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�Real Indiana Jones� called valley home When world-renowned explorer Gene Savoy grows weak and weary, he heads to the Rogue Valley. This is where he finds rejuvenation, both physically and spiritually. "If I�m tired, I go back there and get my strength back," he says. "I go to the Rogue Valley to get back to my roots." Back to where he started his adventures. "When I was a kid, I used to go exploring around the Table Rocks and in the local mountains there," he says, then adds, "I even learned to sail at the Lake of the Woods." That was before People Magazine dubbed him the "real Indiana Jones" in 1985, before he founded the Andean Explorers Foundation & Ocean Sailing Club, before he discovered lost cities in South America. Indeed, before he started hacking his way through jungles in search of ancient ruins or sailing oceans in a replica of an ancient sailing vessel to prove a theory, he was climbing the Table Rocks, sailing on the lake or hiking in the Applegate Valley. But folks who knew Savoy, now 73 and living in Reno, in junior high and Medford Senior High School, would have known him as Gene Dailey. That�s because Medford resident Walt Dailey adopted Savoy when he was 3. However, when Savoy joined the Navy during World War II, he discovered his birth certificate still bore the Savoy surname. "So I had to go by Savoy," he explains. "But I always considered Walt as my dad. Back in �34, we used to go out to his mine up at Steamboat in the Applegate Valley. That�s a beautiful area." Savoy still has three brothers in the Medford area in Bill, Jack and John Dailey. One of Savoy�s boyhood chums is Chuck Hinkle, also 73, now retired in Las Vegas, N.M. "Gene and I used to go swimming out in Bear Creek, just horsing around like kids do," Hinkle recalls. "We both left high school after we completed the 10th grade to enlist in the Navy. That was in �44." After the war, Savoy went to college at the University of Portland, majoring in journalism. Hinkle attended what is now Southern Oregon University. "That was before Gene became famous," Hinkle says of his lifelong friend. "But we�ve kept in touch. And we read about him over the years." Credited with discovering more than 40 ancient sites, Savoy first went to Peru in 1957. He was drawn by his interest in prehistoric culture. Establishing a base of operations in Lima, he got a job writing for an English-language magazine known as the Peruvian Times. It was also in Lima where he formed the explorers foundation. "I started writing about the culture and studying it," he says. "But I wanted to go out there." "Out there" was the 3 million square miles of Peruvian rain forest which beckoned. He promptly got a job working as a photographer on an archaelogical field study. "I�ve studied archaeology, but it�s not my thing," he says. "I�ve concentrated on history." He also concentrated on the high rain forest on the east slopes of the Andes. It was there last month that he discovered what he believes is one of seven lost cities of the Chachapoyas, a tribe conquered by the Incas in the 15th century. Savoy and his discovery were a major focus of a July 10 cover story about lost cities in the U.S. News and World Report weekly news magazine. "Dazzling new finds rewrite the story of civilization," it proclaimed. The explorer will return to the lost city next month. The exact location hasn�t been disclosed because of concerns about pillagers. But Savoy allows it�s a difficult ordeal getting there. "We drive north of Lima a couple of hundred miles, then cut east over the high country, " he says. "The ruins are about 9,000 feet above sea level." There is a road. Of sorts. "It�s an old Inca road," he says. "But the bridges are gone now. We�ll have to build bridges as we go." In addition to fellows hacking their way with machetes he�ll be accompanied by archaeologists, members of the Andean Explorers Foundation and a 50-horse pack train. Following what will no doubt be a fascinating but tiring expedition, he plans to return to his roots Rogue Valley once more. "I�ll be visiting my brothers in October," he says. "I�ll take a little time to get back to my roots again ... to get my strength back." Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at [email protected] Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA