1997

• Human powered journey first germinated in the mind of Erden Eruç while working in a software development lab in Silver Spring, Maryland.
• Erden named the original project Journey Home which would reach Turkey after crossing the Bering Straits. The obvious follow up question was: "Why stop there?" leading to the mental breakthrough for the route around the northern hemisphere.
• Erden uttered the name Around-n-Over for the first time while daydreaming about approaching Everest from the north and traversing its summit into Nepal.
• Research started on the human powered project to go around the world.

• Erden swore to realize the human powered travel around the northern hemisphere when a huge earthquake rocked northwestern Turkey, killing 17,000 people, displacing a quarter million. The project was to serve as a fundraiser for the Red Cross that helped in the relief efforts, and to raise earthquake awareness emphasizing earthquake prone areas of the globe during the journey.
• Erden moved to Seattle. Read the book Ultimate High written by Göran Kropp.
• Fall - Victoria "Tori" Murden became the first solo woman rower to cross the Atlantic Ocean, providing the solution to the ocean crossings. Erden discovered the Ocean Rowing Society.

• July - Erden met Göran Kropp when Göran visited Seattle for a presentation. Göran provided encouragement to follow through on the dream.
• August - Erden pursued Red Cross as a partner, and National Geographic Society as a sponsor, being rebuffed by both. Other sponsorship applications were met with silence.
• September 11 - World Trade Center towers in New York were attacked, once again slowing down the process, changing the dynamics and introducing doubt.

• January - Erden ran across Göran at the Ouray Ice Festival in Colorado where Göran told Erden that he was moving to Issaquah near Seattle. Promises were made to climb together. Göran yet again provided encouragement for the project asking about Erden's progress.
• September 30 - Göran Kropp tragically fell to his death while rock climbing in Frenchman Coulee near Vantage in eastern Washington state. Erden was belaying him at the time, in this very first opportunity that they had to climb together.
• November - Erden decided to stop talking about the trip around the world and to commit. Erden modified the route to include the highest summits on six different continents along the way, to be reached by human power as a tribute to Göran's memory. The name of the journey now would be: Six Summits Project. The route was transformed into a true circumnavigation: crossing the equator at least twice, and touching antipodes on the globe.
• December - Frank Olding guided Erden to Chris Beer. The decision was made to incorporate Around-n-Over as a 501(c)(3) non-profit. Application process would begin to bring structure to all future activities.

• February 1 - Stage 1 began: Erden Eruç left Seattle for Alaska on a bicycle to climb Denali: highest point in North America, and the first of six summits. The ride was done Göran-style, by bicycle, towing all necessary personal gear on a trailer.
• April 11 - Erden arrived at Anchorage.
• April 27 - Erden rode to Talkeetna to meet the team.
• May 1 - rode from Talkeetna to the Forks Roadhouse near Petersville, transitioned to snowshoes and sled.
• May 14 - Erden pulled into Kahiltna Basecamp with Chris Woytko and Cory Groom after covering 67 miles on foot over Peter Hills, Dutch Hills, and the Kahiltna Glacier. Eddie Espinosa and Jeremy Cranford joined the team at the Kahiltna Basecamp for the climb.
• May 29 - Erden stood on the summit of Denali with Eddie Espinosa and Cory Groom.
• June 1 - Erden flew out of Kahiltna base camp.
• June 8 - Erden joined Nancy Board in Anchorage.
• June 15 - Erden married Nancy in Homer, Alaska in the native tradition.
• June 28 - Erden started the return trip by bicycle from the Forks Roadhouse toward Seattle, leaving 67 miles to walk out at a later date.
• August 24 - returned back home having covered 5,546 miles Göran-style.
• November - received word from the IRS that Around-n-Over application for 501(c)(3) status was accepted.

