Today’s date is weird. 9-9-09. I noticed it first when writing today’s Photo of the Day post. Then someone sent me an e-mail from Westerville, Ohio proclaiming this Wonderful Weirdos Day. The missive stated that the purpose of such a day is to thank people who have taught you think outside the box–the people who have nurtured your creativity.
With that in mind, here are 10 travelers who have been a subject of Gadling posts over the years. In some way each represent a creative, adventurous drive, and each have pushed travel into the realm of outside the box.
What most of these stories also illustrate is that the kindness and interest of strangers has a lot to do with the success of an unusual idea. It’s hard to make it to outside the box on your own.
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David de Rothchild who is building a boat out of thousands of plastic bottles to sail between California and Australia.
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Roy Locock who is currently driving himself around the world in his car. After 14 months of travel he’s still going strong.
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Robert McDonald, who with the help of his son and 5,000 kids, built a ship made of 15 million popsicle sticks in order to sail across the Atlantic by way of Greenland and Iceland just like the Vikings did..
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The late Steve Fossett who made the longest nonstop flight in history in his Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer.
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Kent Couch who attached helium balloons to a lawn chair so he could fly from Oregon to Boise, Idaho.
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Matt Harding whose weird dance brought the world together with a video that makes everyone who sees it feel good.
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Ryan Jeanes and Philip Hullquist who set off on a hitchhiking trip from New York City to Berkeley, California with no money and the aim to make it in one week.
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Grandma Gatewood who, as a lark, set out to be the first woman to hike the Appalachian Trail. At the time, she was 57 years old and the mother of 11 children and 23 grandchildren
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Marcia and Ken Powers who gained distinction as being the first couple to hike the 4,900 miles across the United States.
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Scotty and Fiddy who hitchiked across 50 states, including a visit to each state’s capital, in 50 days.
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Joshua Keeler and his two buddies who set out in a van to cover the 48 states in the continental U.S. in five days.