About the Author

Richard A. Suleski, Jr. is 28 years old. At the age of 17, he joined the Merchant Marines and participated in Operation Desert Shield aboard the USNS Regulus, delivering the 2nd Armored Cavalry Division to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. From the age of 20 to 24 he was a Real Estate Broker, ranking in the top 3% nationally. Tired of working 12-hour days, he decided to quit his job and see America. Over the next year, Rich pedaled an old Schwinn bicycle 10,982 miles through the contiguous 48 states of the Union. He wrote a book about the journey called Ten Thousand Miles of America. Five weeks after finishing that journey, he became the 1st Mate on the paddlewheel steamboat Julia Belle Swain. It is one of the last genuine paddlewheel steamboats left in America. This authentic steamer plies Mark Twain's favorite part of the Mississippi River, between Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin and Winona, Minnesota.

This winter, Rich received the rank of Captain and is currently piloting the P.A. Denny, a sternwheeler based in Charleston, West Virginia. Articles were written about the journey Ten Thousand Miles of America in several small town newspapers, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, and the Arizona Daily Sun. Later this summer, Rich will be featured in an upcoming PBS documentary entitled Main Stream. He is currently writing his second non-fiction title, about his most recent travels, entitled The Soul of America.

Rich will be making his third attempt to canoe the Mississippi later this year, or early next year. Ten Thousand Miles of America, The Soul of America, and his other adventures can be found at his Web site. http://richsuleski.hypermart.net

The Headwaters
A journey by canoe down the Mississippi River by Captain Richard A. Suleski, Jr.