• Early in the year, Erden focused on solidifying the Around-n-Over structure, developing processes, improving its web presence and recruiting new team members.
• June - visited Sweden and spent time with Niclas Mċrdfelt, an ocean rower himself, member of the first Swedish pair to row across the Atlantic.
• September - committed to buying the Calderdale - Yorkshire Challenger from UK with funds from a home equity loan.
• October 3 - Stage 2 began: Erden left Seattle for Florida on a bicycle Göran-style from the Pocock Rowing Center at 07:00 am.
• October 6 - Erden arrived at Portland
• October 14 - Erden arrived at Boise
• October 14 - Calderdale - Yorkshire Challenger arrived at Seattle by container.
• October 19 - Erden arrived at Ogden city limits
• November 3 - Erden arrived near Denver
• November 22 - Erden arrived at Kansas City
• November 27 - Erden arrived at St. Louis
• December 3 - Erden arrived at Nashville
• December 10 - Erden arrived at Atlanta
• December 17 - Erden arrived at Jacksonville
• December 25 - Erden concluded the continental crossing at the Miami Children's Museum after covering 3,980 miles over a period of 82 days and 3 hours.

• February 17 - Ocean rowing boat Calderdale is launched on Lake Union. Erden rows with her for the first time.
• April through October - Hurricane season rages in the Atlantic Ocean
• The boat is overhauled to meet the demands of the open oceans, Erden trains for rowing and life on the oceans, seeks sponsors, arranges visas, and a whole lot more...
• August 17 - the boat is loaded into a container destined for Lisbon, Portugal. Could Erden help Tim Harvey across the Atlantic, arriving in time to start his own journey from North America?
• October 16 - on sabbatical from the Six Summits Project, Erden started to row with Tim Harvey from Lisbon. They are held up in Cascais for three weeks due to opposing winds.
• November 9 - Winds changed in their favor and the team pressed on south, gaining valuable open water experience with this rowboat.
• December 11 - Team arrived at Las Palmas de Gran Canaria by way of El Jadida and Safi in Morocco.

• January 1 - Tim Harvey and Erden Eruç decided to pursue their own personal objectives.
• January 29 - Erden continued alone toward Costa Rica.
• May 2 - Erden crossed into the Caribbean Sea between the islands of Dominica and Guadeloupe, completing the 33rd East to West solo crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by rowing.
• May 5 - Unfavorable winds and questionable weather forecasts with tropical depressions forced a retreat to Guadeloupe.
• July - Boat arrived at Miami by container from Guadeloupe, and was driven back to Seattle.
• Boat is refurbished, sponsorships pursued, school presentations given.

• May - bicycle from Seattle to Corinthian Yacht Club in Tiburon, California.
• June 5 - First attempt to row from Tiburon through the Golden Gate Bridge was thwarted due to higher than expected onshore winds.
• July 2 - Erden reached Bodega Bay by bicycle.
• July 7 - Erden put the ocean rowing boat in the water at Bodega Bay, the starting point of the row across the Pacific toward Australia.

• Reach Australia by ocean rowing.
• Bicycle south to climb Kosciuszko.
• Bicycle west across Australia to Geraldton for the launch toward India.

• April - Launch from Geraldton toward India during the pre-monsoon season.
• Ride North on the Indian Subcontinent toward Nepal
• Climb Everest in the post-monsoon season

• Bicycle through India, Pakistan, Iran, Azerbaijan to reach and climb Elbrus in Russia.
• Bicycle through Georgia, Turkey, Syria, Jordan to touch the Dead Sea (lowest point on earth).
• Bicycle on through Egypt, Sudan and Kenya to climb Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

• Bicycle on to Namibia.
• June - Start the row across the south Atlantic Ocean from Namibia to Brasil.
• October - Bicycle through Brasil and Argentina to climb Aconcagua

• Bicycle north to Columbia then cross the Darien Gap, OR bicycle on to Venezuela to launch the row boat again toward Costa Rica, to reach North America.
• Bicycle on to where home is by then.