Harold Banks has published his epic solo paddling adventure journal, By Paddle and Pack: Headwaters of the Tallapoosa to the Gulf of Mexico, and it is a delightful, entertaining read.Â
I met Harold Banks in July of 2012, just a few short months after he’d completed the 20-day second leg of his 658-mile journey from Georgia to the Gulf of Mexico. He shared the highlights of his extraordinary exploit with me for an article in the August 2012 issue of Lake Martin Living magazine, a publication I had edited for all of two months at the time.
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