Keith E Jones

Ghost Tripping: a Grouping of Ghostly Travel Tales Keith E Jones

Publisher Marketing: Modern travel adventure doesn't always take place in a far off swamp. Keith Jones journeys from the polluted streets of Manila to an elegant Bishkek ballroom. He sleeps upon a lonely beach in Baja, Mexico and is enlightened at a forest temple in Thailand. Along the way ghostly encounters bring new meaning to the phrase "travel adventure." - A remote forest temple in Thailand. A scream in the night. A ghost roams the temple grounds. - In a bustling Manila neighborhood, next to a busy funeral home, ghosts lurk in the hallway of Keith's apartment building, while outside he is set upon by a ragtag gang of munchkins. - A typhoon drenched weekend in the coffee growing region of the Philippine Islands where the Ghost of the Coffee Farmer's Daughter crosses Keith's path. - In Kyrgyzstan a colleague complains that the bride's price of 40 sheep and $1,000 dollars paid by her father-in-law, was insultingly low. While that snowy night the ghost of the Alta Sara Ballroom keeps Keith awake. - In China a mid-morning mountain hike and the quest for a fabled dinner plate sized peach sends a ghostly shiver down Keith's spine. - On a remote Baja shore, in the dark of the night Keith helps a stranded baby whale, while a ghostly apparition waits offshore. True life travel stories about real people, but with some mysterious happenings along the way. Contributor Bio:  Jones, Keith E In 1994 Keith began taking whale watchers south from the USA to accompany him on his frequent weekend trips to visit the Gray whales. Information about Keith going to Baja to see whales spread by word of mouth. People wanting to go whale watching would get his phone number from some friend and then contact him. Keith would arrange a meeting point and they would then travel south to camp on the shore of Laguna Ojo de Liebre or in bad weather to stay in a motel in Guerrero Negro. In 1998 Baja Jones Adventures started operation. The Gray Whale Advocate email newsletter started that same year. Since then Keith has driven more than 250,000 miles on Baja Highway #1 and it's side roads. As a guide and naturalist he has more than 5,000 hours logged sitting or standing in small pangas on the three whale watching lagoons. For many years he held a Mexican Green Card work visa allowing him to work as a whale watching guide. He is perhaps the only foreigner to ever be given this specific work permit by the Mexican Immigration authorities. He has an unabashed passion to be close to the Gray whales, to observe them and to come to understand all that he can about them. He loves to talk about the whales. His life for 20 years has revolved around the migration. Until 2008 Keith still worked in a second career as a construction manager. When New Year arrived each year he would once again find himself begging some boss for a 90 day leave of absence. All too frequently he was forced to quit another high paying job. This willingness to just up and leave a good job time after time gave him a bit of a reputation as being unable to stick with something. It was difficult to explain in a job interview why he had left the last 4 positions after only 8 or 9 months. But to Keith those were just jobs and for him meaningless except to help support him between gray whale migrations. The Gray whales and his involvement with them are what give meaning to his life.