Best American Adventure

After the sudden death of her fiancé, a woman heals through an epic journey.

• Better America
• Fourth of July

Kayaking and bicycling around the continental United States calls for real grit. Just ask Renata Chlumska, the 34-year-old former model who completed the 11,000-mile journey in 439 days. Originally, she'd planned a romantic trek with her fiancé, Göran Kropp, who had moved with her from Sweden to Seattle. When Kropp fell to his death on a rock-climbing trip near their adopted city in 2002, only the thought of her "Around America Adventure" got Chlumska out of bed. Planning and training for it "became my lifeline," she says.

On the Fourth of July, 2005, Chlumska set out from Seattle in her red kayak, expecting long, lonely months.

Instead, she met strangers who cheered her -- some even became friends. Near Brookings, Oregon, when rough waves and severe winds forced Chlumska out of the water, a local family fed her, later inviting her to their home for four nights. At key points along the way, she picked up her bicycle (which she shipped ahead as needed) and forged on. The intrepid traveler wrapped up her journey in the fall of 2006. "I felt it was important to finish what G&oulm;ran and I had started."

Back to the Best of America Homepage

From Reader's Digest - May 2008