The Pursuit Zone

Along the US-Canada border up in the northeastern arrowhead region of Minnesota, lies the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA).  With over one million acres, one thousand pristine lakes, 1200 miles of canoe routes, and 2200 backcountry campsites, the Boundary Waters is an outdoorsman's paradise.  Barry Johnson has visited the Boundary Waters many times over the past 25 years and has publis...

Janet Moreland is a self-described river rat and has been kayaking for 16 years.  In the summer of 2013 she embarked on a solo kayaking expedition of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers from the source at Brower's Spring, Montana to the Gulf of Mexico , a 3,700-mile adventure of paddling and portaging.  If she is successful, she will be the first woman to navigate this distance solo by kayak.  One...

Laura Dekker was born on a boat and from a young age dreamed of sailing the globe.  With the support of her parents she was ready to set sail at age 13 only to be stopped by Dutch authorities.  After the legal battles ended, she won her fight and set off on her solo journey at age 14.  366 days later, she successfully completed her solo circumnavigation in January of 2012 and became the youngest p...

Squash Falconer has summited Mt. Everest, was the first British woman to paraglide from Mont Blanc in France, and in the summer of 2013 set the world record for riding an ElliptiGO bicycle across the UK, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, and France.  A 3,074 mile journey over nine weeks to raise money for the breast cancer charity Coppafeel , and to get people to join the ride and share the love of a...

Jessica Yurasek is on a journey – a journey to become un-stuck and to find meaning, purpose, creativity, and inspiration in everyday life.  After five years behind the cubicle in busy, chaotic Los Angeles, she was burned-out.  Fortunately, a job layoff pushed the daydreams into reality.  She packed up her belongings, rented her house, and planned for a year of travel vagabond-style through South K...

Charles Scott is leading a life of family adventure.  In 2009 he and his 8-year-old son Sho cycled 2500 miles across Japan.  In 2011, his 4-year-old daughter Saya joined them to cycle the circumference of Iceland.  And in 2012 the three cycled Germany, Switzerland, France and England over 42 days.  This summer the family set off again to re-trace the 3,200-mile Lewis & Clark Trail.  They will driv...

Cycling 4,500 miles across the USA was the easy part of Rob Greenfield's 19-state adventure.  So what was the hard part?  How about doing it using electricity only from renewable energy, consuming water only from natural sources, and eating only locally grown organic food – a challenging off-the-grid adventure.  The ride was done to inspire Americans to live a healthier and happier lifestyle for t...

After a decade of being distracted by a career, a relationship, and home ownership; Loretta Henderson decided to stop dreaming about adventure and to start living it.  She left Alaska at age 36 to begin cycling around the world.  Starting in the United Kingdom, she left the bike shop on a Thorn Raven without a map and without any cycling experience.  Four years later she has pedaled across 30 coun...

Ryan Wichelns and Gabe Messercola have spent the last half-decade in the Adirondacks. They have been fortunate to have this park in their backyard and have gained an appreciation for the wilderness through backpacking and climbing.  To raise awareness and support for Big City Mountaineers , an urban youth outdoor mentoring organization, Ryan and Gabe spent 20 days this summer traversing the Adiron...

My next guest found himself at a crossroads after leaving his corporate job and splitting up with his wife.  Instead of taking the path of the stereotypical midlife crisis, he opted for the path less traveled and decided to take a walk.  Not just any walk, a really long walk – a 1305-mile walk across Turkey.  For 20 years, Matt Krause had something bigger in mind and this walk would be the first p...

My next guest is Jordan Harvey.  Jordan studied in Havana, Cuba and spent more than three years traveling and living in South America.  While in Chile, he and his wife guided in Patagonia and throughout the country while building their company – Knowmad Adventures – a trip operator and travel consultancy specializing in South American travel.  He says starting and running an international travel b...

At an early age Steve Knowlton knew he would run across America.  He completed his first marathon at age 13.  Since then he has completed 45 additional marathons and 7 ultra-marathons.  He completed his cross-country run in 2010 when he ran from Seattle Washington to Key Largo Florida.  A 3,717 mile run in 100 days to raise awareness for Chrohn's disease.  In 2013 Steve set off on a second cross-c...

After college graduation my next guest jumped around from Central America to a Northern California Buddhist monastery to a year of law school before dropping out.  He then spent 8 years as Executive Director at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center – an environmental education center and farm in Connecticut.  In 2010 he founded Urban Adamah , an urban produce farm on an acre of land in Berke...

At the beginning 2010, my next guest left her life as an Occupational Therapist in the United States and found herself as a lonely housewife in Lima, Peru.  But it didn't take long to overcome the fear of a foreign city, catcalling men, and wild street dogs to become a marathon runner, a cook, an English teacher, and a Social-Media Marketing Manager.  Danielle Krautmann (DanielleLParker [at] gmail...

After a job layoff, my next guest avoided the temptation to rush back to work and used the opportunity to thru-hike the Appalachian trail, south to north, over 24 weeks from May to October of 2012.  He managed to survive encounters with ticks, mice, snakes, feral ponies, and a storm that could have killed him.  Aaron Hushagen, or Hoosh as he was known on the trail, welcome to The Pursuit Zone.

On April 4 th , 2013, my next guests completed an 11,700 mile journey across North America by kayak, canoe, and dogsled .  It was a 3-year journey to gain support and protection for North America's waterways and wild places.  During their adventure they actively engaged over 25,000 elementary and middle school students though live school assemblies and their website wildernessclassroom.com .  Dave...

While in college at Iowa State University, my next guest teamed up to design and install a water valve for a rural Malian village.  It was a life-changing experience.  After graduation he volunteered for the Peace Corps in Nicaragua and while there co-founded Emerging Opportunities for Sustainability ( www.eosinternational.org ) – a not-for-profit organization dedicated to producing technology tha...

My guest today is Pete Marshall.  Pete has paddled over 7500 miles through Canada. In 2005 he and his brother canoed 2700 miles over 122 days from their home state of Minnesota to the Arctic Ocean.  On May 8 th of 2012, Pete and 3 others began a 2600-mile, 130-day canoe expedition across the isolated regions of Canada's northern territories from Skagway Alaska to the Hudson Bay.  You can learn mor...

In 2011, my next guest surprised even herself by quitting an enviable office job, hugging friends goodbye, and leaving New York City after six years. She went home to California to regroup, wondered what she was doing with her life, and then got herself a work visa and an outlandishly expensive plane ticket for New Zealand.  She spent 12 months living and working on New Zealand's south island, tra...