Dr. Rick Churchill of Newry will discuss his three-month bike tour of the Blue Ridge Parkway at a presentation in Bethel on April 2. Also shown is Barbara Berger of Portland, one of three who accompanied him.

Bicycling botanist to discuss journey

BETHEL – Dr. Rick Churchill of Newry known as the “Bicycling Botanist,” will speak at the next meeting of Down Home Maine from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Thursday, April 2, at the Bethel Congregational Church, Church Street.

“Dr. Rick,” as he is known, has 35,000 miles registered on his bike on trips in the U.S. and abroad. He will present a slide program depicting his recent journey on the Blue Ridge Parkway. He made the trip along with friends, Bill and Nancy White, formerly of Bethel, and Barbara Berger of Portland.

During a three-month bike tour, they took the 400-mile bike trip with 40,000 feet of vertical known as a ride with many “ups.” Churchill said, “For a botanist, this was what made the ride so enjoyable as this allowed plenty of time to observe the flora.”

The slide presentation will show some of the plants he observed along the way, which range from the almost extinct American chestnut to the sassafras with mitten shaped leaves and shining black fruit.

Churchill will discuss “inside information stealth camping” and the encounters his group experienced along the way. They included facing two tropical storms, apple butter making, climbing the highest peak east of the Mississippi and the tricks of starting the evening fire with “wood wetter than a fish.”

Churchill challenges those planning to attend to brush up on their plant identification for a chance to win a “Rick stick.”

He is associate editor of People, Places and Plants, a gardening magazine based in New Gloucester, and the past English editor of the journal, Hunan Forestry Science and Technology based in Changsha, China. Since 1999 he has spent three months each year on his bike.

Down Home Maine is sponsored by Western Mountains Senior College to bring presentations by interesting and unique Maine people. Programs are open to the public and are free. Voluntary contributions are accepted to offset senior college expenses.

For more information or to recommend future speakers, contact Seabury Lyon at 836-2576 or Peter Gartner at 665-2181.