It all started as a lark, an adventurous solo bike tour from Ukraine to England, with more than two dozen stops across Europe.
But 34-year-old Louisville-area resident John Robinson has turned his biking excursion into a benefit for Life2Orphans, an Oregon-based nonprofit group that assists 5,802 children in orphanages in Ukraine.
"Since I've spent many recent months living abroad in Ukraine," Robinson wrote on the group's Web site, Life2Orphans.org, "I've become aware of the abundance of orphans who could use a helping hand. I contacted Life2Orphans, who kindly accepted my offer."
Robinson is seeking financial pledges of $10 to $100 for his cause. His planned route, an estimated 3,800 miles, began June 6 in Lviv, near Ukraine's western border, and continues to Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and England.
An Oldham County High School graduate who studied music at the University of Louisville, Robinson went to Europe two years ago to teach English.
Program officials at Life2Orphans say they monitor Robinson's progress via e-mail, although biking and camping out means he sometimes doesn't have Internet access.
He hasn't responded to e-mails sent him from The Courier-Journal, but according to Robinson's blog, www.englicious.com/__bike/, he sometimes bikes 50 miles or more a day.
He left Lviv, Ukraine on June 6; reached Przemysl, Poland (83 miles) on June 7; was in Krakow (197 miles over three days) on June 10; rode through several cities in the Czech Republic; and as of his most recent posting, July 22, was in Siena, Italy.
One of Robinson's first postings, June 6, read in part, "I rode until sunset and, in the dying light, I found a nice site to pitch my tent. It was a huge field with some farm buildings in the distance, and a single red flower not far from me. I set up my tent in the grass and put my things in it. Then I crawled inside and had a good rest."
Robinson said he would not use motorized transportation, and he has hosts along his journey, including an Italian named Massimo, a stocky man with a shaved head, who required Robinson to wrestle another guest as a condition of his stay.
Robinson wrote July 14: "My opponent, Andy, was not only a bit bigger than me, but I was later to learn he was a military man and had spent lots of time physically training. So there I was lying on a mattress with Massimo giving us instructions, and Andy says, 'Can I attack him now?' and is soon leaping on me and trying to pin me. But it was all in fun, and Massimo videotaped it and took pictures."
Robinson's mother, Judy Rice, is traveling for her job as a yoga instructor and couldn't be reached for comment, and his stepfather, Gus Rice, says the last e-mail he got from Robinson was July 22.
Rice wasn't sure when Robinson would complete the bike tour and said that the family worries about him sometimes.
"My mother and my wife's mother constantly ask about him," said Rice, a retired teacher. "But he's a man, able to take care of himself, and I think he's getting a good education."
Robinson is "kind of a student of languages" who speaks Russian, Rice said, and knows enough words and phrases of other tongues to survive.
Early on, Robinson had bike problems, but Rice said Robinson said that bicycle repair shops were common, and any hardships he endures are worth it for the cause.
Proceeds from the bike ride benefit the Makiivka AIDS Orphanage near Donetsk, Ukraine. It has 93 children from infants to age 8 born with AIDS.
"The children there need many things, including medicine, food, diapers, utilities repair and furniture," Robinson writes. "If you can part with $20 or more, it will help these kids."
