Go big or go home, a man in Missouri went big by paddling 38 miles down the Missouri River in a 1,208lb boat. Steve Keuny, the man responsible for this grand experience, voiced, “I’m just a guy with a pumpkin and a whimsical sense of adventure out to have fun.”

Keuny set his sights on beating the previous world record for the longest boat trip that was set by a local Nebraska man. The Nebraska man, Duane Hansen, beat the record with a voyage of 38 miles and a pumpkin sized to be 846 pounds. Keuny beat Hansens record by just half a mile and nearly 400 lbs more to his pumpkin. 

He managed to grow the 1,208lb pumpkin, which he dubbed ‘Huckle Berry,’ over the summer in his garden. Keuny found an interest toward growing large pumpkins over the pandemic as his hobby. The process for preparing the pumpkin was time-consuming, and took 45 minutes to carve out the seeds of the 13-foot-pumpkin. Keuny noted: “We tested floating it before we carved it, so [we’d] know which end wanted to be up. Once we figured that out, we marked it, made a hole at the center.” 

Keuny didn’t go by himself, stating he was joined by a group from the Paddle KC Club who are a group of kayakers. This club brought along with them extra paddles as precautions in case of an emergency. The Club Manager explained, “We’ve checked the water temperature, the speed of the water. We have contingency plans, we know when the barges are coming, and we have all the different ramp access points marked out.” 

The next part of Keuny’s ride is to submit his application for a Guinness World Record. His pumpkin riding down the Missouri River wasn’t just for fame because he expressed, “It seemed like a good enough way to spend a Monday morning.”