23 Years Later, Cyclist Finishes Cross-Country Journey

It took 20 days and 1,500 miles for Daniel Wellington to finish a two-decade old promise.

The Capital Gazette reports Wellington, a Davidsonville resident, finally finished the cross-country journey started 23 years ago, when he ran of money in Topeka, KS, with only enough for a plane ride back.

"It's hard to believe that after 23 years of thinking about my trip, that it is now behind me," Wellington wrote on the blog he kept during the voyage. "I ask myself if the hype that has built up inside my head has lived up to the outcome, and I am relieved that the answer is a resounding, 'yes.'"

Now 46, Wellington picked up the journey where he left off in Topeka and rode on to raise awareness for cancer research and the DeCesaris Prout Cancer Foundation, founded by his wife JoAnn DeCesaris Wellington and her best friend, Beth Prout Lennon. Wellington raised $27,000 in pledges on his journey, which took him 100 miles closer to home each day, according to the paper.

The foundation focuses on research on lung and ovarian cancers. Wellington's father-in-law died of lung cancer in 2006, and Lennon's mother died of ovarian cancer in 2007.