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amazing story of a rich kid from up east thatthought all there was to lifewas hanging out at thecountry club. A friend encouraged him to seeAmerica and discover what it’s really like. So heand his dog decided to walk from the east coast tothe west coast.

Now, fast forward to this summer when Lucy and

I were attending a graduation party for our neigh-bor’s son. Another neighbor Sandee whom we metwas chatting with us when I inquired if her hus-band was with her. She said, “No he’s walkingacross England right now.” “Why’s he doing that”?I asked. “He loves walking and biking and does itallover theworld,” shereplied.“Amazing,” I said,“I have to meet him, when will he be back?”

A couple of weeks passed and I saw Sandee witha gentleman getting out of their car. I immediatelywalked over to introduce myself. “Roger Ridenourhow are you sir, I’ve heard wonderful things aboutyou and wantto hearmore,” I asked.Duringour ini-tial visit he sharedthat he’s a retired carpenterhav-ing worked for just two general contractors duringhis lifeandhe and his wifehave madetheirhomeinSpringboro for the pasttwo decades. He’s completed68 years and is working onhis 69th, is in great phys-ical condition, enjoys history and geography andexperiencingit up close.I asked if he would like be-

inga guest on our“MeetYour Neighbor”segment of the45066 show” that themayor and I doevery othermonth and he thought that’d be great. The show isairing withour interview right now during Septem-ber and October on Time Warner Channel 6 in theDayton South viewing area.

I thought our conversations would make greatfodderfor this feature story too. You don’t runintopeople like Roger very often if ever. I had nevermet anyone other than Peter Jenkins in his bookand that’s why my appetite to consume more in-formation was so voracious. Some of us have thedesire to do what Roger has done but are filledwith way too much fear to get out there and actu-ally do it.

Roger is a modern day Marlin Perkins of the oldTV show “Wild Kingdom”. Let’s get started with alist of a few of Rogers expeditions stopping occa-sionally to enjoy the ambiance and environment.

1. Hiked through the Greek Isles in 20092. The Great Polar Bear Expedition in HudsonBay in October of 1998

3. Hiking through Nova Scotia and Quebec in1995

4. Hiking in the Superstition Mountains in Ari-zona looking for the Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine

5. Rafted 188 miles in the Grand Canyon for oneweek

6. Bicycled from Prague to Budapest,328 milesin2010

7. The Iles-de-la-Madeleine north of New Found-land expedition to see the Harp Seals

A unique journey with Roger staying at the IceHotel where the temperature is 28 degrees andone sleeps on a large block of ice covered with adeerskin. You’re also in a toasty warm sleepingbag wearing rubber insulated boots and a robeover your clothing. One night he decided to slipinto the hot tub located in the courtyard of the ho-

tel at 2 a.m. and found himself being joined bythree young French girls who spoke no Englishand he no French. I asked Sandee if he had pic-tures of the early morning dip and she said, “No Iguess he forgot his camera that night and he saidthey weren’t that cute anyway.”

I had a question that was killing me. When trav-eling Lucy and I like clean restrooms with auto-mated faucets, andpapertowels deliveredto yourhands when you raise them in front of the ma-chine. “So Roger, I ask, what are the restroom fa-cilities like when climbing mountains, hikingthrough forests etc., are they state of the art likethey areherein theUS”? The answer I didn’twantto hear, “Very primitiveDon, very, very primitive,”he responded. Let’s leave that alone and move on.I might add that while staying at Holiday Inns backin the 60’s if I had to ring twice for ice water I con-sidered that very primitive.

8. Hiked to the top of Mt. KilimanjaroThis is only a 3.7 mile hike unfortunately it’s all

up hill 19,340 feet and when you get above 9,000feet the oxygen/air gets a little thin and can bedifficult on thelungs. Roger felt strongall thewaytothe top, footing was safe inmostareas, and viewfrom thetop wasunbelievable. You canlook downfrom an airplane but it’s not the same as lookingdown at the world from a mountain you just spent10 days climbing to the top. Just amazing. Kili-manjaro is oneof theBig Seven mountain peaks of our planet and is located in Tanzania, Africa. Inorientation before the climbthey met Giraffes andother native animals of the African continent. Thiswas a two week expedition.

I looked at Roger and said, “I’m with you so far,still not fearing anything though, difficulties yes,being careful, yes, but I’m not scared yet.” Rogerquickly responded, “Let’s move on to number 9,Don this might be the one you’re looking for.”

9. Katmai National Park, the Arctic Circlewilderness tour in 1999

Roger related, “This tour goes through theAleu-tian Islands and some pretty wild areas. On thetrail one day westopped briefly to rest soI startednosing around. Suddenly a horrible odor started topermeate the air and in seconds a huge grizzlybear walked by no more than six feet away. I wassilent, almost holding my breath and wondering if this was the end of my journey. He never lookedat

me, just kept walking. I was praying hewas heading back to his cave after ahuge fish meal down at the waterfall

where we had seen bears earlier. Iwaited a while before rejoining thegroup just 50 yards away. That wasrather frightening,” remarked Roger. Iagreed, “OK, Roger I just marked thatone off of my bucket list, avoid KatmaiNational Park. Anyothers that I need toavoid?” “Let’s go on to number 10, Ithink you might want to think twiceabout this one too,” Roger added.

