Illustration by Lars Leetaru
I recently attended an author reading/signing at The Mercantile Library by Craig Fehrman, who discussed his book This Vast Enterprise: A New History of Lewis & Clark. He wrote regularly for Cincinnati Magazine from 2011 to 2020 about books, history, politics, and sports and then decided to study Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, Sacajawea, and their troop pretty much full-time.
I smiled numerous times during Fehrman’s presentation, and not just at his fascinating stories about the group’s encounters with native tribes and grizzly bears. It was the same week we were wrapping up this June issue, and the word “extreme” was stuck in my head.
Nothing was more extreme in 1804 than rowing boats up the wild Missouri River through lands that no American citizen had ever seen, climbing over the Rocky Mountains, and sailing down the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean. And then returning to tell the tale. No wonder the leaders became legends.
OK, maybe historians won’t be writing books about the extreme Cincinnatians we highlight this month, but a few are semi-famous. Tim Murray and Nick Goepper won world championships and Olympic medals, respectively, and the region claims a handful of wacky world records. Plus, some competitive eaters have their names on restaurant walls around town.
Trying and succeeding at extreme physical challenges, hobbies, and jobs seems to be the reward most of these people seek, not the recognition. The journey being more satisfying than the destination, if you will. I’m curious about what motivates someone to run 155 miles through the Sahara Desert or put on 100 pounds of armor for a sword fight: Because they can? Because it’s there? Because someone told them they couldn’t or shouldn’t? Because normal everyday life was boring?
I like to imagine that those questions ran through Lewis’s and Clark’s minds back in the day. Of course, they had one additional motivation: President Thomas Jefferson paid them to do it. Could President Trump be sponsoring some of our extreme subjects? Don’t laugh. These are extreme times, after all.
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