By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

                A touring cyclist and his close friend, Ami, an affectionate dog, passed through Bronson Saturday on their way to Key Largo where he will assist with building an addition to a no-kill shelter.

            U.S. Army veteran Joseph Sorrentino pulled a cart behind his bike carrying Ami. A sign was attached to the back of the cart identifying his cause as Pedals & Paws, a group that raises awareness of the need for no-kill shelters.

            Ami, his 14-year-old mixed-breed dog, posed for photographs and licked the hands of admirers at Weeks Marathon as they leaned over to pet a dog too loveable to resist.

            Sorrentino received several donations while he stood on the sidewalk giving an unplanned interview. People saw the sign and identified immediately with his cause of saving the lives of animals through the operation of no-kill shelters.

            His trip started at his home in Belen, New Mexico, not far from Albuquerque in the high desert. People associated with no-kill shelters in Albuquerque — which is most of the shelters — pledged money for the 1,800-mile bike trip in support of building an addition to the no-kill shelter in Key Largo.

            Sorrentino and Ami average about 40 to 60 miles per day. Ami rides as a passenger in the blanket-covered cart behind the bicycle. She sees an unobstructed view of America.

            “She’s too old. She doesn’t walk anymore. When she was younger, she would get 15 to 20 miles per day. Now in the morning time, I’ll let her walk a quarter to a half-mile and throughout the day she will take various little walks,” Sorrentino said.

            Sorrentino estimates 24 people ride for the Pedals & Paws at any given time. He says there are about 1,000 members on the organization’s Facebook page and about 18,000 members nationwide.

            “A lot of them are cyclists like us and they support the movement,” he said.

            He said animals can’t control what happens to them. That’s why no-kill shelters are so important.

            “Animals – what happens to them is a result of what people do, especially our pets. We go, they go — the situation we’re in, they’re in. You got to make sure they eat first,” he said. “I don’t like to see dogs chained up. They have a terrible life especially if they are that one dog chained in the back yard with a dog house. All he wants to do is play. They go insane. I’d rather see fences, but it’s better than being killed.”

            Sorrentino said he likes bicycle touring and he likes dogs. He has ridden for various organizations.

            “I rode for Wounded Warriors at one point. Partners for Patriots is what got me working with dogs seriously. They unite service animals with returning veterans with PTSD and then I got involved with local animal shelters in the process of helping vets get dogs. Just about every shelter in Albuquerque is a no-kill shelter and there are 14 of them.”

            Sorrentino gets quite a bit of help from volunteer fire departments that give him shelter on his long-distance trips for Pedals & Paws. He said some cyclists let him stay overnight in their backyard, but if nothing else is available, he has excellent camping equipment to stay in parks or in the woods.

            He said he served in the U.S. Army from 1986-94. He received airborne and ranger training and was a soldier in Operation Desert Storm, the invasion of Iraq to free Kuwait from the grips of former dictator Saddam Hussein. He said there was nothing easy about Desert Storm, but on a scale of 1 to 10, he would rank Desert Storm as a two or a three compared to the more recent invasions of Iraq in the past 20 years which were much more difficult.

            “It was something that happened (Desert Storm) but it’s nothing like what they went through in the last 20 years,” he said.

            Sorrentino said he rides about four to six months every year for Pedals & Paws.

            “People are incredibly generous,” he said. “People are amazing.”

            He will ride his bicycle back in New Mexico. He works for Elastomeric Roof Coatings, a commercial roofing company when he isn’t riding for Pedals & Paws.

            Sorrentino said he is a little behind schedule from where he is supposed to be on this trip, but for the actual event in Key Largo, he is ahead of schedule.

            “I was supposed to be at a friend’s house in southern Florida near Naples by Christmas, but I’m probably not going to make it. I had to do some work on my bicycle. I need access to a bike shop and the majority of the bike shops are in cities and I try to avoid cities. No way I’m going into Gainesville,” he said.

            “No offense to Gainesville,” he added.

            His plan is to head south to Dunnellon and take a detour into Crystal River to get work done on his bicycle at a bike shop there and head south to Key Largo with his beloved friend Ami.

            “On this trip, we’re helping raise money to build an addition to the no-kill shelter, but in general I encourage anyone to go out and buy a 50-pound bag of dog food or cat food and give it to an animal shelter. A 50-pound bag of dog food can keep a dog like Ami alive for a month in a shelter,” he said.

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Enterprise Reporting by Terry Witt December 14, 2021; Posted December 14, 2021