GEM — At about 8 miles an hour, it takes Danny Davis a while to make it through a county.
But perched high on his vintage-style bicycle, he’s glad to be on the journey.
Davis rode along U.S. 40 in Hancock County on Tuesday, headed east en route to Ocean City, Maryland. He hopes to log 40-50 miles a day, camping along the way, and arrive there by Oct. 26. He carries some Pacific Ocean water with him and hopes to pour it into the Atlantic when he arrives.
He’ll pour that as a tribute to one of his grandchildren. About a year ago he learned she has autism, and he planned this bike ride as a way to do something positive and honor her.
As he rides he seeks to raise autism awareness and funds for bicycles. The hope is to buy balance bikes, helmets and safety pads for children with special needs, and more generally to fund bikes for children who don’t have one. His goal is to give away 100 bikes by the end of the year.
He hands out trinkets, stickers and autism ribbons as he chats with people who notice the tall front wheel of his bicycle and the man in a red-white-and-blue suit riding it.
‘I ride this because it does get attention…,” he said. “If I was on a regular bike you probably wouldn’t have even (stopped) … It gets my cause out.”
He’s pedaling to cross the United States in shifts. He left California in May on Route 66, along some lonely desert miles through Arizona and New Mexico. From the “top” of New Mexico he got a ride to Denver, where he spent four days and did two rides. Then he pedaled to Glenwood, Iowa, and returned to his home in Indianapolis by car. He rode the Penny Farthing bicycle in the Hancock County 4-H Fair parade in June, with a bubble machine attached to the back.
After about six weeks at home, he returned to where he’d stopped in Iowa and resumed the bike ride on July 20, pedaling to Indianapolis by Aug. 3.
Tuesday, he pedaled east from Indy. He was on U.S. 40 near CR 400W when a reporter pulled over and called out to him just before 11 a.m., and he stopped for a few minutes to talk.
He said as he rides, he fields calls for his graphic design business and checks in with his wife.
He posts updates from the journey on Instagram and on his website, luckypennyusa.com, where he offers tips on donating a used bike, accepts donations to buy new bikes, and provides an email address for those who know a child unlikely to receive a bike.
“When I was a kid everybody had a bike, and it’s important to me,” he said.
