At 22 years old in 1976, Hannes Zacharias took a Bicentennial message from the mayor of Dodge City to the mayor of New Orleans.
He traveled by kayak.
“I’d never been down South before, never been by myself that long before, never been on the river that long before, and those six weeks were like a life-changing experience for me,” he said.
Zacharias reached New Orleans – surviving an incident in Oklahoma where the kayak was stolen but later recovered in pieces – and received the key to the city of New Orleans.
He promised himself if he had the opportunity, he would do it again but make it a complete journey, following a drop of water from the Continental Divide to the Gulf of Mexico.
Read more: Hutch News.