Dan Cornell, left, and Joe Muscato, right, during their bike trip through the Florida Keys. Dan Cornell is finishing the ride his father, Pete Cornell, began but didn't finish because of a fatal crash.
Rob O’Neal/Florida Keys News Bureau
Dan Cornell, 41, of South Lyon, Mich., began his trek to Key West on Dec. 7 in Dawson, Ga., where his father Pete was struck and killed by a tractor-trailer in July. Two other bicyclists who were riding with Pete Cornell from Alaska to Key West were injured in that crash.
One of the injured bicyclists, Joe Muscato of Grass Lake, Mich., has recovered and finished the trip with Dan Cornell. The other, Tom Clark of Munith, Mich., is out of the hospital but is still recovering.
Rob O’Neal/Florida Keys News Bureau
After pedaling about 725 miles, Dan Cornell rode into Key West on Friday afternoon. He was carrying his father's ashes in an urn.
"I do have my dad with me," said Dan Cornell, showing a tiny ceramic blue urn inscribed with "Dad" and the dates of his father's birth and death. "My dad was a list-completer," he said. "It feels good to complete what he started."
Muscato and Dan Cornell were greeted by friends and family who came to the Florida Keys to celebrate Pete Cornell's life.
Pete Cornell, who once played football and wrestled for the University of Michigan, and his friends began their cross-country trek in the summer of 2011, biking from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, to Calgary, Alberta, in Canada. On June 29, they picked up the route again, but it ended tragically July 26 for the 64-year-old real estate agent who had retired to Port Charlotte.