Travels With Joe

ONE DOZEN LIFETIMES

The third book of the series Travels With Joe culminates two decades of traveling, journaling and seeking a path to the best life along the way, with Beatlick Joe Speer. Written by Pamela Adams Hirst, One Dozen Lifetimes chronicles The Death Tour, Joe's slow ride from Palm Beach, Florida, back to Albuquerque, New Mexico, after he is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He becomes a source of inspiration to his supporting family and friends as he bravely faces his final trek.
There was an arduous trek for Pamela as well to forge a new path alone. Leaving Joe in the Bernalillo County morgue, she headed due south to Oaxaca, Mexico. The curanderas in the City of the Clouds initiate her healing; the Palomazo open-mic at Nuevo Babel Café offers comfort and a home for her poetic efforts; and a return to yoga practice all help bring renewal, rejoicing, and the healing begins.
Ultimately she returns to Albuquerque and is able to bury Joe in a common grave with over 80 other souls, their boxed ashes all buried in one casket at the Evangelico Cemetery. One year later, the grave is documented by the Dead Poet Society. Joe ́s Beatlick News Poetry and Arts Newsletter is archived in numerous universities and his personal library is archived in his alma mater, New Mexico State University.
A single traveler now, Pamela's treks begin with a train ride from Albuquerque to San Francisco for the Bay to Breakers Marathon; a pilgrimage to the City Lights Bookstore; and a poetic gathering with friends at the infamous Vesuvio Café.
During her time in Joe's hometown of Albuquerque, Beatlick Press was established to publish Joe's one and only book Backpack Trekker: A 60s Flashback. Over thirty books from the press now provide his heritage and perpetuate his legacy.
Ultimately, life on the road, the call for adventure sent Pamela back to Oaxaca, Mexico, where she lived for five years before moving to her new home in Mexico City. Now with the conclusion of this series, Beatlick Joe Speer's story is known. His wit and wisdom live on as one reads these journals. He was exceptional, he was unforgettable.