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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.
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