A Promise to Thunder: A Guide to Going Too Far & The Dog Who Saved Me

For nearly sixteen years, Thunder was my constant companion.

My loyal rescue mutt, he followed me through 32 countries—from cowboy ranches in the American West to the jungles of Latin America and the mountains of Europe. He was there for the motorcycles, the rodeos, the cage fights, the long desert drives, the love affairs, the heartbreak, and the wild wingsuit BASE jumps.

But this isn't just a story about a dog.

A Promise to Thunder is a literary memoir about a life lived dangerously close to the edge—and what happens when going too far becomes a way of life. It's about bull riding and BASE jumping, altered states and hard-earned clarity, grief and love, friendship and loss, and the search for meaning when the usual paths stop making sense.

Through it all, Thunder was the one steady presence in a life that rarely stayed still. Our adventures carried us across continents and into some of the world's most beautiful and unforgiving landscapes, from the deserts of Moab and the cliffs of Yosemite to the jungles of Nicaragua, the barrios of Colombia, and the alpine valleys of Europe.

When Thunder died, the book became something more than a chronicle of wild adventures. It became a tribute to the dog who had been there through the formative years of a man's life—it became a promise to carry his story forward.

A Promise to Thunder is raw and tender, funny and dark, philosophical and occasionally fucking insane.

It doesn't offer easy answers.

But it does offer a dog.
A promise.
And one wild, beautiful plunge into the sky.