10. The Shoup Glacier in Sawmill BayAlaska kayaking expedition

“On this trip our guide was a younglady very experienced in the wild andtwo other guests a visiting mother anddaughter from Chicago. The guide and Iwere in one kayak, mother and daughterin the other. When we came out of theriver into the channel we had to paddlequite a ways to get to our destinationand then the reverse on the way back.When returning the channel seas werethree to five feet and we were paddlinghard and going away from land and notto the inlet. A water temperature in thehigh 30swas not something we wanted toexperience. A fishing trawler saw thatwe were in trouble and the captain on abull horn told us that he had called forhelp and would break the waves as bestpossible to help us return to land. Godbless the captain, with hard paddling and his run-ning interference we were able to return to landand meet the rescue ship that arrived later. It wasquite frightening, there were moments when wethought that if we tipped over that would be it.”“Fear is gripping me now Roger,” I commented. “Ilove kayaking on the Little Miami River in thesum-mer but glacier water and seas three to five feet

won’t work. “Roger, you tell me we’ve just touchedthe tip of the iceberg where are we going next?”

“Well Don let’s take a look at the next few expe-ditions that will kind of speak for themselves,” hecontinued.

11. A two-week hiking tour of Chile and Patago-nia in 2007

12. An 11-day bicycle tour of the great wall inChina during the Olympics in 2008

“And one of my favorite expeditions was thisone,” Roger added.

13. New Zealand hiking expedition on the 55-KMilford Track

Fiordland at its most spectacular features deeplakes, silent fiords, luxuriant forest and sheercanyons carved out of imposing granite is whatyou ogle. On fine days there’s a postcard shotaroundevery corner but only when it rains and tor-rents of water cascade down the mountainsideswill you truly experienced the magicof the MilfordTrack. It’s safe and absolutely the most beautifulhike you’ll ever take on Earth, if I had been singleand 22, I would havestayedtherefor the rest ofmylife,” Roger cajoled.

“Now let’s get back to this year, when I met yourwife Sandee she said youwerewalking across Eng-land what was that all about”? I asked. 14.Hadrian’s Wall Path 88k hike across England

“Don, in the first century the Roman EmperorHadrian controlled over 3,000 miles across Europefrom Englandeast. The barbarians in the northernsection (Scotland) at the time caused all kinds of problems with Hadrian so he built a wall 88 kilo-meterslong from Solway Firth to theRiver Tyne tokeepthemout. The wall was built in 122 AD and isnow a 17 day hike across England,” Roger said.

Roger has also hiked in the Capitol Reef Na-tionalPark in Utah, been dog sledding in Ely, Min-nesota, did a 50-mile bicycle tour through all of 

New York City’s boroughs, rode his bicycle over 500miles five years in a row crossing through Iowafromwestto east. I asked him if there are moread-ventures on his bucket list. Here’s his list as of September 2011. I’m sure more will be added inthe years to come.

1. Hiking in the Himalayas north of India2. Hiking across Ireland3. Hiking in Morocco4. Hiking the Chilkoot Trail through Alaska and

British Columbia“Roger you’re one in a billion. The ma-

  jority of people on this planet neverleave their community. My dad and Iwerevisiting Virgin Gorda in the BritishVirgin Islands back in the late 80’s talk-ingwith a British Naval Officer that hadretired to the island and ran a day sail-ing operation on his 42 ft sloop.”He said,“Men at one end of this island there’s a

mountain and at the other end theplains. The people from the mountainslive their whole life in the mountainsand the people of the plains live theirwhole life on the plains the island is 11miles long. You’ll find people like thisall over the world. This is their wholeworld they are born here and die here.”

A lady I met back in the 90s at anevent I was emceeing told me thatevening that shehad never been farthernorth than the Dayton Mall or furthersouth than theTri CountyMall until herdaughter made her go to Columbus withher the previous weekend. She wasfrightened beyond belief walkingaround in downtown Columbus andcouldnot wait to get home. She was from

Middletown, Ohio and in her mid 50s. Billions of people never venture out to see the world or eventheir home state and then there are people likeRoger that see a world that’s full of beauty, en-chantment, challenges and opportunities.

So where in the world is Roger right now….is hehome in Springboro resting? I think not. He leftFriday September 9, for Cusco, Peru where he’llhike the Inca trail through therainforestto thetop

of Machu Picchu at 8,000 feet. It’s a 14-day hike upand back that he’s been looking forward to for along time.

Roger is an adventurer that loves seeing thesplendor of this great planet. He’s a gentle manthat loves life, his wife and family and we’re gladhishomeis here in Springboro,so he can sharehiswonderful experiences withus. We’ll catch up withRoger next year to hear more wonderful storiesfrom our own Marlin Perkins.

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Ridenour 

Contributed photo 

Roger Ridenour makes his way by boat as he visits Shoup Glacier Valdez, Alaska.

Contributed photo 

Roger Ridenour encountered giraffes while in Tanzania,Africa. Ridenour was on his way to climb Kilimanjarowhen he met the long-necked, hoofed mammal.

Contributed photo 

A harp seal pup lies on the beach at Iles-de-la-Madeleinelocated north of Newfoundland, Canada.