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Mark Leslie Hunnibell was a pilot in the U.S. Air Force from 1981 through 1988 when he began an almost 30-year career as an airline pilot. Now retired, he has embarked on a project that began as a hobby, but has grown into a major undertaking: his quest to ride his 1919 Henderson motorcycle across America in 2019 in centennial tribute to British Royal Air Force Captain C.K. Shepherd, who rode across America in 1919 on his own Henderson and then published a book in 1922 about his journey, Across America by Motor-Cycle. This book remains in copyright in the UK. Former U.S. Air Force and retired airline Captain Mark Hunnibell was granted exclusive rights to publish and augment this book. It is now available in three formats:
1. Paperback (ASIN: 1797460730)
2. Kindle Edition (ASIN: B07NQCVZ6C)
3. Audiobook (ASIN: B07PP4GD6V)
A new book by Captain Hunnibell, published June 4, 2019, Across America by Motor-Cycle - Fully Annotated Centennial Edition (ASIN: 1948181495), provides nearly 1,000 new photos, notes, and details about C.K.'s journey plus a complete biography of C.K. and a foreword by C.K.'s only son.
The research needed to plan the 2019 ride involved purchase of an original print of the book and then its careful word-by-word dissection and “reverse engineering” to determine the route “C.K.” took (because there was no map or itinerary in the book). During the course of his research, Mark discovered fascinating details about C.K.’s life and times, as well as many details about the 1922 book. In order to share what he had learned, Mark began diligently remastering and resetting the original manuscript into Kindle and also paperback and obtained legal license to republish this copyrighted work. The images in Mark's productions of the 1922 book are scanned from original photos in C.K.'s personal archives. The books themselves have been carefully transcribed and proof-read to meet modern electronic and print publication standards. Additionally, Mark produced a complete audiobook of the 1922 book using a professional vocalist so that people may enjoy this classic no matter their setting, including riding down the highway in Colorado!
Born in 1957 in Providence, Rhode Island, Mark is the second of four children of parents who had both been students at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), as had many in Mark’s extended family. Mark attended RISD himself from 1975-1979, receiving his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Industrial Design in 1980. However, instead of pursuing a design career, in 1981 Mark joined the U.S. Air Force to become a pilot. There he flew the C-130, finishing his seven-year tour with the “Hurricane Hunters.” He then began a nearly-thirty-year career as airline pilot, retiring in June 2018, having flown Boeing, Airbus, and McDonnell-Douglas aircraft.
In 2000, Mark decided it was time to dust off the baskets of the old 1919 Henderson his father had given him decades earlier if he was ever going to complete the restoration. By 2002, Mark had joined the Antique Motorcycle Club of America (AMCA) and had begun building his network for restoration and the growing plans for the cross-country trip. He volunteered at a northeast regional “meet” of AMCA and—within a couple years—was the chairman of a key committee. Later, he helped AMCA to stabilize and re-catalogue its “Virtual Library” of digital copies of hundreds of books, catalogues, photos, and documents relating to antique motorcycles.
Across America by Motor-Cycle: Fully Annotated Centennial Edition is the product of Mark’s dogged determination to discover and tell the rest of the story of Charles Kenilworth Shepherd’s amazing journey. He also plans to document his own journey in a subsequent book with the working title Chasing Charles: Across America by Motor-Cycle II.
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