Verlen Kruger and his partner Steve Landick wanted to take a canoe trip that would surpass all others, and they did. Paddling their canoes or carrying them on the connecting land passages, they toured North America, from the Arctic Ocean to Baja California, from New Orleans to the coast of Maine, crossing the USA from south to north and west to east.

They mastered wild storms on the ocean, often paddled 75-100 miles or more in a day, shot through deadly rapids going downstream, and paddled up several major rivers, reaching the climax by going up the Grand Canyon. Again and again they were warned, "It can't be done" or "You'll never make it", but each time they rose to the challenge and kept going, finally competing a canoe trip of 28,000 miles that lasted three and a half years and was appropriately named The Ultimate Canoe Challenge. This is the story as Verlen lived it.