 After several years in Asia and then Africa, Childress moved in 1983 to Stelle, Illinois, a community founded by New Age writer Richard Kieninger; Childress had been given one of Kieninger's books while touring Africa.Childress chronicled his explorations in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s in his "Lost Cities and Ancient Mysteries" series of books.Childress's first book, "A Hitchhikers Guide to Africa and Arabia", was published in 1983 by Chicago Review Press.