{"id":9634,"date":"2018-11-07T22:23:54","date_gmt":"2018-11-07T22:23:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=9634"},"modified":"2018-11-07T22:23:54","modified_gmt":"2018-11-07T22:23:54","slug":"john-olsen-world-traveler-finally-parks-it-in-hailey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2018\/11\/07\/john-olsen-world-traveler-finally-parks-it-in-hailey\/","title":{"rendered":"John Olsen, World Traveler, Finally \u2018Parks It\u201d In Hailey"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Lesley Andrus<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"Born near Amarillo, in west Texas, at age 6 John moved with his mother and older sister to the Willamette Valley in Oregon,
\nBecause of his mother\u2019s strict religious views, John was only allowed to associate with church members and was prohibited from participating in sports, music and school activities, as well as the normal student body. So, at age 18, when he finished high school, John headed out\u2014first to the University of Oregon for a year, and then to Portland, where he completed barber\u2019s college and obtained his license.
\nThe Vietnam War was raging and John wanted to serve his country but was precluded by eardrums that had ruptured while diving. So, for 3-4 months he managed a men\u2019s hairstyling salon. Then, two buddies called and off he went to Europe with a Eurail Pass and a backpack
\nWhile in Rome, John was approached by an agent in the U.S. Embassy in Rome regarding an alternative way to serve his country. There was\u2014in a NOC (non-official cover) position, posing as a tourist.
\nIn those days there was very little satellite\/high-altitude surveillance being conducted; the major efforts were primarily \u201cboots on the ground.\u201d
\nAfter a condensed training course, John\u2019s perambulations around the Middle East began\u2014Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. He often met up with another traveler or two, and at one point with a Dutchman, where they got horses and rode through northern Afghanistan.
\nThe two of them were a unique commodity in those parts and, after four days, concerns of safety and food sent them on.
\nNext was India, Pakistan and Nepal. In Nepal, John contracted dysentery and Hepatitis C, lost a tremendous amount of weight and realized he needed to get back to civilization. He was able to obtain a visa and headed to Uzbekistan and the Soviet Union. While in Leningrad, John met the owner of \u201cMarimekko,\u201d who invited him to Helsinki to model her clothing.
\nOver the course of time, John has visited 33 countries.
\nAround 1970, John returned to Portland, Ore., working first in a new, upscale hairstyling salon, and then becoming a field representative for Redken, traveling for a year through the five Western states. Redken then developed a national seminar called \u201cChallenge of Success\u201d and John joined the group as a contract lecturer, traveling around the nation giving two seminars a month, educating salon owners.
\nAfter life on the road, John returned to Portland, managing a salon for a couple of years and then starting his own salon with an “art studio” format. He married and had a son and they all lived on his sailboat, \u201cNeverland,\u201d on Bainbridge Island, in Washington, wintering in Beaver Creek, Ore., where they would housesit.
\nAfter he was divorced, John worked for Moore Co and in 1990 headed south to L.A. where for 13 years he was a distributor of high-allergy products. During this time there was a year in Costa Rica and short trips to Colombia, where he met Monica, whom he brought to the U.S. and married. They lived in Tucson, Ariz., until Monica left with her green card.
\nJohn then moved, living in Sedona, Ariz., for three years, Los Angeles, Portland and then Reno, Elko and Twin Falls. When he heard of a new facility in Hailey, he moved and decided to “unpack it” and “park it.” That was six years ago.
\nJohn is an avid reader, recommending \u201cSapiens\u201d (which he is reading for the second time), \u201cEveryday Pain Relief for People Over 50\u201d and \u201cElon Musk.\u201d Despite hip replacements and a painful spine, John lives by four creeds: Keep moving; Read and learn something new every week; Experience something new as often as possible; and Stay healthy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Lesley Andrus Born near Amarillo, in west Texas, at age 6 John moved with his mother and older sister to the Willamette Valley in Oregon, Because of his mother\u2019s strict religious views, John was only allowed to associate with church members and was prohibited from participating in sports, music and school activities, as well […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,45],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9634","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sponsored","7":"category-the-connection"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9634\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}