The Valley Rat is a coming of age story of me while growing up in the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas during the sixties. The book is divided into ten chapters that cover my early life through college years, elaborating the hard scrabble struggle from finding my way in a lower/middle class upbringing and escaping the mediocrity of this life and finally flourishing into a productive, happy soul.

The book highlights my exploits as a competitive swimmer, surfer and waterman in the vanguard of these early sports, including month long surfing surfari's to Matzatlan and San Blas on the Pacific Coast of Mexico. Three chapters encapsulate my relationships with three of my most influential friends, including the unsolved murder of my roommate and best friend, who died at the hands of a notorious Mexican cartel in 1967.

My exploits in hunting and fishing trips and my struggles in getting to know the opposite sex are also portrayed. Finally, all of the off job, work experiences that I held illustrate the desire to better my current position in life and point me in the right direction to prosper.