Travel Survival

By the 1930s, no one had yet crossed Antarctica, and its vast interior remained a mystery frozen in time. Hoping to write his name in the history books, wealthy American Lincoln Ellsworth announced he would fly across the unexplored continent, and to honor his hero, Wyatt Earp, he would carry his gun belt on the flight. The obstacles to Ellsworth’s ambition were numerous: He didn’t like the cold, he avoided physical work, and he couldn’t navigate. Consequently, he hired the experienced Australian explorer Sir Hubert Wilkins to organize the expedition on his behalf.

Christopher Schacht was only 19 years old and had just finished school when he put a dream into motion. With only 50 euros in savings, he traveled around the world, relying only on his friendliness, flexibility, charm, and willingness to work for his shelter and food. Christopher traveled for four years, visiting 45 countries and traversing 100,000 kilometers on foot, hitchhiking, and on sailboats.

Teresa O'Kane had always longed to see the world. She owned scads of travel books and maps and was about to buy yet another bookcase to hold the many Lonely Planet guides and travel essays that she had accumulated over the years when she turned to her husband and said, "I'm tired of storing our dreams. Let's live them!" Within a month, they bought one-way tickets to Morocco, leased out their home, and set out on a journey of the African continent top to bottom from Casablanca to Cape Town.

Lynn Schooler had recently lost a dear friend and was feeling his marriage slipping away from him when he set out on a daring journey - first by boat, then on foot - into the Alaskan wilderness to clear his head. His solo expedition, recounted in Walking Home, is filled with the awe and danger of being on one's own in the wild, being battered by the elements and even, for two harrowing days, becoming the terrified quarry of a grizzly bear. But the formidable, lonely landscape is also rich with human stories....

Part documentary, part reality-television, the story of the Deadliest Catch’s Alaskan crab fishermen risking their lives in the Bering Sea to make a buck and feed their families has captivated the world. Giving the Finger follows the life of the spirited young captain who has emerged as one of the most talked-about figures on the show: Scott Campbell, Jr., who leads the crew of the Seabrooke. As this book - a prequel to Junior’s ascent to fame - shows, the trials of crabbing are not limited to living at sea and working the most dangerous job on the planet, but carry over to family and friends.

In 2008, Lynn Barber's passion for birding led her to drive, fly, sail, walk, stalk, and sit in search of birds in 25 states and three provinces. Traveling more than 175,000 miles, she set a 21st century record at the time, second to only one other person in history. Over 272 days, Barber observed 723 species of birds in North America north of Mexico.

Before Georgetown physics professor Francis Slakey decided to climb the highest mountain on every continent and surf every ocean, he had shut himself off from other people. His lectures were mechanical; his relationships were little more than ways to fill the evenings. But as his journey veered dangerously off course, everything began to change. A gripping adventure of the body and mind, To the Last Breath depicts the quest that leads Slakey around the globe, almost takes his life, and opens his heart.

Sullivan's classic account of his 65 day, 1,361-mile solo backpacking trek across Oregon has been chosen by the Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission as one of Oregon's "100 Books", the most significant literary works in state history. Sullivan recounts adventures with blizzards, bears, and poisonous mushrooms, but he also spices his journal with notes on history, geology, and the people he meets along the way.

When Joe Patterson was surprised with the gift of a white German Shepherd puppy named Griffin, he had no idea of the adventure that awaited them. Searching for answers in the painful memories of his family's past will lead them deep into the rugged winter landscape of South Dakota's Black Elk Wilderness, where together they will face danger, forge a timeless bond, and experience an epic story that will leave them forever changed.

Not so long ago, two carefree 18-year-olds hitchhiked across a country of wide-open highways and wide-open people. Ride with them on this nostalgic look back at "America of the Big Heart". It was 1961, before the deaths of JFK and MLK and before Vietnam.

An alphabetical romp through a lifetime of hair-breadth escape, dire danger, and even bizarre and unusual misadventure. The author is an ambassador of the Kingdom of God and this has painted a target on his back for the forces of darkness from early childhood. You will thrill to the tales of terror, laugh uproariously at hilarious circumstances and lightheartedly humorous storytelling style, and find your own faith in God's care and protection growing with every chapter.

Solo circumnavigation of the globe. Fewer than 300 sailors in history have accomplished it, less than the number of people who have climbed Mt. Everest, or even those who have gone to space. In 1990, Istvan Kopar set out to earn his place among this elite fraternity - and to do so with only one stop.

This is the tale of two people who quit their jobs, packed up and stored all of their belongings, and rode 10-speed bicycles across the North American continent, pedaling though North America and British Columbia. Filled with heartfelt anecdotes and colorful characters, this story delivers a unique look at how two amateurs accomplished this feat.

Interwoven with legends and lore, this story chronicles one man's adventure on Lake Superior, one of the world's most dangerous bodies of water.

Middle-class, mid-career, and Midwestern, 20-something Emily Carpenter walks into a new job that isn't middle anything. In only slightly more time than it takes to get a passport, this brave adventuress finds herself thrust into a world of lavish luxury, corporate hijinks, and personal scandal. Jet-setting around the globe with her sociopathic boss, she discovers the line between right and wrong is generally negotiable, and almost always in a language other than English.

When Jo steps onto planet Tau Ceti e for the first time, she’s ready to put the past behind her and begin again. After all, as a pioneer, she has the job of helping build a new home away from Earth. But underneath the idyllic surface of their new home, there’s something very wrong. And when Jo accidentally uncovers a devastating secret that could destroy everything they’ve worked for, suddenly the future doesn’t seem so bright. With the fate of the pioneers in her hands, Jo must decide how far she’s willing to go to expose the truth - before the truth destroys them all.

Jeff Appelquist has traveled to all 50 of the United States, myriad foreign countries, and six continents. He has survived three years in the Marine Corps infantry; a violent rock slide on Mount Kilimanjaro; a Force Nine gale in a sailboat on the Atlantic Ocean; a frozen regulator while wreck-diving deep in icy Lake Superior; and a ghostly encounter with a Confederate soldier on Little Round Top at Gettysburg. He is a student of history who teaches leadership. He is an international sportsman who loves the outdoors. And he is deeply concerned about the state of our beloved Earth.

Living on a Russian base next door to angry sea lions, Karen finds herself living and working in remote conditions surrounded by stunning scenery as she discovers the courage to find a different way of living which will change her life forever and inspire others to do the same.

This is the remarkable ship's log/diary of Captain William Bligh, which describes in vivid detail what happened to him and his 18-person crew after the famous "Mutiny" on the "Bounty." In a boat only 23 feet long, Captain Bligh and his men voyaged for 4,000 miles to eventual safety. This book is a partial excerpt from Bligh's work, Voyage to the South Sea, which was commissioned by the English Majesty.

In 1979, Ursula Westmacott impulsively left London and her modelling career to join her boyfriend Chris Crocker on board Spero, a 42-foot sailing boat built in 1909 and never modernized - no engine and just a sextant for navigation. The two intrepid sailors headed south for Gibraltar, then Africa, finally crossing the Atlantic to reach Brazil.