yearn for adventure Well Adam my challenge is one of the greatest travel adventures ever offered to a twelve year old boy That's for certain A challenge I had no idea what this prince wanted me to do Read a bunch of books Run a race Participate in one of the dumb a thon fundraisers my school had about once a month Prince Oh reached into his cape pocket and took out a PDA a portable digital assistant one of those handheld gadgets He pressed some tiny buttons and said Check your computer Adam GPS I looked down A page from the Encyclopedia Britannica appeared on the laptop screen The entry began Story Adam born May 1 1992 Concord CA How’d you do that I asked Read on the prince
Story Adam born May 1 1992 Concord CA Famous world traveler and adventurer At age twelve Adam became the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe by land and sea only and without adult accompaniment I let out a snort of laughter What gives The challenge Adam Story Prince Oh said pressing more buttons History is full of certain individuals who met a certain challenge and became famous for a certain trip Sally Ride is remembered for her first journey in space Charles Lindbergh became famous for one flight across the Atlantic Ocean and every fifth grader learns how Lewis and Clark hiked to the Pacific Ocean one time Now the laptop showed the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle The date was August 24 of this year more than three months into the future A newspaper headline read BOY 12 YOUNGEST TO CIRCLE WORLD ALONE Completes Circumnavigation in 40 Days I shook my head convinced that this man was a loony Here is the MVP birthday challenge Adam Prince Oh said He sounded very official The Magellan Voyage
Project challenges you Adam Story to travel around the world without an adult escort using surface transportation only Right I said In addition we challenge you to do it in forty days or less I shook my head again Come on Isn't that impossible The mongoose turned a circle on the prince's shoulder Adam Story today you’re twelve years old If you succeed in this endeavor you will be the youngest human ever to do so You will be famous worldwide That s for certain Everyone from Alaska to Australia from Argentina to Afghanistan will certainly know about your fabulous feat I stared at the laptop Neither man nor mongoose moved But the world is over twenty six thousand miles around I exclaimed I've been no farther from home than Disneyland and that's like four hundred miles from here Mom and I drove down Interstate 5 spent six hours in the Magic Kingdom and came straight home That's it I know nothing about trains or ships or whatever transportation is needed to cross continents and oceans Besides I don't have any money The man reached into his pocket again He withdrew a
blue cell phone and a GPS unit also blue MVP will supply you with all the money you need he said My staff has worked out a complete bus train and ship schedule for you Wherever you need to spend a night you'll stay at a first class hotel Whenever you need assistance you can press the letters M V P on this phone and an MVP guide will answer It's a satellite phone that will work anywhere on earth with certainty Furthermore if ever you wish to quit the challenge MVP will provide you with the quickest and safest transport home to San Francisco That's for certain Prince Oh held up the other blue gadget You will also be carrying this GPS tracking unit Do you know how it works I nodded I knew a lot about the Global Positioning System Our government sent twenty four GPS satellites into space and positioned them around the world With a GPS unit sailors on the ocean pilots in the air and hikers in the mountains can tell their exact location I glanced at the LCD screen on the GPS that Prince Oh held Right now we're sitting at 37 degrees 51 minutes latitude 122 degrees 11 minutes longitude I recited And 182 meters altitude Prince Oh nodded When you carry this device Adam Story your location will be transmitted to MVP headquarters We can trace you meter by meter anywhere you are land or sea with
