TO RAISE AWARENESS of teen suicides, David Alexander of Durand, Mich., made a stop in Fairfield as part of a trip that has already covered more than 6,800 miles. A grieving father pedaled through Freestone county last week on a year long bicycle trek to heal the loss of a teenage daughter to suicide and raise awareness of teen suicides.

“I ride so another family does not go through the pain and agony I went through,” David Alexander, 49, of Durand, Mich., says.

Along the way, he takes time to visit with individuals and groups about teen suicide, and specifically about parents spending time with their children as the best means of prevention.

“This is my guilt. Give time to your kids,” he declares.

Alexander’s 17-year-old daughter, Angela, committed suicide Dec. 19, 2008. He lost his wife, Connie, to cancer in 2007 and believes that Angela never got over the loss of her mother.

He took a year off from working as a remodeler and landscaper to start the bicycle ride on May 7, 2009, and expects to finish in a couple months at Los Angeles, Calif.

The trip has covered 6,812 miles to date, down the western and eastern coasts of the United States and through the southern states.

At the end of his ride, 11- year-old daughter Ivy will be waiting to start a new life in Oregon—-the two do not want to return to the Michigan home in which they lived with Connie and Angela. The memories are too strong.

Ivy is living with relatives in Massachusetts, has joined her father at different points in the ride and will make part of the final passage with him.

“It was Ivy’s idea for this trip,” Alexander says.

He explains that after the death of his wife and oldest daughter, his youngest daughter became uncommunicative and had to be hospitalized. When she was released, the two released a balloon with words about Angela attached.

“It was her way of letting go,” the 49-year-old says.

Next, the father and daughter took a 250-mile bicycle ride, and along the way visited with some people about Angela’s death. That was the impetus for the year long ride.

“The things she said about her sister encouraged me,” Alexander says.

He started the ride in northern Washington and worked his way down the Pacific coast and into Arizona and Nevada, got a ride to the east coast to work his way down to Florida, then started heading west through the southern states.

Originally, plans were for Ivy to also make the ride, but they decided it would be too dangerous for the 11-year-old. Alexander has had three crashes, one with an 18-wheeler that sent him to a hospital for treatment of cuts and bruises.

The father also is on his seventh bicycle, which have been replaced by donors along the way when they broke.

And, in Philadelphia, Penn. his bicycle and a pull-behind cart were stolen.

Throughout the trek, Alexander has maintained journals in which he asks people to write—-they express their support, offer words of encouragement and tell them how he has affected their lives.

He is now on his fourth journal.

“These are what keep me going, what people say,” Alexander says.

A girl in South Carolina wrote: “Meeting you was a blessing. You made me change my whole aspect on life. I felt like you saved my life because I was heading down the path as your daughter.”

In Connecticut, a police officer penned: “This is a tremendous cause and you are an inspiration to many.”

The most inspiring notation was from a young woman Alexander met in Nevada who was considering suicide.

“She called me an angel because she said she was going to do what my daughter did,” the 49-yearold recalls.

Alexander put her in touch with a suicide hotline, and two weeks later he got a telephone call from her with the report that she was doing better.

“That was the most amazing thing that has happened on this trip,” he says.

In his travels, Alexander passes out brochures that tell a little about Angela and that list warning signs of suicide and risks.

The brochures citing Centers for Disease Control statistics showing 33,000 people in the country commit suicide every year, that 15 percent of high school students have serious thoughts of suicide and about 150,000 people are treated each year for selfinflicted injuries.

The grieving father reports that he started the trip with $2,500, taken from his savings and checking accounts, but ran through those funds long ago. He may work an odd job along the way to make expenses, but many people have helped out with donations.

“I never ask anybody for anything. I just ask them to listen to me,” Alexander says. “I don’t want somebody else’s child to die.”

When the trip is over and he and Ivy settle into a new home, the father plans to compile the journal entries into a book as an inspiration to others.

“Am I making a difference? Yes,” he declares.

Alexander may be reached along his route at bikerideforlife@yahoo.co m