Two American students are intent on making criminal history by spending their summer breaking as many US laws as possible. Starting in the liberal state of California, they hope to evade the attention of local police officers when they ride a bike in a swimming pool and curse on a crazy-golf course.

In the far more conservative — and landlocked — state of Utah, they will risk the penitentiary when they hire a boat and attempt to go whale-hunting. If they manage to outwit state troopers in Utah, and perhaps federal agents on their trail, they will be able to take a deserved, but nevertheless illegal, rest when they have a nap in a cheese factory in South Dakota.

“There are thousands of stupid laws in the United States, but we are limiting ourselves to breaking about 45 of them,” said Richard Smith, from Portreath, Cornwall.

The journey, which appropriately enough begins in Alcatraz, will cover around 18 000 miles and take eight weeks — provided, of course, that Mr Smith and his accomplice, Luke Bateman, are not apprehended along the way.

Source: Gerard Seenan, Guardian Unlimited