Scott Glazier doesn't know the pain of his mother's terminal cancer, but he is planning a trip to get a clue and to help the cause.

In August, Glazier is traveling from his home in Los Angeles to his parents home in Marseilles on a bicycle armed with only an easel.

Glazier's mother, Bonnie, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in September. After undergoing chemotherapy and radiation, the unsuccessful treatments have ceased and Bonnie now rests in her Marseilles home. But Grazier's sarcastic mother is still on her toes and giving everyone a hard time, he said. Glazier visits when he's able.

While en route to Marseilles, Glazier plans to make several stops to sketch people battling with pancreatic cancer. The drawings then will be auctioned at a Chicago exhibit and the proceeds will go directly toward pancreatic cancer research.

Glazier estimated he'll need 60 days to make the trip to the Midwest. He planned the route to be especially hard to represent what pancreatic cancer patients go through, such as bicylcing through the desert in late August.

"I wanted the most difficult route I could find," Glazier told The Times from his parents' home this week. "It wouldn't even come close to what my mom is going through, being at the end and being alone."

Stops on Glazier's route include Los Angeles and Barstow, Calif.; Las Vegas, Cedar City, Utah, Montrose and Boulder, Colo.; Scott City and Chanute, Kan., then Champaign, Chicago and finally Marseilles.

Glazier, a New Lenox native, is working with the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network to find patients. he also posted on his Web site, www.scottglazier.com, that he is looking for patients to sketch.

"I'm not going to limit (the number of patients I sketch)," he said. "If I have to do a hundred, a thousand. There's no limit."

His concept for his "The Crossing for Cancer" project will be portrait drawing.

"I'll be drawing the patient from life, to stop time for that moment," Glazier said.

One sketch will go to the patient and another Glazier will keep to auction.

After his mother's diagnosis in September, Glazier thought about finding a way to help.

"The only thing I really do in my life is art," he said, among other jobs.

He's done artwork for other fundraisers in the past and decided on a project to benefit pancreatic cancer. However, he didn't have to travel 3,000 miles by bicycle for his subjects.

"I wanted to do something extremely difficult," Glazier said, noting he does not plan to train for the bicycling because cancer patients don't get to prepare for the pain they endure.

"I want to be alone and struggling, so I can somehow relate to what my mom is going through," he said.

Glazier, who served in the Air Force, hopes to find places to shower, but is expecting to sleep outside most of the time. Although this no- accomodations style of travel isn't new to Glazier, as he said he's made road trips with nothing but his easel before. His father, Charles, said he "painted his way" through Puerto Rico and other islands.

Growing up, Scott and his mother were close and continue to be today, said Charles.

"I drove a truck for 27 years," Charles said. "His mother was home all the time with him. She was a stay-at-home mom. She didn't work until he was raised."

Charles said he has "all the confidence in the world" his independent son will complete his expedition.

"It's going to be a long affair. I hope he's up to it. I beleive he is," Charles said. "He's a strong-willed person. I believe he will be able to make it."

Glazier knows his trip can't cure his mother, but he's hoping to raise money and awareness for the cancer listed as 'other' on the American Cancer Society Web site.

He doesn't plan to stop raising awareness after this exhibit. He plans to keep raising money until early detection for the disease is discovered, he said.

His grandmother also had pancreatic cancer and Glazier finds it absurd there's been no progress since then and now has to watch his mother suffer.

He said this trip is the least he could do for a mother who never missed one of his football games.