Jim Carrier, Former Denver Post Columnist, Starts Second Life Sailing, Blogging

Before being pushed out by the editor of the Denver Post in 1997, veteran journalist Jim Carrier [See bio] claims he had one of the best jobs in America, when he was able to roam the American West as a columnist, using the stage name the ``Rocky Mountain Ranger.’’ The assignment allowed him to travel 500,000 miles, witness 7,665 sunsets, while wearing 87 different pairs of Levis. Nice work if you can get it.

Rather than accept a less fulfilling role at the Post, where he knew he would just be miserable and rot away into oblivion, the award-winning journalist, author, civil rights activist and entrepreneur simply cashed in his chips, spent his annuity on a sailboat, and ``sailed away, quite literally.’’

Shortly after leaving the Post in 1997, Carrier plunked money down on a sailboat, named it Ranger, and set out to sail the Pacific. In 2002, he hit the waves again, this time sailing across the Atlantic and into the Mediterranean. His enthusiasm for navigation and telling a compelling story, in fact, led him to create a technology company, IntelliTours, which creates GPS-guided audio tours.

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