George Meegan (born 2 December 1952) is a British adventurer and alternative educator best known for his unbroken walk of the Western Hemisphere from the southern tip of South America to the northernmost part of Alaska at Prudhoe Bay. This journey was 19,019 miles (30,608 km) on foot, completed in 2,426 days (1977–1983) and is documented in his book The Longest Walk (1988). He received substantial media coverage (including appearances on the Today Show, CBS Morning News and Larry King Live) and was featured in numerous public speaking forums.
In the course of his walk and subsequent worldwide residencies, Meegan developed a profound interest in indigenous cultures; he sought innovative ways to teach native peoples how to flourish in modern technological society while retaining their language and identity. In 2014, he wrote Democracy Reaches the Kids, a book about how persons of all cultures may best learn what they truly want to know in life, naturally and joyfully, without centralized government compulsion.
Early life
Shortly after George was born, his father left and his mother died from cancer. He was raised by his mother's older brother, Geoffrey Meegan, a former Royal Engineer, and Geoffrey's wife, Frieda, who was an auxiliary nurse at Keycol Hill Hospital. Legally adopted at age three, George's name was changed from Killingbeck to Meegan. He grew up in Rainham, Kent, England. At 16, he signed on as a cadet aboard the T.S. Worcester, under the Thames Nautical Training College at Greenhithe. From there he went to sea in the Merchant Navy, first, on the MV Trecarne (1970), then the other tramp freighter Hain-Nourse, which was then a part of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O)—embarking on his childhood ambition for a life of ‘high adventure.’
Seafaring took him to more than 100 international ports of call, including Hong Kong, Bombay, Calcutta, Melbourne, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town, Antwerp, Dar es Salaam, and Mombasa. A crossing from Japan to Chile took over 30 days. A notable incident (during his anchorage off Lagos, Nigeria) in which Meegan played an important role—maintaining order aboard his ship, the Omar—is now called The Great Cement Scandal of 1975. Meegan's career at sea spanned six-and-a-half years, serving in eleven ships. He finished in 1976 as second mate in navigation.
The Longest Walk
In 1976 Meegan retired from the Merchant Navy, beginning a several-year odyssey: walking from the bottom of South America to the top of North America. He documented his journey in his self-published book The Longest Walk: The Record of Our World’s First Crossing of the Entire Americas (Xlibris). According to the book, George Meegan: Took 41 million steps. Wore out 12 ½ pairs of Italian hiking boots. Married his Japanese sweetheart. Had two children. Traversed the historically impassable Darién Gap, where he was shot at and survived a knifing attack unscathed. Visited President Jimmy Carter at his home Garnered 8 world records.
The book was listed in Guinness World Records.
In America, the ‘world walker’ was preceded in town-to-town media coverage signifying that, for many Americans, while in their country, Meegan had discovered the American Dream. In 1981, Jimmy Carter invited Meegan for a chat at the president's Plains, Georgia, home. Later that year, Meegan reached Washington, D.C., where People magazine greeted him. Friends and followers arranged several meetings with high government officials and dignitaries.
The crossing continued through the northern United States, Canada, into the Yukon, and on to the final step above the Arctic Circle. On the afternoon of 18 September 1983, he crossed a strip of tundra to the edge of the Arctic Ocean. At the age of 31, Meegan had walked 19,019 unbroken miles from end to end of two continents. Walking from Patagonia to Alaska was later done by Karl Bushby (1998 to 2006) and Holly "Cargo" Harrison (2016–18), though they did not detour to the East Coast, making their trips shorter.
Publication and publicity
From the Arctic, he returned to his home in England. Meegan held a 600,000-word handwritten manuscript of the journey that he felt was invaluable to the world. Meegan believed his feat was an historic 'first crossing’. It also carried an inspirational calling to modern youth that it was still possible to 'live your dream.' After being turned down by the major houses in London, he took a job as a courier for DHL and flew to New York City aboard the Concorde.