in London and drove to Morocco, spending 2 months road tripping through Europe. Jeff later bolted from the van and traveled alone to Egypt and Tunisia. Perhaps his best 2 travel experiences were sailing up the Nile River in a felucca and then later trekking for 5 days in northern Thailand. In the early 2000’s he also bought a round the world air ticket and visited 7 nations.

In addition, he has run for political office three times as a Libertarian Party candidate: in 1990 and 2002 for state representative and in 2000 for U.S. Senate. From 2004 – 2007, he ran a libertarian PAC. In the early 1990’s he self-published a homemade book, a collection of his essays entitled “Suburban Anarchist.” Jeff was born in 1963 in Bellevue, WA and went to Juanita High School (class of 1982) all in Kirkland, and then went on to Harvard (in Cambridge MA, across the Charles River from Boston) where he graduated in philosophy (class of 1988). He road tripped back and forth between Seattle and Boston perhaps 4 times from 1982 – 1988. He also did a semester abroad on Semester at Sea where he sailed around the world taking classes on a university ship during the spring of his sophomore year.
He later attended the University of California/Hastings School of Law in San Francisco (class of 1994) doing a semester abroad studying international law at Leiden University, in Leiden, Netherlands, about one hour south of Amsterdam. Leiden University was established in 1575 (61 years before Harvard was established in 1636) and is the oldest university in the Netherlands. He has lived for short times in San Diego and Huntington Beach, CA and Des Moines, IA.

Jeff is an avid backgammon player and enjoys eating and drinking over good conversation. He describes himself as “convivial.”

His 3 favorite cities in the world are Kep, Cambodia, Luang Prabang, Laos and Tallinn,
Estonia. His 3 favorite cities in America are Santa Cruz, California, Bellingham, WA and Miami Beach, Florida.

Jeff has no children and is married to his co-author, Michelle Darnell. Michelle describes Jeff as a wandering soul, always searching for answers, with an
insatiable thirst for adventure and facts.

Michelle is a mother of 4 and grandmother of 3, and wife to co-author Jeff E. Jared. She was born in 1970 in Phoenix, AZ.

She graduated from Ferndale High School (class of 1988) in Ferndale WA (as did her first 3 children), 15 minutes from the Canadian border, and has taken classes at Whatcom County Community College in organic chemistry, poetry, philosophy and religion. She has been a paralegal for 11 years, and a consumer rights advocate, and has worked to influence politics in her home state of Washington, especially in the area of foreclosure defense. She has been an active Libertarian for 6 years, running for office 3 times, twice for state senate, and once for state representative (one time as a Republican) and organizing/restarting the
Libertarian Party of King County in 2017.
She currently runs a PAC-like foundation called Ignite, which provides campaign support services and consulting to candidates.

She has been to 30 countries and 27 states and enjoys meeting and talking to people from a wide variety of backgrounds, cultures and nationalities. “Travel not only refreshes the soul, it increases your understanding of the world and the history and background of current cultural issues, and increases your sphere of influence as we aim to BE the change we wish to see.”

Michelle is a big fan of European travel guru, Rick Steves, and his philosophy of travel,
which seeks to increase cross-cultural understanding and broaden the mind of the traveler by exposing her to different and varied ideas and peoples.

Jeff would describe Michelle as an empath with a big heart and fierce determination.