The Dault family is descended from a long line of feisty Quebecois fur-traders, tracing their lineage back to the first one of us to make it to the New World: Guillaume Daoust. He arrived in New France on a ship from the old France somewhere in 1675. A bunch of us were born in the intervening years, mostly hanging out around Canada.

Around three generations ago, some of us Daoust's crossed the border (having our names americanized to "Dault" in the process) and settled in western Michigan. That's where my folks are from. Both Mom and Dad were born and raised in Muskegon, the "Shoreline City." Ma went out west for a while to go to college, and eventually became an architectural designer. Pops got drafted, and eventually spent a little too much time in VietNam.

Me, I was born somewhere around 2 in the morning (Pacific time) at the Army hospital in Ft. Ord, CA. That was January 19th, 1971. I can't recall the weather that day, but I remember feeling like I had one Hell of a hangover. The nineteenth is an astrological "cusp" day - not that I buy into such things - but those who do would tell you that I hang suspended between the signs of Capricorn and Aquarius. My temperment, as a result, lies in the tension between 'free-wheeling' and 'anal-retentive.'

This explains a lot - even though I don't buy into such things.

Ft. Ord is on the Monterrey peninsula, nestled between Pacific Grove and the Salinas Valley. For you Steinbeck fans, this means I am from somewhere between Cannery Row and Tortilla Flat. So I spent my first couple years as a Californian. Not there long enough to learn to surf, but I did manage to garner a nice laid-back attitude and an affinity for obnoxious Jam shorts and Vans sneakers.

Around my third birthday, Dad was transferred to the Infantry division at Ft. Benning, GA. And this was how my I came to spend my formative years in perhaps the weirdest place for an ex-Quebecois-displaced-Midwestern-California-native to have to grow up: The "Fountain City," Columbus, Georgia.

Next: Growing up in Columbus