Book excerpt: Dodging railroad bulls, hobo camp raid, larger-than-life prospectors in the Alaskan wild, rubbing elbows with a roguish lot of Hollywood celebrities, all experienced by a once-in-a-lifetime character, Scruffy Lomax. So come aboard as we canvass the first half of the twentieth century in a rollicking tale of one man’s obsession to live the life he has imagined despite the ruthless indifference of fate.