The founding Argonauts
These biographies are now more than 20 years old. In retrospect, who knew we would grow so much. I know my bio is always changing, but we keep these biographies just the same as they were in 1999 just for fun.
Learn more about our original website. It was truly groundbreaking. We helped people share their adventures before sharing was a thing.
Scott Stoll
Adventurer, Artist, Author
Click here to read the updated Bio for Scott.
Summer of 1997 was a turning point in Scott’s life. This is when he rode his bicycle across the USA, from coast to coast, in a coming-of-age quest. (Dennis and Scott became instant friends when they crossed paths on their bicycles in The Grand Tetons.) “As a result of my journey, I created The Argonauts, Inc. so that I could support others in their quests and so that everyone would have the chance to share their dreams and discoveries.”
Scott is schooled in the fine arts, creative writing and has a degree in graphic design from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Scott spends his days on the final touches of his soon-to-be-published book, and bicycling the hills of San Francisco, training for his 2001 bicycle trip around the world!
Dennis Snader
Logistics
Dennis has many loves. His pets, music, family, intelligent conversation, and a good beer. His priority in life is the people that he loves, an eclectic mix of friends that grows as life unfolds. But at the age of 30, Dennis found he was living an unfulfilling life. Common culture had convinced him that material goods would lead to satisfaction. This turned out to be an empty promise. So Dennis decided to do something fulfilling. He rode his bike across North America. Through this amazing experience, he vowed to be happy, a promise that generated and continues to generate many exciting opportunities. Heading the business development for The Argonauts is one of them. For Dennis, The Argonauts serves in uniting the souls of those who are searching for fulfillment in life by exploring the unknown. And in that vein, Dennis will bike around the world in 2001. “I do not consider myself an educated person,” he says, “until I have experienced the world in which I live.” To the future!
Carrie Chapko
Graphic Designer and Webmaster
Carrie lives and works in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She graduated with a degree in Graphic Design. Her interests steered her to the Internet where she has spent a lot of time researching and exploring the depths of web design. She is currently working as a Web Designer. The chance to create The Argonauts website has proven to be her proudest accomplishment. Her passions include art, traveling, photography, talking with friends and doing/exploring new things. She’s spent time in Europe, studying art in France, Italy and England. Her interests seem to meld together in The Argonauts where she feels it’s her opportunity to bring people closer together and to learn from other people’s experiences.
Elz Cuya
Journalist
A San Francisco native, Elz has been writing all her life. She wrote for the Los Medanos College Experience, and founded the PARA sa ‘Yo Newsletter for Pittsburg’s Filipino community. Her works include a collection of sonnets and a musical entitled Isa, which she and her best friend produced while attending U.C. Berkeley. Aside from writing for theArgonauts.com (Editor’s note: theArgonauts was Scott’s first website about adventure-travel), Elz is also the Programming Coordinator for KCBS radio, and has a business in financial planning. Her greatest joys include dancing, captivating pre-movie conversation, Mom’s cooking and playing a mean air guitar to the Dave Matthews Band. In September, Elz will be taking Tango lessons in Paris, her first official trip as an Argonaut. Watch for the story. Until then, Elz will continue working on her first novel, The Way to Meaningless Kissing, but admits it hasn’t been easy. “My writing is drawn from experience. Right now I’m getting a lot of ‘meaningless,’ but very little ‘kissing.'”
Cathleen Karlsson
Editor
I have never considered myself adventurous. Not in the mountain-climbing, bike-riding, wandering-around-the-globe sense, anyway. Although I have lived in places throughout the US and am well-traveled to destinations outside the States — and, therefore, have experienced much of the country and some of the world — many more journeys I have taken have been in my mind. Some people say I think too much… but I like my daydreams, imagining places and things and people and events as they may (or may not) be. This is, for the most part, enough of an adventure for me. That’s not to say that I don’t love to physically transport myself to the places I dream about, but I am equally content to have the ability to travel within my mind.
Professionally, I also follow many dreams. I am an advertising editor, have a small wedding gifts, accessories and apparel business, and I love interior decorating, writing romantic fiction and poetry, and dancing to my favorite music. My pursuits — as well as my dreams — are rather eclectic in all aspects of my life. And, in this regard, I encourage everyone not only to follow their dreams and their hearts… but to find adventure in the smallest aspects of their lives. That’s where the truth of who you are lives.
Contributors:
Brook E. Mantia
Space Tourism Columnist
Brook has been involved in space activism for over 20 years. She currently serves as Advocate Coordinator for the Space Frontier Foundation, and as president of the Golden Gate Space Frontier Society, a chapter of the National Space Society. She is also a member of the Planetary Society and the Space Tourism Society. Mrs. Mantia also works as an executive assistant at Commerce One, an e-commerce company based in Silicon Valley. She lives with her husband Vince in Fremont, California, and plans to live on Mars someday.
Jen Dalton
Backyard Adventure Columnist
Jen is a backyard adventurer and writer currently in transition from San Francisco to San Anselmo. She thrives on love, friends and travel. Her next scheduled trip is to Vietnam this August to work on a documentary. You can find her practicing her speed and form on her little Bianchi (named Poppy Junior) on the streets of San Francisco and random trails on Mt.Tamalpais.
Erik Welke
Columnist
According to Erik, he has been an intrepid adventure traveler since the age of 5, when he climbed onto his sister’s bicycle, left his family home in Palo Alto without telling a soul and promptly became lost. Now, at age 33, he is constantly exploring the world, except during the 48 weeks per year when he works 8 to 5 as an analyst of sorts for a global investment firm. Not yet possessing the nerve to drop his material world accoutrements, Erik is content to slowly-but-steadily work down his “List of Places I Must Go”. He gets shivers just thinking about Southeast Asia and plans to return soon, this time to Indonesia. Erik currently lives with his wife and daughter in San Francisco.
Rowena Marzan
Marketing Support
Rowena was born in the Philippines and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. She moved to San Francisco in 1992 to attend the architectural school at California College of Arts and Crafts and, currently, works as an architectural designer.
Rowena has a lot of passions, including: learning how to cook different cultural dishes, exploring the thousands of restaurants in San Francisco, appreciating and creating beautiful art, and trekking through scenic Northern California in her running shoes. This year her goal is to run the Chicago Marathon. Rowena speaks about why she’s part of The Argonauts, “I believe bringing people together and inspiring them to explore the world, or even their own backyards, can brighten people’s hearts.”
Bloggers
And dozens and dozens of travel writers and photographers.
We have been dedicating inspirational blurbs about our fellow adventurers since 1999. We gave dozens of people a chance to share their story before social media existed or before blogs and guest post were invented.
