Jelinski left Warsaw on May 30, 1926, in a white Ford that was named “A Scout Is Clean”, paying all expenses of the trip by lecturing and writing articles for Polish newspapers. (That's a long name for a car, but the clean white thing is quite clever)
Jelinski's tour took him through Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Austria, Yugoslavia, and Italy where he met with with Benito Mussolini, and Sicily, where he embarked for the North African shore.
He drove through Tunisa and Algeria to Casablanca in Morocco, and had traveled about 19,000 miles, the mileage being attested to and verified, by various foreign automobile clubs.
He left Casablanca for America on an export steamer, arriving in Manhattan in August. In Washington he was greeted by President Coolidge in Sept. When he arrived in Detroit, Jelinski was received by the Polish consul for Detroit, who presented him to the Mayor. (Detroit had a large Polish population)
He addressed several Polish-America organizations during his several days' visit here. The Polish Falcons of District 13 raised the funds for a new Buick to replace the light weight Ford model T he had worn out
The happy presentation was made by the owner of Stanley Krajenke Buick, who also presented Jelinski with a membership in the Detroit Automobile Club, the seventeenth organization of its sort which has welcomed him since he left Warsaw.
JFK was photographed in front of Krajenke Buick 30 some years later
Jelinski was also welcomed by James E. West, chief Scout executive of the United States, on behalf of the 870,000 Scouts in the United States. From Detroit his route was through Toledo, Buffalo, Cleveland, Chicago, Milwaukee and other cities.
He continued his journey to San Francisco, and left on the ship Taiyo Maru, and on July 13 arrived in Hawaii, then rode to Japan, where he traveled from Yokohama to Kobe, arriving there in mid-August
He planned to return to Poland through China, but there was a civil war going on there, and he gave up the idea of traveling to India at the last moment due to insufficient financial resources. Jeliński left Japan around September after visiting Nagasaki, then set out for Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
The expedition was described in the book "Under the Polish Flag by Car Around the World" published in 1929 by Władysław Umiński. The book is free online, but in Polish. https://www.ee.pw.edu.pl/~kwestorm/jelinski/uminski_jelinski.pdf
His grandson made a replica of the Buick
a replica of the Ford is in the Museum and Centre of the Scout Movement in Krakow
After his time in the scouts and his round the world tour, he was a sailor and returned to the USA, going to Hollywood to learn to be a cinematographer. He studied modern film techniques and camera operation in Hollywood, becoming a professional cameraman.
Returning to Poland in the mid-1930s, he founded the Laborpat company, which dealt in film processing and production.
During World War II, the Germans confiscated equipment from Laborpat, destroying the company. Jeliński was participant of the Polish-Bolshevik War, and member of the resistance movement during World War II.
After WW2, he established a rickshaw and handcart factory.
He died in 1986
It's uncommon to find photos of Boy Scouts as they are too young to drive, typically. I remember the ones using a wagon to hike from Minnesota to San Francisco for the 1914 Pan Pacific Expo though https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2016/01/1914-kids-were-made-of-tough-pioneer.html
The scouts from Brazil that drove a Jeep to Canada https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2023/02/coffee-and-dunts-video-in-1955-three.html
The scouts on the Lincoln Highway with a covered wagon in 1928 https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2019/03/i-think-i-posted-this-before-but-cant.html
in a 1927 article, U. S. Boy Scouts trekking through foreign lands were mentioned:
Sixteen Eagle Scouts from Wayne, Pa., were welcomed by the acting Lord Mayor of London.
Eight Sea Scouts from Chicago constitute part of the crew of the John Borden-Field Museum expedition, now collecting fauna in Arctic regions.
Two Scouts from Excelsior, Minn., are officially carrying greetings to Denmark.
In 1926, the following outstanding men were made honorary scouts:
Robert Abram Bartlett
Frederick R. Burnham (horse mounted messenger for Western Union, actual US Cavalry scout, taught by native American Army scouts, fought in the Boer wars, and then taught Baden Powell trail signs and woodcraft, then went gold prospecting in the Yukon, and wrote his excellent biography, that I've read and have a copy of and recommend, Scouting On Two Continents https://www.facebook.com/groups/1491191564434558/posts/1514731728747208)
George K. Cherrie
James L. Clark
Merian C. Cooper
Lincoln Ellsworth, polar explorer in above airplane, which was once buried by an 8 day blizzard, and he dug it out, with a teacup. The only implement he had at hand
Louis Agassiz Fuertes
George Bird Grinnell
Donald Baxter MacMillan, arctic explorer next to his tracked vehicle, 1927
Clifford H. Pope
George Palmer Putnam, Amelia Earhart's husband
Carl Rungius
Stewart Edward White
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