As teenage sweethearts in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Herman and Candelaria Zapp read of explorers such as James Cook and Henry Hudson and longed for the day they could set out exploring on their own.

“We were dreaming to be like these guys,” Herman Zapp said. “We wanted an adventure trip.”

Now in their early 30s, they’re in the middle of an adventure trip even they admit may have seemed a bit crazy at the start. The Zapps are driving from Argentina to Alaska in a 1928 Graham-Paige automobile with a top speed of 30 mph. They’ve broken three axles since they started their journey.

Their trip brought them Monday afternoon to Lawrence, where they spent several hours playing in South Park with their 10-month-old son, Nahuel Pampa, who was conceived in Guatemala and born in Greensboro, N.C. His name means “Cougar of the Plains.”

The trip was supposed to be finished months ago. They set out on Jan. 25, 2000, with about $5,000 saved for the 18,000-mile journey, which they figured would take about six months.

But they were having so much fun they decided to stretch the trip. Now 39 months into it, they’ve logged 31,000 miles crossing 22 countries.

They ran out of money in Ecuador and wrote a book about their trip to sell for $10 a copy. They later wrote another book updating their journey.

They haven’t required much money, though. The Zapps said many people saw the stickers on their car — which say “Argentina to Alaska” — and offered them money, food or a place to stay for the night. In eight months on the road in the United States, they’ve spent only five nights in a motel.

“Our biggest surprise of the journey is the people,” Candelaria Zapp said. “They’re so friendly, so helpful. We went out to fulfill our dream, and we found out a lot of people had dreams like this. We say we’re driving to Alaska, but we’ve got a lot of people in our back seat wanting to get to Alaska.”

Herman and Candelaria Zapp have driven more than 31,000 miles in a 1928 Graham-Paige car while traveling from Argentina to Alaska. In their three years of motoring, they have written a book about their journey, and Candelaria gave birth to son, Nahuel Pampa, now 10 months old. The Zapps stopped Monday in Lawrence.

The people of Lawrence came through for the Zapps. When they arrived at South Park, they didn’t have a place to spend the night. Then Lawrence resident Adrien Vlach stopped by and said they could stay at his home.

Vlach, who has traveled to Poland and Germany, said he was inspired by the Zapps to return kindnesses he had discovered in his own travels.

“It seems like a great idea,” Vlach said. “I’ve received a lot of help when I was traveling. I thought it was a good idea to feed back into the system.”

The Zapps are headed to Topeka today. They’re going to Denver, Utah and Las Vegas before heading to Alaska.

They want to reach Alaska by August, then they’ll ship the car back to Argentina.

The Zapps said the trip had changed their lives. When they left, Herman Zapp was an electrician, and his wife was a secretary. When they return, they’re planning to purchase a farm.

It’s something they’ve been thinking about for a while but decided to do during the trip. After all, as the front-cover inscription of their book says, “The secret to realizing a dream is starting it.”