Biker say’s he is glad to be heading South. Last Friday morning was like most Friday mornings at the Miller County Liberal. That is until Curt Williams walked in and said, “Hey, there’s a man riding a bicycle with a sign on the back of it saying he’s heading to Florida. He’s coming out of Damascus, headed to Colquitt. You should see if you could talk to him and find out what he’s doing,” Williams went on to say.

After a short while, Don Calhoun walked in to tell us about the same cyclist and said he should be coming in on Highway 45 in just a few minutes.

I decided to go look out the front door to see if I could see this fellow. About the time I opened the door, I spotted him at the corner of Main and First looking down the street. I motioned for him to come on down, and he did.

After taking a few photographs of the cyclist, I invited him in to the Liberal to find out who he was and what on earth he was doing riding a bicycle in this kind of weather.

His name was Donald Walden from Milwaukee, WS, and he was 38 years old. He is riding to Sarastoa, FL.

The cyclist started his trip on October 3, in Milwaukee, WS, and expects to reach his destination some time around Christmas Eve. He travels between from 35 to 40 miles per day, depending on the wind and weather.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked.

He replied, “I had first thought about buying a plane ticket to Florida, where my father lives, but decided instead to ride the bike.”

Donald carries with him food, water, a tent, a portable shower, and camping gear. Most nights he camps out and on occasion, cordially accepts offers to spend the night with someone or stay at churches along the way.

While talking with Donald, Pastor Mike Mounts, pastor of Bellview Church, stopped by the newspaper and started asking a few questions.

Since the temperature outside was dropping and it was going to be a cold night in south Georgia, Bro. Mike offered him a stay in the motel. After a phone call to Bro. Benjamin Miller, president of the Ministerial Association, everything was set for Donald to sleep inside for the night.

Miss Helen and Donna at Pirate’s Cove were even kind enough to furnish him a warm meal.

“This is so generous of everyone. Georgia has been the state with the friendliest people,” he stated.

When asked if he had had any scares on his journey, he commented that other than people throwing “slushes” at him and the wild animals at night, everything else had been okay. He did say after he had camped one night, he found out the next morning from people at a coffee shop that someone had been murdered in the same vicinity where he had stayed. “Oh well, they didn’t get me,” he said.

“Oh yea, I was offered some crack by several males one night, but when I kinda started jerking my body as if I was crazy, they went on and left me alone,” he said laughing.

Donald said the most memorable part of his trip so far has been meeting a little 12-year-old girl in Glasco, Kentucky. “I had been battling the rain, wind and cold weather all day and was wet from head to toe. I had been only able to ride about 10 miles, and I was so frustrated. I pulled into a McDonald’s in Glasco to get something hot to drink. I noticed the little girl looking at my bicycle when she and her mother walked in. She walked over to me and asked if I was the one riding the bike. I said yes, and then she looked up at me and smiled and said, ‘Can I have your autograph?’ That made me put all the bad things of the day behind me.”

Donald says the trip on the bike has changed his attitude and outlook about life. “It’s not only about who I meet and who I talk to, but about what life is all about.”

The biker left Colquitt Saturday morning heading for the Florida state line. If you would like to read his day-to-day diary, you may go to bikindon.livejournal. com.