By Laurie Brazil

The enthusiastic and impassioned Carolyn Treanor recently treated guests and members of Soroptimist International of Tahoe Sierra to the history and background of adventurer and educator Richard Halliburton (1900-1939).

Among many of his accomplishments, he was the author of seven books, all of them New York Times bestsellers. They included: “The Royal Road to Romance”, “The Glorious Adventure”, “New Worlds to Conquer”, “The Flying Carpet, Seven League Boots”, and “The Book of Marvels” — with several remaining on the list until 1938.

Halliburton mingled with the California nobility of his time and among his credentials he was also a cultural ambassador, bringing home to Americans some knowledge of the existence and traditions of foreign people and in turn returning a sense of his own country’s values to the locales he explored. Through the Sea Dragon Expedition he hoped to create a symbolic cultural link between Asia and America, and to show that many societies might meaningfully and peacefully co-exist in one world.

The Sea Dragon 2 Expedition Home Project will commission the building of a Sea Dragon replica in order to trace and complete Halliburton’s failed and fatal attempt to cross the Pacific in March 1939.

Sea Dragon 2 will sail across the Pacific from Hong Kong to Treasure Island in the San Francisco Bay in 2014 for the 75th anniversary celebration of the opening of the Golden Gate International Exposition, also known as the 1939 San Francisco World’s Fair. Treanor stated, “Our goal for the ‘Chase the Horizon Project’ is to produce a 13-part adventure series and children’s animated series with the focus on world geography, history, and culture. The adventure series will be based on the 20th century adventurer Richard Halliburton and the 21st century adventurer Tim Bailey.”

Treanor would like to inspire anyone to become involved in this project and she is willing to share her information with any group.

For more information about this event, call Carolyn Treanor at (775) 691.2527 or click here.

Laurie Brazil is a member of Soroptimist International Tahoe Sierra.