Dale grew up on a farm in Iowa, but knew early on that agronomy was not in his blood. Especially after the summer he helped his grandpa castrate the hogs. They don’t like that at all and it makes you feel really ashamed for what you’ve done.

Fortunately the farm happened to be outside Iowa City, a surprisingly sophisticated community, owed in part perhaps to the fact that it plays host to the University of Iowa’s world renowned Iowa Writers Workshop. And it is from that university that he earned a degree in film.

Soon after he found himself in Lafayette, Louisiana, at a local TV station directing an early morning program that was half in English half in Cajun French, and discovered that all those credit hours of college French were mostly tuition down the drain.

Years go by and Dale bounces from television to the ad agency biz and back, and then takes a leap of faith to enter the world of magazine editing.  And here at Country Roads he at last finds his tribe. And a way to at least abstractly reconnect with his country roots.

In addition to his duties as Managing Editor at Country Roads, Dale and his partner Dave also own a bed and breakfast in New Orleans.