Rolf talks to Moon founder Bill Dalton

This month at RolfPotts.com, I feature an interview with indie-travel guru Bill Dalton, who founded Moon Handbooks back in 1973. In addition to talking about this pioneering days in travel publishing, Dalton reveals how his early affinity for travel was an offshoot of his father's drinking habit:

"Travel got into my blood very early. When I was growing up in Wellesley, Massachusetts, just six or seven years old, my Dad used to come into my room in the middle of the night, wake me up and tell me to get dressed. We then climbed into the family car and headed out to California, Florida, or god knows where else — sometimes with me driving on his lap. The next morning, after he sobered up, we would find ourselves blinking in the harsh daylight of Times Square or the Maine coastline, hundreds of miles from home. When he started taking my younger brother along on these "night trips" too, my mother threatened to divorce him, so he stopped (she also began taking away the car keys on his drinking nights). These nocturnal flights were the first time I ever experienced the ecstasy of the open road, and they never left me. I ended up traveling for twelve years through 67 countries, as free as a leaf in the wind. In a sense, I've never gotten off the road."

Click here for the full interview. Last month at RolfPotts.com, I talked with travel author Pico Iyer.