Little did Howard know that her cousin would be coming to Lawton from Florida on his bike!

Bill Brandon left home on June 14 and biked 2,101 miles to Lawton to spend a few nights with Jack and Leslie Howard. It's his custom to stay with them prior to the Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI) start in western Iowa.

To bike halfway across the country to see them? That's new.

"I'm 70 years old and retired," Bill Brandon says with a laugh. "I've got plenty of time to bike across the country."

Brandon, a native of the Greenville neighborhood in Sioux City, pedaled for five days before leaving Florida. He then crossed parts of Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois and Missouri before getting to Iowa and heading north to Lawton.

"For the most part, I followed the Lewis & Clark Trail, but I deviated a little," says Brandon, who completed his sixth RAGBRAI on Saturday. "I worked on the railroad for years, so I like seeing the converted rails-to-trails we've got."

After hearing many cyclists talk of cross-country adventures, Brandon figured now was his time. At 150 pounds, he's in great shape. He's also able to ride self-contained, opting to pitch a tent many nights this summer.

"Biking all alone you have to solve all your own problems," says Brandon, who also dabbles as a sky-diving instructor. "You get to make your own route, too. When you bike with 10,000 others on RAGBRAI, a lot of things like the route are handled for you."

Going it alone may be more rewarding, he says, but it isn't more fun.

"I stayed in a national park and I could hear some sort of wildlifeapproaching my tent one night," he says. "You do feel vulnerable when you're camping alone out in the middle of nowhere."

The middle of nowhere? Try hopping on a bike near Sergeant Bluff, Iowa, before dawn last Saturday. That's what Brandon did. He then pedaled88 miles south to join the RAGBRAI launch at Council Bluffs.

By Saturday, Brandon was hoping to see his brother, Bob Brandon, of Long Grove, Iowa, on the Mississippi River. That's how he bookends RAGBRAI, with a cousin on the west side and a brother on the east side.

"I had no scrapes with traffic on this trip and only a couple of thunderstorms," Bill Brandon says.

What an interesting and challenging way to spend 44 days. After Saturday's completion of RAGBRAI, Brandon estimated he had cycled 2,317 miles. Not bad for a man who turns 71 in four months.

"This was probably my most memorable RAGBRAI because of the way I got to Iowa," he says."Oneyear, I biked up the East Coast and left my car before flying out here."

His cousin in Lawton figured he'd be doing that again. She still can't believe she saw him pull up to her house on his bicycle. All the way from Zephyrhills.

"I didn't want my cousin to worry, so I didn't tell her I'd be riding to Lawton from Florida," he says. "I know if I had someonebiking across the country alone, I'd probably be worrying too."