Cruising back home along some backwater Vermont highway after a hiking trip last week, I passed a sign that said FREE on it.

Now, I'd like to tell you that it said FREE BEER, and that I spent the rest of the afternoon chewing the fat and drinking some Vermont farmer's gratis brew, but I can't.

The sign actually said FREE BOOKS.

And that's damn near as good.

So I whipped the Honda around (carefully, of course, strictly adhering to the Vermont Motor Vehicle Laws) and swung into the dooryard.

And proceeded to poke through the boxes.

Score!

I came up with an armful of good reading of an outdoor nature...

The Sea Around Us by Rachel Carson. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. Wise and Witty Sayings by Will Rogers. Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad.

And my favorite: Your Own Book of Campcraft by Catherine Hammett.

And so the stack of stuff to read grows and grows. I need about a year off in a cabin in the woods somewhere to plow through it all. Just me (well not just me) and the books. And some free beer.

In the meantime I'm working my way through Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac, and having a hoot of a time adventuring with Japhy, Ray, Morley and Alvah...

What are you reading?