While his friends were lining up jobs and internships and applying to graduate schools last spring, Cameron Smith '00 was planning to go on a bike ride. Last September, he embarked from Massachusetts on a 10,000-mile solo bike ride around the perimeter of the United States to raise money for the Jimmy Fund of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Smith rides in memory of his sister Jessica, who died of cancer in 1989. The Jimmy Fund also matched him up with a pedal partner, a toddler who is undergoing treatment at Dana-Farber. Smith corresponds with the boy's parents, who send him photos and keep him apprised of the boy's condition.

"Since I'm by myself, it would be easy to complain about the wind and rain," he said. "I just think about how many cancer patients would love to be out here, doing what I'm doing."

Smith reached Northfield on Tuesday, May 22, and will spend over two weeks in Minneapolis and Northfield. With three-quarters of his travels behind him, he has exceeded his fundraising goal of $100,000 and is still receiving contributions. He'll rest up at Carleton and attend commencement before hitting the road for the last leg of his trip.

Through e-mail, digital photos and postcards, Smith has been corresponding with students from two Massachusetts elementary schools as he travels. Every couple of days, he sends a log of his journey: from the halfway point in California he wrote, "It is reassuring to have the ocean at my side again. I'm looking forward to taking my time more going up the West Coast...I also had to climb up to 4,000 feet in snow-topped mountains before finally enjoying some nice long downhills to the San Diego Bay. That first view of the Pacific was a thrill. I had been waiting to see it for a long time." Teachers at the elementary schools have integrated Smith's travel journals into lessons on geography, history and math, and they've taught about cancer in their science classes. The fourth graders with whom he corresponds formed support committees to handle fundraising and publicity. They've also helped with arranging lodging for Smith. A recent auction at Milton Academy, Smith's alma mater, was emceed by his mother and pushed them over the fundraising goal.

Smith has done a lot of sightseeing over the last eight months-he's been on terrain that he hadn't seen before, and he's trying to discover things that are distinctive about the towns that he passes through. He's visiting local historical societies, and letting residents show off their towns to him. In the outer banks of North Carolina, he stayed with a high school teacher who was the sister of a woman he'd stayed with earlier in the trip. He met with her classes, and followed her suggestions on places to stop. In Texas, which he pointed to as a highlight of the trip, he visited a museum dedicated to his great-grandfather and others who fought in World War II.

"That's the best part-seeing so many places and meeting people," he said.

A self-described introvert, Smith has relied on people he met along the way to let him camp in their yards, but he has arranged places to stay every 400 miles-often with relatives of his elementary student friends-where he can pick up mail and sleep indoors.

Smith's trip has not been struggle-free. He averages 60 miles per day on his bike, loaded with 40 pounds of gear, which has led to some general aches and pains. It can be lonely out on the road, and he got a cold in Tempe, Ariz., which lasted through California but didn't slow him down too much. "It's definitely been hard, but I've never thought seriously about quitting," he said. "When I think of all the things that could go wrong, I think I've been lucky."