Ride in the Open Spaces

John and Connie (his wife of twenty-four years) live in the hills of northern Minnesota near the town of Cohasset where he and his family attend worship services. Five miles away is Itasca County's seat, Grand Rapids, where Hayes has practiced law for nearly twenty-eight years. John built their colonial style house where they raised their three children (now adults) Sarah, Johannah, and John. Hayes' love of history began as a four-year-old transplant to Fairfax County, Virginia where, for fifteen years, he encountered early American history and the forging of our early government. Hayes recalls trips to George Washington's old haunts, the plantations of Mount Vernon and Woodlawn, and Jefferson's home Monticello. In addition, there were several trips to Jamestown, Colonial Williamsburg and Yorktown wherein he encountered and was intrigued by the daily lifestyles and struggles of the common person; whether those struggles came from keeping of hearth and home, sociopolitical tensions, legal endeavors, or war-time duties. Hayes came to respect our colonial predecessors and now finds satisfaction in emulating and writing about their life-ways.