Jeff Turner had always longed to go on a grand adventure, and to do it with his son Taylor before he went off to college.

More than a year ago, Turner, 48, and Taylor, then 17, cooked up a plan most folks couldn't fathom: to fish 50 waters in 50 states in 50 days.

"It wasn't a trip as much as an expedition, a mission to Mars," Turner said with a laugh from his home in Warrenton, Va. "We did it in 50 days, but it took a year and a half of planning."

A mapper for the U.S. Department of Defense, Turner studied weather forecasts and historical data, state fisheries regulations and spawning patterns, and talked to hundreds of guides and other experts. He and his son spent three months choosing the fisheries they would visit.

They started June 13 on the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania and ended in Kona Coast Bay in Hawaii. They'll share what happened on the 14,500 miles in between during a Penn's Woods West Trout Unlimited meeting Nov. 9.

The goal wasn't to catch fish -- although there were only six waters, including the Susquehanna River, where they got skunked -- as much as to strengthen their father-son bond.

"Parents hear a lot about quality vs. quantity time," said Turner. "Well, for us, this was both."

Turner purchased a 24-foot RV, loaded it with 16 rods and reels and a drift boat, hired guides in 44 states, and set out with a computerized daily itinerary that would allow him and his son no more than four hours on each fishery. Taylor acquired a driver's license for the trip.

"We'd take turns driving," said Turner, who developed a Web site that would allow people to follow their adventure as it was unfolding. Although he borrowed $20,000 to cover the cost of the RV, as well as fishing guides' fees and plane fare to Alaska and Hawaii, Turner was able to secure double that in donations and in-kind services from folks who supported his endeavor. A laminated prayer wheel created by friends proved to be one of the most valuable.

"Our RV broke down 45 miles west of Grand Forks, North Dakota, about three-quarters of the way through the trip. It was the most stressful moment of our journey," he said. "We waited 4 1/2 hours for the tow truck to arrive and as we're waiting we're dividing up stuff to leave or take because we figured we'd be downsizing to a car."

"When the tow truck finally arrived it was smaller than our RV. But long story short, the guy was able to fix it on the side of the road and we were back in business."

In Georgia, Turner thought he was running out of gas with nowhere in sight to fill up. When he finally found a pump, it was out of order. He drove another 12 miles "on fumes," he said.

"I looked at the prayer sheet and saw that my sixth grade girlfriend from Towanda, Kansas, had held us up in prayer that day."

Most of the Turners' fishing was done on spinning tackle, and all but three locations were freshwater. His favorite spot, he said, was the Green River in Utah, where he and Taylor landed trout up to 20 inches on fly rods.

"That river blew every other fishery out of water," Turner said. "It was visually stunning, with 400-foot red sandstone cliffs covered in iridescent green moss and really deep, gin-clear water."

He and Taylor found the Susquehanna too blown-out to catch a bass. And floating into Kona Coast Harbor, he said, was unexpectedly bittersweet.

"I thought I'd have this amazing feeling of accomplishment but it was the antithesis of that. I kept thinking, 'We don't have tomorrow. It's all over,'" said Turner.

Well, not quite. Turner's plan is to write a book about the journey and donate the proceeds to various charities, including his church and Trout Unlimited, he said.

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