By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Matt DiNote’s trip is winding down. He figures he has about 1,468 miles left to go.
“It could be a little bit more or a little bit less than that,” he said in a relaxed tone that didn’t convey any worries on his part.
He is traveling from St. Augustine, Fla., to Sea Isle City to complete the last leg of a nearly 5,000-mile, coast-to-coast trip that began in San Diego, Calif.
Not by car. Not by plane. Not by train. By bike.
He arrived in St. Augustine on Nov. 25 and after a short break for Thanksgiving plans to hit the road again on Tuesday for the final push on his journey to Sea Isle to raise money for Eden Autism Services, a nonprofit organization based in Princeton, N.J., that provides education and therapy for children and adults who have autism.
His inspiration for the trip is his brother, Michael, 25, who has autism and Down’s syndrome.
“I’m just taking it one day at a time and one mile at a time. I’m thinking about why I’m doing it. I’m doing it for my brother,” he said in a phone interview Sunday from Florida.
It is not yet clear when he will arrive in Sea Isle, although he figures it will take him about three more weeks. He pointed to the vagaries of the weather as a factor in his travel time.
“I’m going to shoot for Christmas, because I like to spend the holidays at home,” he said.
Matt initially set a fundraising goal of $10,000 – $2 per mile – but attained that amount even before he pedaled his first mile. Now, he has upped his fundraising goal to $15,000. He has raised $14,000 so far.
His cross-country trip came about after his original plans to join the Peace Corps this year were interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.
He left from San Diego on Aug. 31, ceremoniously dipping his back tire in the Pacific Ocean to begin an arduous journey filled with emotional and physical challenges each day he pedaled – literally – across country.
“I think mentally it’s been a lot tougher than the physical part. I have the mentality that if I do one mile or 100 miles, I’m closer to achieving my goal,” he said, noting that his legs have gotten stronger as he has worked himself into better shape along the way.
Inspired by a younger brother who has autism, Matt DiNote is making the bike trip to raise money for the nonprofit organization Eden Autism Services.
His trip immediately proved to be a daunting task. On the very first day, he and his girlfriend, Aslyn Mayhew, ran over a patch of thorns and suffered three flat tires. Other problems with his bike followed, forcing him to head back to San Diego for repairs. Aslyn was with him for the first day, but Matt pressed on solo for the rest of the journey.
“At first, I was doing it for myself. To challenge myself and to continue to stretch my comfort zone. But I’ve realized I wouldn’t be doing this if it weren’t for a lot of the people I’ve met in my life, one in particular. I’m lucky enough to call Mikey my brother, and if it weren’t for him, I’m not sure where I’d be in this life,” Matt wrote in his blog chronicling the trip.
From California, he followed the southern route across country to avoid mountains and highways.
His trip will finally come to an end when he plans to symbolically dip his front tire in the Atlantic Ocean at the 65th Street beach in Sea Isle.
Matt, who celebrated his 29th birthday on Sept. 22 when he was out on the road, has strong ties to Sea Isle. Although his family’s primary residence is in Voorhees, Camden County, they have had a summer home at 65th Street in Sea Isle since the early 1980s. They also have owned a vacation home in Ocean City since 1976.
The DiNote family includes Matt and Michael, their father and mother, Lenny and Patti, and two other brothers, Chris and Nick.
Lenny DiNote said his sons each became interested in humanitarian causes and philanthropy after spending one college semester at sea visiting 15 different countries and learning their culture.
Matt, a musician, is known for his free-spirited personality, or, as his father says, “The wanderer, the adventurer, that kind of guy.”
“I’m proud of all my sons, what they do and what they’ve accomplished. But with something like this, I don’t know of anybody else who’s done it,” Lenny DiNote said of Matt’s journey.
Over the years, Lenny DiNote and his sons have worked at Kix-McNutley’s, the Sea Isle bar and nightclub owned by Mayor Leonard Desiderio. Lenny DiNote continues to work as a summer bartender at Kix.
It was at Kix that Desiderio gave Matt the nickname “Matt the Hat” because of the old plaid fedora that he always wore at that time. Now, he uses the moniker “Matt the Travelin’ Hat” for his bike trip blog.
As he contemplates the last few weeks of his journey, Matt said he will always remember the kindness and generosity of so many people across the country who fed him and allowed him to sleep in their homes.
“Even though I’m the one doing the miles, a lot of people helped me to achieve what I’m going for,” he said.
To donate to Matt DiNote’s fundraiser benefiting Eden Autism Services (
edenautism.org
), visit
https://www.gofundme.com/f/matt-the-travelin-hat-bike-tour-for-eden-autism. Updates on his journey are found at his blog,
whereismattthehat.com.
Matt DiNote dips his bike's back tire in the Pacific Ocean in a symbolic gesture to begin his cross-country journey.
