NORTHAMPTON — Not many garden gnomes have gone skydiving, climbed to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, and been the best man at a wedding, but it is all in a day’s work for Captain Ahab, a wooden fisherman who travels the world.

Geeg Wiles, who is from North Adams, has traveled with Captain Ahab, a 3-foot, 40-pound wooden statue of a fisherman, for the last 22 years. He runs Ahab’s Adventures, where he chronicles his trips, and speaks to groups about Ahab. Last Friday, Wiles and Captain Ahab visited Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School to deliver a talk on his adventures and goal setting to the new class of freshmen.

Wiles has traveled across the United States and the world with Captain Ahab, taking him to see national parks and heritage sites, to kiss the Blarney Stone in Ireland and to the Lagoon of Gnomes in Chile. Wiles has a rule for these trips, “whoever is curious enough to let down their guard and ask ‘what’s up with the gnome?’ we take a picture with.”

“Getting past that awkward conversation, that first interaction, is the hardest part of making a new friend. In order to do so, you can use icebreakers to make it a little easier,” Wiles told the students. “Ahab is an amazing one. He’s a 42-pound, bright yellow wooden fisherman. Plus he’s got a pirate history about him, a good story. But you don’t need to have an 80-year-old family legacy lawn gnome to do this.”

Ahab’s story began 80 years ago, when Wiles’ grandfather was leaving with the U.S. Navy for World War II. He and his friends took the lawn ornament from a pub as a prank and made a scrapbook of everywhere he went with them for the next two years. When they returned to drop off the gnome after his adventures, they realized they had forgotten the address of the pub. Instead, the group of friends decided they would meet every year to take Ahab on a new adventure.

When Wiles left for college, he inherited Ahab, who became a doorstop in his first college dorm. By the end of his freshman year, his wall was completely covered in pictures people had taken with Captain Ahab.

In 2022, Wiles summited Mount Kilimanjaro, the tallest mountain in Africa at 19,431 feet, carrying Captain Ahab in a modified backpack the entire way. On Day 4, Wiles faced a 1,000-foot rock face which he had to scramble up. When he reached the top, the tour guide told him they had taken bets on when he was going to die trying to carry the statue, which was over the weight limit for the porters who carry tents and food, up the mountain. However, Wiles made it to the summit, and though he carried Ahab solely himself the whole way, he emphasized the fact that it took the whole crew to get there.

Wiles told the students at Smith Vocational about his adventures and told them to always keep asking and trying to reach their goals, likening it to his struggles getting Ahab on planes as a carry on. At the end of the talk, the students made their own bucket lists, which they will get back as seniors.

“I think the talk is great and I love the fact that it’s got a clear inspirational and motivational message,” said Mary Olmsted, a paraeducator at the school. “It gives the students an opportunity to see the world as a bigger, rich and exciting place to explore.”

“I thought it was pretty cool,” said Izabella Boudreau, a freshman, about the talk.

“I think it is pretty interesting how many places they’ve gone to.”

Wiles is planning to apply for a grant from the Massachusetts Office of Outdoor Recreation to help people go on adventures themselves. He wants to compile the data from the bucket lists he gives out, and find common, achievable goals, like whitewater rafting, that he can take people to achieve.

“I carry around Ahab like an ’80s boom box, sparking curiosity in people enough to talk to me, to trade stories and family traditions,” said Wiles.

“Your burdens in life are only as heavy as the excuses you make for them.”