John Frederick has returned to his writing roots during the last third of his life, after changing his major at Penn State from Journalism to Geography. In addition to extensive professional writing, he wrote a book, Winding Roads: A Bicyclist's Journey through Life and America, on the bicycling adventures of his earlier years. He also and a authors a regular newspaper column on science and the environment. He has lived in the Northern Appalachians his entire life, in the last valley of the Appalachian Ridge and Valley near Altoona. His primary paychecks (to support his writing habit) have come from his works as an Earth Science teacher in his early days and as a environmental resource manager over the last three decades.