Man celebrates 60th birthday with trip down river in pumpkin

A great pumpkin wasn’t destined to live its life in a pumpkin patch or be carved with a toothy grin.

Instead, it took a potentially record-breaking trip down the Missouri River.

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Duane Hansen grew “Berta” to celebrate his 60th birthday in a unique way — turning the 846-pound pumpkin into a boat, The Washington Post reported.

The gourd-ous watercraft even had the name SS Berta written on the back and had a cup holder carved into the hull, CNN reported.

A cooler added to the hollowed-out pumpkin made it buoyant, USA Today reported.

The Guinness World Record for “the longest journey by pumpkin boat” had been held by Rick Swenson. Swenson traveled 25 miles downriver from Grand Forks, North Dakota, to Oslo, Minnesota, in 2016.

Hansen’s trip was 38 miles long, intended to squash Swenson’s record. And Hansen did with Bellevue officials confirming the feat in a Facebook post on Saturday. City officials served as witnesses to Hansen’s trip, CNN reported.

Some of Hansen’s friends and family members followed behind his bright orange boat in case there was an issue along the way, CNN reported.

In all, the voyage took 11 hours, USA Today reported.

Guinness World Records has not yet declared Henson the new title holder, but it has received his application. Once it gets the evidence and reviews it, it will determine if Hansen is now the pumpkin boat king, CNN reported.

Hansen told News Channel Nebraska this is the last attempt he’s going to make to break the pumpkin boat record.

“I ain’t gonna do this again. I’m done with this,” he said.

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