If you can imagine, it was only a few decades ago when sharing an adventure was a painstaking process. Often the adventures were long-completed before the celebratory phone call was made and the newspaper article was published. Prior to newspapers, adventures were recorded by hand and took years, and sometimes lifetimes, before they saw publication. Lewis and Clark’s journals lay dormant for over a century.
When Scott’s first adventure-travel website, theArgonauts.com, came online in 1999, our vision was to give adventurers a forum to share their adventures in real-time — as they were happening! We wanted people to be able to share their hopes and dreams and pass along the boon of their adventures, like new discoveries, new ideas and lessons learned. We were an online adventure magazine before the concept of a webzine, blog or guest post existed, and long before mobile phones and social media were invented, which has now made it easy to share content with a few clicks, with beautiful photos from automated, high-tech cameras.
We could see the Internet was going to revolutionize global communication, but the infrastructure and technology still weren’t in place. In fact, the only way many adventurers had to share their inspirational story was to email us and have us post their story online. Many people wanted us to automate these features, which would have essentially been one of the first social media platforms. TheArgonauts.com was ahead of its time and unfortunately, we could never find the estimated $50-100,000 to create the features that companies like Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and WordPress now make so free and easy for everyone.
Below is a collection of stories that are from before the digital era of cell phones and social media. We’re really proud to have been on the cutting edge. We cared about every story. That being said, hundreds of poor-quality blogs were deleted. Many of them were just random updates, like a picture or a sentence. They were more like a Tweet or Facebook post, but without more context, they aren’t very interesting anymore.
We are proud of what we have accomplished, and we hope these stories live on. Thanks for being part of the adventure.
Feature Adventurers
We featured stories about people doing amazing things. We called the Argonauts, but you can call them adventurers, explorers or travelers, but definitely not vacationers. These are well-crafted, magazine-quality stories (our website used to be called a webzine) that talk a lot about what motivates people and the human spirit.
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Where the Road Ends and the Walking BeginsThis is the story of one woman, and how her real education began the moment she set out to travel the world. |
A Traveler Honors Her Soul |
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Her Sacred Island“I wanted to show what it’s like to live in a country that never really found its place.” |
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Encounter Your Soul in Antarctica“Where would you go to find the answers to life’s deepest questions? Is there a God? Why am I here? Is there life after death?” For seventy-six-year-old Professor Graham Collier, the answers were found in Antarctica. |
In and Out of CubaAn Illegal Trip Turns into a Financial Nightmare |
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And many more.We used to partner with some other websites to bring stories like an ultramarathon in the Sahara, a blind man’s journey in the Himalayas, live coverage of the 2000 Eco-Challenge, surfing Antarctica, and lots of updates along the way. Unfortunately, these stories have disappeared, but we like to think the inspiration lives on. |
Travelogues
Before social media existed or mobile devices became commonplace, The Argonauts gave dozens of people a chance to share their story as it was happening. Here are some of our favorite adventures.
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Down the Mississippi River by canoe |
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Around the world by horsePromoting a world without borders |
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And a few more classic styles of journeys.The following are travelogues that represent some classic solutions to an alternative lifestyle of living on the road. These travelogues were updated via email prior to the era of digital devices and social media. We posted them as fast as we got them, so the world could follow the journey in real-time. Because of the difficulty finding internet access, these emails covered a long period of time. And, since digital cameras were expensive and not very good, pictures were rare.
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Columns
Photo Pictorials
About the photographs
In the beginning, our website showcased hundreds of Feature Photos by travelers on the road with no ability to share their pictures with the world. However, now with the advent of social media, travelers can easily share their own photos without us. So, we don’t post single pics or blurbs anymore; but, we still have an audience that loves an inspirational story with lots of photographs. So please share your guest post.
Update 2020: We found a lot of the original high-res photographs. See the side-by-side difference.
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Iranian Photo Pictorial |
Feature photo: The Treasury |
Feature photo: Sunrise Machu Picchu |
Famous Explorers
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Miscellaneous Stories
Everything is an adventure if you have eyes filled with wonder.
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The Traveling Tattoo Artist |
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Just Giving
Meet Göran Kropp
Rounding The Horn
The Oldest Person to Sail Solo Around the World
Thailand and Laos by Bike
Throwing Stones to Save the World
Women Across the Millennia: A Greek Adventure

For the Love of Travel
A Photographer is at Home with the World
Getting an Education During Summer Vacation
The Making of a Mountain Climber

Re-Realizing My Roots
Burning Man — A pagan desert fiesta
A Trip to Mount Everest
Antarctica 
Retired couple bicycles Alaska
The Americas and Europe on a bicycle
Cycling the North Eastern United States
To The Stars: Space Tourism 
Making a living while traveling the world
Yucatan Photo Pictorial
Discoveries of American Highways
EGYPT: A Ride Into The Desert, My Friend?
Thailand: A Photographer’s Eden
TIBET: A World Away
African Photo Pictorial
The Faces of Everyday Life


Explorer of the Cosmos, Journeyman of the Mind
Tarzan’s Real Jane
The Amateur
We came in peace for all mankind
The Legacy of Julia
Search for Extraterrestrial Life From Your Home
INDIA ENTERS THE POLLUTION AGE
No, You Didn’t Miss Earth Day… 
Argentine Tango
A Poetic Journey
What’s your favorite poem?