Zagreb, CROATIA - Joseph Mikulec - Champion Walker - Around the World - 1906:  In 1922, Joseph F. Mikulec walked 2,000 miles from Dayton, Ohio, to Calgary, Canada.  Three weeks into his journey, Mikulec stopped in St. Louis, Missouri, to give a talk on his travels. Over the prior 14 years, the Croatian “hyperpedestrian” had traversed some 100,000 miles on foot, visiting 26 countries and collecting 50,000 autographs along the way. During his talk, Mikulec exhibited a roughly 60-pound, leather-bound album containing the signatures of “[m]ighty potentates and renowned athletes, great artists and fascinating wise men of far countries,” according to an advertisement in a local paper. “[M]ost of the interesting people of the earth have written their names in this book,” the notice added.  In 1922, Mikulec, also known as the “Globe-Trotter” whose toes had touched six continents, was at the height of his popularity. That year, he was featured in a Pathé newsreel that spotlighted the autograph album for a full minute. Even before the newsreel debuted, he’d been the subject of hundreds, if not thousands, of newspaper reports that followed his every footstep as he secured meetings with political leaders far and wide. But in 1929, Mikulec and his legendary autograph collection suddenly vanished from public view.  Contemporary newspaper accounts suggest that Mikulec arrived in America for his first cross-country trek in 1908. Early accounts depict him as a jovial, if eccentric, hiker: “Attired in a sweater of purple and bright yellow and wearing heavy brown leggings the pedestrian attracted considerable attention when he arrived in town,” reported the Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, daily. A teetotaler and vegetarian, Mikulec played the bugle and carried a knapsack containing “a scrapbook that is filled with press notices and autographs,” according to a different newspaper. Mikulec’s 1908 to 1911 expedition across the United States was so well chronicled by local newspapers that his route can be plotted on a map. At each location, certain stats were repeated or updated: how many languages he spoke (somewhere between four and nine), how many pairs of shoes he had worn out, how many pounds he had lost. He was dubbed an “Earth circler,” a “globe girdler” and the “champion long distance walker of the world.” A Boston-area shoe company used his name and likeness to sell rubber soles.  This Divided Back Era postcard, mailed in 1908, promoted his efforts and served as a source of income for him and his journey.  The card is in good condition.