History 21 The Podcast - 5.12 Randy Bauer

On September 8, 1974 Randy Bauer, Jerry Mimbach, and Tom Anderson (all from Coon Rapids) embarked on an epic 7,500-mile journey starting at the headwaters of the Mississippi by kayak. This year, Jim Bauer relaunched Randy’s book about their journey.

Hosts Sara Given, ACHS Volunteer Coordinator, and Rebecca Desens, ACHS Executive Director.

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The Great Circle Trilogy

On September 8, 1974, Randy Bauer, Jerry Mimbach, and Tom Anderson (all from Coon Rapids) embarked on an epic 2-year and approximately 7,500-mile journey by kayak that circumnavigated the eastern United States. The trip was called the Great Circle Trilogy. The first part of the trilogy was traveling the length of the Mississippi River. The second part was through the intracoastal waterway around Florida and up the east coast to New York City. The last part crossed the State of New York into the Great Lakes and back to Minnesota. Tom left the trip after completing only the first part of the trilogy.

Jerry and Tom built their kayaks from kits but by the time Randy returned from Europe after his military obligations he did not have time to build one. About six weeks before the start of the trip, his mother found him one at a rummage sale for $40. It had been made in a high school shop class. These were not of modern fiberglass or plastic construction but were canvas covered wood frames.

The Guiness Book of World Records listed their trip as the longest by kayak (they called it a canoe), giving it a length of 7,516 miles. It remained the record holder for several years. Their trip also merited a cartoon in Ripley’s Believe It or Not.

Randy Bauer’s Journals

Randy kept a journal throughout the trip to document each aspect of the journey. Below is a page from journal B, the second out of eleven that are now part of the collection at ACHS.

How’s the handwriting? Can you decipher it?

Library Minute

Tales of arduous, aquatic journeys have captivated people since at least the original telling of Homer’s The Odyssey, which can be dated back to nearly 3000 years ago!

Adult/YA Fiction:

The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George (FICTION GEO)

The River by Peter Heller (FICTION HEL)

Adventures of Mary Jane by Hope Jahren (YA FICTION JAH)

This Tender Land by William Kent Kruger (FICTION KRU)

Follow the Stars Home by Diane McPhail (FICTION MCP)

The River Home by Hannah Richell (FICTION RIC)

Adult Nonfiction:

Kayaking the Great Circle Trilogy: down the Mississippi River, around the intracoastal waterways and across the Great Lakes by Randy Bauer and edited by James Bauer (797.1224 BAU)

The Wild Mississippi: a state-by-state guide to the river’s natural wonders by Dean Klinkenberg (917.7 KLI)

Hope on the River: an unlikely captain’s 1700-mile Mississippi River journey on a leaky raft to save his nonprofit by Erich Mische (921 MIS)

Spirit Car: journey to a Dakota past by Diane Wilson (978.004975243 WIL)

A/V:

Peanut Butter Falcon directed by Tyler Nilson (DVD PEA)

The Odyssey by Homer (CD883.01 HOM)

Can You Canoe? By the Okee Dokee Brothers (CD E OKE)