Adventurer, Author, and Storyteller Woodrow "Pack" Landfair is the owner of El Porto Surf Shop and Player's Liquor in El Porto, California. His latest book, Road Journals: 48 States. One Ride. reveals how he unexpectedly wound-up there, running a surf shop and a liquor store - with a guitar and harmonica strapped around his neck.  

A University of Texas baseball player, NCAA National Champion, and Navy ROTC Midshipman until a back-injury forced him to abandon the future he had spent years working toward...

 He pawned his College World Series ring and nearly all his possessions to buy a used motorcycle and work his way across all 48 contiguous states.

The journey eventually led him through underground economies, to the outskirts of show business, and then to El Porto - a tiny beachfront neighborhood in Los Angeles, and home to one of southern California's most consistent surf breaks. 

Today, Landfair surfs almost everyday and has become deeply woven into the fabric of the local community - organizing the annual El Porto Surf Contest, hosting the monthly Porto First Thursday neighborhood party, founding Porto Surf Crew, and acquiring (then revitalizing) the town convenience store, Player's Liquor, an El Porto hub since 1963.

Located within eyeshot of planes ascending from and descending into Los Angeles International Airport, El Porto Beach is visited year round by locals, traveling surfers, and beachgoers from around the world. 

Inspired by those he meets, Pack is currently 19 countries deep into a quest to surf the coastline of every nation on planet earth - the subject of Road Journals' 2027 sequel, Surf Journals, Vol 1. 

What began as an unplanned ride toward an unknown destination became the foundation for the life Landfair leads and writes about in the Road Journals and Surf Journals series.

"An engaging narrative that blends travelogue with thoughtful observations about life." 

-Kirkus Reviews 

Road Journals tells the story of a 30,000-mile motorcycle trip across the United States after the end of baseball and naval careers that never fully began - and the path that eventually led to El Porto, California.

Written week by week on the road, the book follows the people he met, the jobs he worked, the places he slept, and the uncertainty of trying to build a life without a plan.