While out on trails, Rogers, who wrote about his trek in America
One Step at a Time, settles into a world of "no noise but the sound
of wind and the occasional bird." The solitude, he admits, can be
tough. "I'm a very social creature, so it makes it more difficult
to go four or five days without social interaction. It's physically
the hardest thing I've ever done, and mentally even tougher."
Like so many others, it started with the Appalachian Trail.
Or, actually, with a 1970s National Geographic article about the
trail. After reading it, Doug Mathews decided on three goals: to
walk the trail, to bike across
America, and to paddle down the
Mississippi River. The former information-technology specialist
wanted to see several "cross sections of America," each from a
different perspective. He completed the 2,168-mile Appalachian
Trail over 169 days in 2002, did the 2,600-mile bike ride over 39
days in 2003, and then, a short time later, hopped in a canoe and
made his first attempt at the
Mississippi. He gave up two weeks
into the trip. "I hadn't been back from the bike ride for long, and
I missed being home," says Mathews, 61. But after meeting
Californians Bud Prunty and John Depue in 2003, the three went on a
bike trip in 2004 from
Sacramento,
California, to
Colorado Springs,
Colorado, and Mathews decided to give the Mississippi another try -
with his two new traveling companions along for the adventure.
The trio put their kayaks into the 2,300-mile-long Mississippi in
July 2005 and finished in August. Of all his adventures, Mathews
says, "the kayaking trip was the hardest. It's more desolate. You
really are not seeing as many people on the river as you are hiking
or biking." Thousands of people attempt to hike the Appalachian
Trail each year (about 500 complete it); just five or so set out to
paddle the Mississippi.