I'm sitting in a busy pub in Bellingham, Washington. Beside me, nursing a beer, is a former engineer turned world traveler. He's doing math on the back of a napkin.
"Two six one," he says. "Plus one, two, three, four, five zeroes."
Easier than most people balance their checkbooks, my dinner companion is adding up the number of strokes it took to row around the world.
"Twenty-six million strokes," he says. "Give or take ... a million."
His name is Erden Eruc.
"I've been a traveler and adventurer since 2002," he says.
'A Man Close To My Heart'
To tell Erden Eruc's story, we have to rewind back to the moment it went from ordinary to extraordinary: at a rock formation in Washington state. A place called "Frenchman Coulee."
“It was getting to be chilly and cloudy," Erden recalls. "It was a cold September day."
The date was Sept. 30, 2002. Erden was on a climbing trip with his close friend and mentor, Swedish adventurer and mountaineer Goran Kropp.
"We were high-fiving, talking about what we would do in the future together, chalk flying in the air as we slapped hands,” Erden says.
Goran had done all the things Erden wanted to do: In 1996, he bicycled from Sweden to Mount Everest, climbed the mountain by himself without oxygen and then wrote a book about it.
“And once I read this, I said, 'This is a man close to my heart,'" Erden says.
Erden had been planning to circumnavigate the globe. But he never seemed to be able to get started.
“I had never take the first real step toward the journey of 1,000 steps, if you will,” he says.
Crossing The Globe, For Goran
The climb at Frenchman Coulee that Goran and Erden were attempting that day in 2002 wasn't particularly difficult; just a fun route for climbers to keep their belaying skills sharp.
Erden's wife, Nancy Board, got the phone call from a hospital emergency room.
“I started to shake. I remember that. And then I heard his voice in the distance," Nancy recalls. "And he said that, yes, there was an accident — that Goran fell.”
“We don't know why he fell," Erden says. "We only know that his system failed. And he didn't come to a stop until he hit my ledge, then fell off onto the path below. All I could do at that time was to decide, OK, it was his time to go.”
"This person who was larger than life in our lives falls to his death on his watch, on his belay," Nancy says. "And even as I recall it now, I can feel the emotion of that day. And that actually was the catalyst that put this entire dream into motion.”
“Life was passing me by. I had to get going," Erden says. "So quickly I made a decision coming back from his funeral.”
“It was on the way back...” Nancy says.
"I drew the world map on the proverbial napkin and marked the highest summits on each continent except Antarctica and I said, 'I'm going to go around the world-- '” Erden says.
“'-- and dedicate that to Goran,'” Nancy says.

Erden would attempt a circumnavigation of the globe using only human power, climbing the six summits along the way. To reach each major summit, he'd have to accomplish something unprecedented: rowing across the oceans — all of them.
“He couldn't just talk about it anymore,” Nancy says.
“She said, 'You have to do this now,'" Erden says.
Erden reached out for funding — including to Goran's former sponsors — and he got nothing. Not even a response. But he didn't give up.
“We cashed out my 401k, and then we downsized our home. We had a condo facing Lake Union. We sold that," Erden says. "And then moved away from downtown Seattle, so that we could live on one salary.”
The Trials Of Travel
Aboard a small, one-man vessel with enough space to either row or sleep, Erden left Bodega Bay, California. With little fanfare, he gripped his oars, and due west — stroke by stroke — propelled himself away from everything and everyone he had ever known.
Erden brought along equipment to document his journey. He plans to turn his footage into a film someday.
“I am pretty much due west of Bodega Bay. It's wonderful progress," Erden says in one early recording. "I can boogie on south. I’m happy. And I’m not seasick either!”
Days turned into weeks; weeks became months.
“Day 100 is not any different than day 101 after a while," Erden recalls. "I was able to turn inward and enjoy the challenge.”
Of course, not all the challenges were enjoyable.
“Today is Nov. 9, and I am absolutely frustrated,” Erden says in another recording. “What the hell is going on? There must be an eddy or something that is catching my boat and just carrying it north right now.”
While Erden was fighting the elements, braving the oceans, cycling across continents and climbing mountains, his wife was patiently bearing the load of his absence and watching their bank account slowly dwindling.
“It felt like it was spiraling out of control,” Erden says.
“I could have gotten myself all caught up in, 'He's gone, and I'm all by myself.' But that's no way to live,” Nancy says.
“I had committed all my resources, all my relationships, all my time to this journey," Erden says. "We were bleeding money. I had received no coverage, no support, no sponsorship. And finishing it was going to be the only saving grace in this.”
The Call Of The Ocean
On July 21, 2012, Erden arrived at his starting point in Bodega Bay.
It took Erden five years and 11 days to complete the journey. He's set so many world records he can't even remember them all: first solo circumnavigation by human power; most miles rowed; longest time spent at sea for a solo rower, 312 days. The list goes on, Erden says.