Tulsa man carries cross from Maine to Florida

What do you do after quitting your day job and leaving your fiancée? How about carrying a cross from Fort Kent, Maine, to Key West, Fla.?

Sure, it's a cheaper way to commute than $4-per-gallon gas, but thrifty travelin' is not the reason Tulsa's David Valderrama embarked on the symbolic trek. He did it to serve the Lord more diligently, according to the The Index-Journal newspaper.

"I didn't even know where I was going to be going when I put the cross on my shoulder," Valderrama told the paper in Greenwood, S.C.

Where's the Garmin when you need it?

With print coverage ranging from the Richmond County (N.C.) Daily Journal to The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.), the sandal-wearing Valderrama has been receiving more press than Lindsay Lohan on a bad-hair day. The 12-foot, 85-pound cross does have a rubber wheelbarrow wheel at the bottom, a technological advance that was not referenced the last time Chicken-Fried News checked the New Testament.

We know what you may be wondering: "Why is he doing this?" And by the looks of Valderrama's Web site, BraveGeneration.com, the 28-year-old Tulsa man has been asked the question more than once.

In the beginning, Valderrama led a group "witnessing" on the streets of Tulsa. He left his work and hometown in July 2007 to seek God when his pastor told him "I think you should carry a cross." End of story.

Valderrama's Web site is chock full of other details that get to the crux of the matter. For example, he managed to speak to a public high school during his pilgrimage. He also acknowledged some angry confrontations, with one person pushing him backward three to four feet.

"Some pull over right away, some drive past me, but later come back looking for me and still others, many days later, see me in the city where they live, stop me and talk to me then," Valderrama wrote.

After he visits Florida, Valderrama told The Index-Journal he plans to return to Saluda, S.C., to continue his ministry.

"I believe God's raising up an army here in Saluda," he said.

Then there's his seven-minute YouTube video, "One God, One Cross, One Man, One Journey" (that's "one" long title). Related video links reveal another dude, "Cross Carrier Chuck," claims to have carried the same ancient symbol for seven years.

On Valderrama's Web site, he said he's converted atheists and Wiccans. If he can successful pray to lower gas prices, he may convert a lot more.

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