DaytonDailyNews.com

Allen Johnson is a real inspiration to those of us who are cancer survivors, and also those who refuse to spend the retirement years in a rocking chair.

At age 73 Johnson has just completed a 469-mile solo bicycle ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway, a scenic highway which connects Shenandoah National Park in Virginia with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina.

This is just the latest in a series of spectacular ventures for Johnson who retired in 1996 from his 37-year position at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base where he was a satellite communications supervisor.

Johnson lives in Dayton View, and is married to Gloria who also is a cancer survivor and has accompanied him on some of his interesting journeys. On a number of his trips he included some of his five grandchildren.

He has ridden an elephant through the streets of New Delhi. He slept in the burial caves of Easter Island, and skied glaciers in Greenland. He explored the rain forests of Brazil and went swimming on Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

And he observed his 60th birthday by pushing his 2-year-old twin granddaughters Jessica and Emily in a cart as he jogged the 130-mile-perimeter of Oahu island in Hawaii.

About his latest Blue Ridge Parkway effort, the eternal adventurer said he made an effort to include his 7-year-old great granddaughter Kaysie Clifton.

"Just one day into the ride little Kaysie became terribly homesick," Johnson said. "I delivered her back to her mother. But then I returned to the parkway and restarted my ride at mile zero near Waynesboro, Va., heading south."

He accomplished his adventure from May 29 to June 7, averaging about 50 miles a day.

Johnson said he enjoyed his latest challenge, even if he did it alone.

"The scenery turned out to be as beautiful as I imagined," he said. "Breathtaking mountain vistas, sparkling clear streams, abundant wildlife, sweet smelling flowers and very little automobile traffic. Early one morning I biked for an hour and a half without meeting a single car or person."

His description could be used on a travel brochure for the national parks: "The flowers I encountered were fantastic. Huge bushes of flaming golden azaleas, 10-foot long clusters of purple rhododendrons, walls of little yellow, purple and white flowers sprinkled in between."

Johnson said he was surprised that the mountain roads were so steep. "They either went down or up, never level," he said. "But from the mountain vantage point I could see a 40-mile wide forested belt for the entire mile length of the parkway."

He said he enjoyed the trip, but "I wouldn't do it again without a support car following me and carrying my gear."

But you can count on another Johnson adventure as soon as the inspiration comes.

"I like to go down a road I've never gone down before," he said. "I like to live."

And thankfully he likes to share his zest for life. He has chronicled his "adventures with grandchildren" in 12 volumes. For purchase information, contact him at allen45406@aol.com.

Dale Huffman wants your suggestions and story ideas. He'd like to share a story about you, your family, or a friend. This column is for you. Send e-mail to dhuffman@DaytonDailyNews.com or write to Dale at 1611 S. Main St. Dayton, OH 45409. Fax: (937) 225-2489. Phone: (937) 225-2272.