Clint Johnson has no money and no idea where he’s sleeping tonight.
But he does have people willing to help him on the way.
That was the case Saturday night when he bicycled to Gainesville, having traveled 159 miles from the Capitol building in Tallahassee.
Gainesville was one of several stops as Johnson heads to the southernmost point in Key West.
He will be biking 810 miles in hopes of raising $5,000 for Friends of Volusia and bringing attention to the Florida Trail Network.
"People I’ve met on this trip have all been really generous and supportive of the cause," he said.
Johnson is the mayor of DeBary, a small town of about 20,000 residents located between Orlando and Daytona Beach.
He left his mayoral duties on Oct. 8 to bike.
Johnson became motivated to bike the trails after Volusia County began planning to combine trails across the county into one long trail without including the trail in the heart of DeBary.
"That would do wonders for interconnectivity and all bikers in neighboring cities’ safe passage," Johnson said.
So Johnson, whose longest bike ride was 34 miles two weeks before the trip began, decided to bike.
"I don’t want to insist on spending taxpayer money on the trail system if I haven’t been out on the street," he said.
On the way, Johnson has headphones plugged into his cellphone mounted on his handlebars to keep up with his mayoral duties.
He hopes to reach Key West by Thursday.
But Saturday night, he stopped in Gainesville where he stayed with a UF student from the Team Florida Cycling team.
Running off of donations, Johnson has spent time in hotels that have offered him space or camped out on the trail.
Collin Zeng, a UF biology junior, opened his home to Johnson despite having never met him.
The next morning, Zeng and Johnson set off together on the Hawthorne Trail.
Zeng rode the 20-mile-long trail with Johnson before turning back around.
"He’s a super cool guy, really down to earth and really passionate about cycling," the 20-year-old said. "He talked about his trip and said to raise awareness about cycling, he wanted to make the people in Tallahassee feel a little bit uncomfortable to stir up some change."
While Johnson was in Gainesville, Dragonfly restaurant general manager Dave Piasecki donated a meal and a Relish employee donated a beer.
Johnson said although city officials have not yet responded to his journey, he is optimistic they will see the value by the end of it.
"It’s much safer and more fun on a trail than on a dangerous street," he said.
Contact Brooke Baitinger at bbaitinger@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @BaitingerBrooke
