Erik Andrews of Oberlin's 3,350-mile charity bike trip ends today in Atlantic surf

Erik Andrews will ceremonially dip his front bicycle tire in the Atlantic Ocean this morning. "And then I will collapse," he said. The 60-year-old Oberlin resident has ridden 3,350 miles since late June, starting at the edge of the Pacific Ocean near Los Angeles, crossing the Rockies and pedaling past the Grand Canyon, through the Dust Bowl, over the Appalachians and into the nation's capital. Andrews phoned Wednesday from the west side of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge near Annapolis, Maryland, to talk about the end of his long journey. He plans to ride the final 20 miles today with his daughter, Sarah Stafford, and arrive at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, about 11 a.m. With the last push, Andrews expects to hit $40,000 in funds raised to benefit the Appalachia Service Project, a Christian ministry that helps repair old homes and build new ones in some of the nation's poorest, most remote areas. Donations have flooded into the "Pedal Across America" effort at www.paa4asp.org as he's neared the 60th part of the ride. Andrews credits Oberlin High School Class of 1977 alumnus Steve Merrill for helping raise much of the cash. On a stop at his Nashville home along the coast-to-coast route, Merrill persuaded Andrews to place signs on his bike and pass out cards to tell everyone he met about the mission. "I'd stop at a convenience store and strike up a conversation. It would go right to the heart of what we were trying to accomplish with the ride," Andrews said. After climbing through the Rockies and crossing the Continental Divide, his plans for the ride changed dramatically. The original thought was to bike to Cape Canaveral in Florida — Andrews is a mission software systems engineer who works with NASA — but as his confidence grew, so did his aspirations. When the famous Route 66 turned north toward Chicago, Andrews headed east instead of dipping toward Florida. Rather than riding across the low and flat Gulf states, he switched gears and headed for the mountains once more. "I was afraid of the Appalachian Mountains, and I was making excuses to go south of them," he said. Following U.S. Route 64, he traveled from Oklahoma City through Arkansas and Tennessee, where he stopped at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis just a few days after the death of U.S. Rep. John Lewis. "It was a powerful experience to be there, in that way at that time in our nation," Andrews said. "It was powerful to be there, sad as it was." Continuing across the Volunteer State, he stopped at the Appalachia Service Project headquarters in Johnson City. He spent a day there with ASP staff and was honored for his fundraising work, then hit the road again through the Blue Ridge Mountains to Washington, D.C. The capital was nearly empty because of the COVID-19 pandemic, he said, and Andrews took pictures of himself alone at the Jefferson and Lincoln memorials, which are usually teeming with tourists through the summer months. Then it was on to Davidsonville United Methodist Church in Maryland, Andrews' "old stomping grounds" where he and wife Michelle lived from 1990 to 2006. It was where he first started with the Appalachia Service Project. Michelle and Sarah joined Erik for the last of the trip, and plan to bring him home to Oberlin on Sunday. Contact Jason Hawk at (440) 329-7122 or news@lcnewspapers.com.