Book excerpt: One of the most remarkable adventures on record, ONCE A FOOL -- From Tokyo to Alaska by American journalist Boye Lafayette De Mente recounts his experiences aboard the the jeep Half-Safe, with Australian Ben Carlin--a voyage that took precisely four months and involved encounters with Russians, Japanese fishing nets, huge walruses, a tidal wave, a Yellow Monster, water colder than ice, and each other! One of the most publicized ocean-crossings in the 20th century, the story of the globe-circling amphibious jeep is in the Guinness Book of World Records.