I saw this story on Delaware Online and thought it was incredible! It comes from Taylor Goebel of The Salisbury Times. 60 year old Erik Andrew’s of Ohio hopped on his bicycle for a cross country journey. He pedaled 3,351 miles from Southern California to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. After 74 days, he arrived in the first state on August 20th. In the meantime, he helped raise more than $50,000 for Appalachia Service Project. The Tennessee nonprofit builds new houses and provides critical home repairs for low income families. Andrews has volunteered for APS for over twenty years, but the coronavirus pandemic put a hold on the volunteer service program and all fundraising. That’s why he decided to become a mobile fundraiser. Friends, relatives and many who had never heard of APS started donating to his cause and followed his journey online.
Erik said some days he would ride more than 100 miles, whereas others he’d struggle to make it 40. From the start of his journey on June 7th until July 15th he rode from California to Texas. During that period, it did not rain once! There were no clouds or trees to bike under for shade. On day 28, he had some lose screws in his bike. A generous owner of a bike shop in Oklahoma fixed his bike for free, despite being closed! The most amazing part of the journey was crossing the finish line. Erik finished his journey with his daughter Sarah, who rode her bike from Georgetown to Rehoboth that morning. He walked his bike to the sand, touched his tires to the water, just as he had done in the Pacific Ocean to mark the beginning of the journey. Here is the full story!