Waters Yet Uncharted

Winter Is Not Yet Over

I think all the major mountains have been conquered. There are really no new countries to "discover," though scientists seem to be constantly finding new species of critter.We've hiked to the North (and South) Pole, sailed alone around the world: some on board luxury liners for a one-year trip. Individuals have walked across continents and visited all of them. Books have been written about the myriad of things we must do and places we must visit before we die...movies have been made emphasizing the "bucket list" of things we need to accomplish before we're infirm. But, really, what is there left to do? I recently reported on a new world record for dancing to "Thriller," but that's not really the stuff of legends. We need one person, going it alone against all odds: trying to accomplish what many of us could only dream about. THAT'S the kind of thing that fires our imagination and provides us with the reaffirmation that mankind is undaunted by the seemingly impossible. Space walk? nah, been done over and over. Skydive at 70? even George Bush, Sr. has done that. Now, it's up to Winter to whip our collective imaginations into a frothy frenzy.
Winter (his legally changed name) has but one purpose in life: he plans to drink a cup of coffee at every Starbucks in the world. This Quixotic dream came to him in 1997 when there were but 1,400 franchises in the world. Needless to say, that task has gotten more Herculean as a result of the veritable explosion in tall mocha lattes drove the number of outlets to more than 12,000, including one in the Forbidden City in Beijing. Winter begins his quest in Great Britain this week in an attempt to finish off the roughly 3,000 Starbucks locations outside of the U.S. with the 400 in the British Isles his first goal. This is how he does it:
At every Starbucks, he drinks one cup of regularly brewed coffee, usually the 4 oz. tester cup; he takes a photo of himself at each location and posts it on starbuckseverywhere.com as proof. Not all is smooth, though, since every challenge must be, well, a challenge. Starbucks is closing outlets regularly due to the downturn in the world economy. For Winter to get to all of them, he will need more than a trusty steed, Sancho and a lance. His daily record is 29 cups of coffee...a feat which left him feeling a bit less than heroic. He figures to have spent more than $100,000 on his quest, a fact which would deter the average (cuppa) Joe. Then, there is the support level: his parents told reporters that they felt he was "wasting his time." Ouch. Undaunted, he continues through rain, snow, sleet, well, you get the idea.
Winter: a man for our times!