Updated: February 27th, 2010.

Welcome to the section about my ministry travels by bicycle. In August 2008, I came across the photo on the left of me and my second bicycle. It was used in the Minneapolis, Minneapolis "Star-Tribune" where a short article had been written about me . I hadn't seen the photo before since the article it was from wasn't in the collection of newspaper articles that had been written about me and my ministry since 1993. After checking out the internet, I found out that it was from an article in the Beloit, Wisconsin "Daily News" dated JUN 21, 1996 . The photo on the right is one of me and my sixth bicycle (my second recumbent). It was taken either in Iowa or Ohio back in 2005.

At the time of the Beloit, Wisconsin article, I had only ridden a total of 63,000 miles (100,800 KM). As of August 31 ('09) : 196,135.05 miles (313,816.08 KM) have been traveled since February 19, 1993 in 3,350 days at an average of 58.54 miles (93.67 KM) per day. This is equivalent to 7.877 times around the Equator (the mean distance around the Equator is 24,901 miles).

The above map graphic shows an approximation of the routes that I have taken. Using Paint.net, I was able to combine all of the routes that I've taken during the past 16 years and put them onto one map. The map shows lots of sections that I have criss-crossed during many of the year's rides. You can see that I pretty well covered the Eastern half of the country. Also, it shows that I have ridden through all of the 48 lower states (For those who might think that I didn't ride in Nevada, the map shows that I did ride about 20 miles in Nevada across the Southern tip of the state and over Hoover Dam).

On March 27th of 2009, I celebrated the 16th anniversary of my ministry. Along the way during these past 16+ years, I helped with disaster relief after 15 natural disasters that included a major earthquake in 1994, twelve hurricanes (the last one being Hurricane Ike), and a major flood along the Mississippi River in 1993.

Mission Trip 19 was started on Monday, March 23rd and ended on Monday, August 31st, 2009. I started out early because I wanted to be on the road March 27th, which would be the 16th anniversary of my ministry (February 19 was actually the 16th anniversary of the start of this adventure on two wheels). The trip was 7,383 miles (11,812 KM) long and it took me through thirty states and the District of Columbia.

Currently, I am making plans for Mission Trip 20. Right now, I am looking at Monday, March 15th, will be the start date of the planned trip. This next trip will be special because I will be passing the 200,000 mile (320,000 km) mark. The trip will be around 9,000 mile (14,400 km) long and will take me through at least thirty states and the District of Columbia. I have already set up a section for this year. Throughout the year, I will be posting trip updates usually every two weeks or so. I posted the seventh update for the year on February 27th. The next one will be posted around March 06th. You can read about them here. MISSION TRIPS 2010

I have set up a directory for all of the mission trips between 1993 and 2009. On the trip index pages, you will find a map of the route that I had ridden, trip logs, either stories from the road or trip updates, links to newspaper articles written that year, and lists of churches that I was able to speak at during that year. You can check them out HERE .

I tell everybody that "With every wheel revolution, a prayer goes up to Heaven". On my 48th birthday (June 15th, 2004) while riding between Crystal City and Saint Genevieve, Missouri, I passed the 1 Billionth wheel revolution mark. In 2005 on my 49th birthday, I was riding between Medford and Port Edwards, Wisconsin. At the end of the day, I hit 1,024,604,125 wheel revolutions. While I was in Denver, Colorado on my 50th birthday (in 2006), I hit 1,036,712,57 wheel revolutions. The milestone of 1,062,343,619 wheel revolutions on the day my 51st birthday in 2007 in Rugby, SD and I hit . My 52nd birthday was cycled between Spokane Valley, Washington and Sagle, Idaho and at the end of the day I hit 1,080,938,351 wheel revolutions. At the end of my 53rd birthday in Youngstown, Ohio, I hit 1,100,153,080 wheel revolutions.

Not counting the troubles that I have had in 1995 (damaging my lower back in a non-bike accident in Hannibal, MO) and 1997 (having one bike stolen (Philadelphia, PA) and another one destroyed in a car crash (New Orleans, LA)), 2002 was by far the hardest year since I was hit twice by vehicles (both were minor accidents occurring in Georgia and Kentucky), having the frame of my bike broken nearly in two and getting it emergency welded together in Kentucky, and having a major accident that occurred during the end of Spring while I was in the New England Region that resulted in major surgery.

Around noon on Saturday, May 4th 2002, while coasting down a hill outside of Dublin, New Hampshire, I crashed because my front tire blew out. I had been going at least fifteen miles per hour. The crash was caused by either the rim cracking or an inner tube blowout. There was extensive damage done to my left shoulder. A two-piece artificial head for my left humerus (upper arm bone) was implanted in a four hour operation on June 7th at Maine General Hospital in Augusta, Maine. More about this can be read in the posted updates between May 4th and July 25th of 2002. I was able to get back on the road near the end of July.

2009 was the safest year for me since I had no major incidents with vehicles or spills. This is probably because this was the shortest distance traveled while on tour. I did have one minor incident with a vehicle when I was almost side-swiped.

Probably the most unusual donation to the ministry occurred in late April 2005 when a brand new recumbent was given to me. This happened in Savanna, IL. A new recumbent was really needed since I had almost 50,000 miles (80,000 KM) on the old one and there was some weakness in the frame. This might have been the most unusual physical donation but the one that means the most right now is what you see here. Having this website on a new server with tons of space to grow into and also having my own domain name. No more free sites with limited space and advertisements and pop-ups. Thanks go out to Rayburn and Waco Web Designs in Waco, TX.

The last recumbent lasted till April 18, 2007. It was destroyed in a freak auto accident in Mystic, CT but I was not on it at the time. This was the second bicycle destroyed by an automobile. 23,648.71 miles ( 37,837.94 KM) was ridden on it in 418 days at an average of 56.54 miles ( 90.46 KM) per day. My new recumbent was made by the same two companies as my last recumbent (Easy Racer - Sun) and it is an EZ-Speedster-AX instead of a -SX. Aluminum was used to make the frame instead of steel and it has front and rear disc brakes. Instead of having a gear range of 24-speeds, I now have a range of 27-speeds. As of August 31, 2009, I've got 27,788.53 miles ( 44,461.65 KM) of touring in 467 days on it at an average of 59.50 miles (95.21 KM) per day. The recumbent does has a name and it is "Alice".

There is a lot of information here so I hope you don't mind reading. It is really hard boiling down almost sixteen years of travel. Please enjoy the information that you can find here. At the bottom of this page there is a link to an index page to sections that talk about each year of my ministry. There are maps, trip logs, links to any press coverage, lists of churches that I might have spoken at each year, and either stories that I've written about things that happened along the way or in latter years trip updates. There is also a page that talks about the seven bicycles that I've had so far.

To get a better understanding on who I am, what I am doing, how it all started, and what is my message in a brief form, here is the handout flyer that I give out. Since I first started handing them out in 2003, I estimate that I passed out 4,000+ handouts (this doesn't count the ones that ushers handed out at churches). The handout flyer is supposed to be 2-sided and tri-folded. This flyer covers the 28 most asked questions. Information is current to August 31.2009. The flyer is distributed here in PDF format (44 KBytes). You need Adobe Reader to view it. If you don't have Adobe Reader installed on your computer, here is a link to a download site.