TRNP added to list of 1,000 places

• Plane

Press Photo by Lisa Miller World traveler Robert F. Gannon stands beside his plane at Dickinson Theodore Roosevelt Regional Airport Friday morning.

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World traveler Robert F. Gannon landed at the Dickinson Theodore Roosevelt Regional Airport Friday morning on his way to see Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

“Teddy Roosevelt has always been one of my heroes; I like his ‘Bully Spirit,’” Gannon said. “I also have a great deal of respect for a man who started so many parks in order to preserve the beauty of the land and animals across the country for future generations.”

Gannon’s adventure started in 1992. He yearned for adventure after he spent time sailing with his brother. They had gone halfway around the world but Gannon kept getting seasick.

“I was a medic on a medivac helicopter during the Vietnam War and I had always enjoyed flying, so I thought if I could learn to fly I could create a memorable adventure,” he said.

It took three months for Gannon to get an instrument license and buy a Cherokee six airplane. He named it Lucky Lady. He crashed Lucky Lady four months later in Kenya. He continued his trip eight years later when he bought a 1968 Cessna 182 and named it Lucky Lady after his first plane.

“My trip is not about setting records — I could have gone around the world in seven days but I wanted to space it out over 10 years so I could see and experience as much of the world as I possibly could,” he said.

Gannon has been to 155 countries, and has stopped in 1,000 places.

“I think his attitude on life is quite interesting,” airport mechanic Wayne Keenan said.

“What really impressed me is how much he enjoyed the areas he went to and he took the time to go scuba diving and ride camels and he actually took the time to experience the culture and do things,” Tim Hanna, airport line technician said.

He has seen things like Sadaam Hussein’s planes, Mount Everest, the Taj Mahal, lions in Africa, and the motorcycle rally in Sturgis, S.D.

Airport line serviceman Taylor Thielen has been studying to get his private pilot’s license.

“If I could do anything I would do what he is doing.”

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