Theodore Roosevelt's great-grandson is going to the steamy jungles of South America to retrace the 26th president's nightmarish trek along an uncharted Brazilian river in 1914.
"T.R. said before the expedition that it was his last chance to be a boy," said Tweed Roosevelt, acknowledging "there's a little bit of that" drawing him to the trail.The mission of Teddy Roosevelt's trek was to explore Brazil's 1,000-mile waterway known as the River of Doubt.
The Rio Roosevelt Expedition, organized in Maine, will produce a book and movie documenting changes in the forests, wildlife and people along the river, which flows north from the Brazilian Plateau toward the Amazon.
Roosevelt, who was president from 1901 to 1909, set off for South America in late 1913 when he was 55.
Near the end of the trip, Roosevelt, sick with jungle fever, asked to be abandoned so he wouldn't be a burden. His son, Kermit, refused and the trip ended in success in early 1914.
However, Roosevelt never fully regained his health. He died in 1919 at age 60. "It basically killed him," said his great-grandson.