Description:
Woven into the haps and mis-haps of life on the road, is a long chain of synchronicities that lead to a personal awakening of spiritual and human awareness where we discover our own path of destiny, and find that in gratitude, friendship, and contentment, a life well spent.Reading "THE HAPPY TEXAN", is the next best thing to a personal visit, sitting face to face with a seasoned story teller and hearing first hand, adventures of a man who saw, worked with, and personally knew, some of the most famous bands we all grew up with, from Willie to Pink Floyd. Thank you Michael for writing such a good story. CONGRATULATIONS on a really fine book! Guich Koock (Cook), Actor, and writer.

Acknowledgement:
Many thanks to Trevor Lemoine, artist extraordinaire, for his work on the cover, Dusty Burke, and Bill Volk, for there continued support and encouragement, Kathy Guthrie Cheryl Taylor, Emma Sutton, Sandra, and Russell Brown, and Kim Marshall, for getting me out of trouble while writing, and formatting my manuscript, Bill Stephens for supplying me with a correct print out of show dates for STYX and Pure Prairie League, absolutely priceless, Mike Amaral at Oak Hill Printing, who took a shine to my project, made thangs easy for me, and added photos at the last minute. Last but not least, my wife Lisa, who kept suggesting I write a book for so many years before starting, and her continued positive support while writing the manuscript. She and Dusty Burke demanded pictures, and we're all glad they did.

Dedication:
To my Be' Be' Lisa, and to the memory of Charles Woodruff (Woody) Finger, a man among men. Woody handled one of the stages for Aztec Staging on a few of the STYX tours. So many good times were experienced with Woody, on tour and off. My brother James Inman. I always wanted to do something for my brother that would have a positive effect on his life and was able to get him into the Rock and Roll trucking bid' ness and share with him the joy of driving big trucks across the country and Canada in the music industry. Johnny Pannazo, the drummer for Styx, Mike Cooper, mixed monitors for Styx, Tim from Aztec Staging, died from AGENT ORANGE ingested in Viet Nam. Carl Alex Steele, AKA Cozmic Carl, life long friend. Tommy Crain (guitar), Taz Digregorio (keyboards, piano) Sid Yochim (trucks), Buddy Yochim (trucks), and their Daddy, Pappy Yochim, members of The Charlie Daniels Band and crew. Cody Chase, I met Cody in St. Louis, at Busch Stadium, Aug 26th, 1978. Styx was headlining, Blue Oyster Cult, Eddie Money, Angel, and Bob Welch. Me Cody, Mike Sherrill, and Eddie threw the frizbe around for bout twenty minutes. Cody left behind an igloo cooler that I still have to this day. didn't see Cody until 1994, the Voodoo Lounge tour with the Stones.