Lou Federico, author of One Hell of a Ride

Lou Federico was born in Denver, Colorado, on March 12, 1925. His book, One Hell of a Ride, was written in part because his immediate family knows little about him and more distant relatives even less. Lou would have liked to have known more about his own father, and he wanted to prevent these circumstances from occurring with his own children. While he prefers tennis, fly-fishing, and bird hunting with his English pointers to writing, a fact he makes clear in his book, Lou is glad he took the time to write his story in One Hell of a Ride.

He and his family lived for short periods in various mill and mining towns in Utah and Wyoming, occasionally going back and forth to Denver. Then it was on to Montana, Idaho, and Washington before going back to New York. Finally they went back to Denver for two months. The mines in Montana were going full swing, so next it was on to Butte, Great Falls, and then Gallup (New Mexico) and Jackson (California) where his father decided to drop anchor permanently while a new Fredrick Tailoring Co. was being built in San Jose, California. And that is where Lou attended high school.

World War II disrupted everyone's life and Lou was no exception. He entered the Navy and his apprenticeship as a tailor was no longer a priority. Lou enlisted for LST amphibious duty under the renowned 9th Fleet Admiral, Chester Nimitz, and his ship made nine landings. One of his most vivid memories of the war was being beached just a few ships away from General Douglas McArthur, corncob pipe in his mouth, when he stepped off the ramp of his LST and proclaimed, "I have returned."

The last invasion Lou was involved in would turn out to be the very last invasion of the entire war in the Pacific theater, that being Balikpapan, Borneo. But wer're getting a bit ahead of Lou. There are dozens of small details that bear mentioning, like what went on between battles. In fact, that's what most men bring home from a war - the small things that slip into the cracks and never make the history books, things like personal grudges, Dear John letters, loneliness, and last, but not least, sex.

But you'll have to read One Hell of a Ride to have Lou tell you a few things about World War II that you haven't heard before – like what goes on between or after invasions once they have been secured.

After being honorably discharged from the service, the next major phase of Lou's life is the building of resort hotels down in Baja, Mexico. Within four years, Lou had lost his mother, a son, a dear friend, and a father, and he had become divorced. So by 1958, he had had his share of death and was alone and carousing most nights - what Lou needed was a new life in place of his men's tailoring shop where he designed men's and women's tailored clothing.

Lou would eventually set off for many years of adventure in Baja, California, at a time when that area was still fairly wild and rugged. Three years in the Pacific had taught him to be persistent, if nothing else. When tragedies befall a person, as they had Lou, a person can either cave in or steel oneself for what's ahead and face the music. Lou Federico was ready to move on.

And move on he did - against all odds. A longtime friend of Lou's, John Bonfante, walked into his tailoring shop in San Jose one day to tell Lou that Herb Tansy, owner and originator of Baja's Rancho Buena Vista (a fishing resort) had been killed. The very next day, Lou and John made the decision to build their own hotel. Lou ended up building not one but two resort hotels in primitive Baja. For the in-between tales and the rest of the story, buy One Hell of a Ride. Or take a look at what readers of the book are saying.