Scott Glazier slowed his bicycle at the top of Indiana Street in Marseilles and looked down the slope toward his family's home just a block ahead.

A rush of emotions swept over him as he remembered the last 73 days and pictures of those he met on his 2,653-mile journey danced in his head.

And he knew he was not alone on the last leg of his journey.

He set off in a coast, with his brother, Lee, beside him. Just a few seconds later, it was over, as the brothers were met with hugs at their parents' home.

"It was a sad but exciting day," Glazier said.

For the past three months, Glazier, of Los Angeles, has been cycling from California to Marseilles with his easel and sketch pad to raise awareness of pancreatic cancer.

Along the way, Glazier met with 50 people battling the cancer and sketched their portraits, which will be auctioned at an exhibition for Cruising for Cancer, which Glazier recently founded. The funds will go to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, which paired Glazier with the cancer patients for the trip.

In September 2007, Glazier's mother, Bonnie, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He intended for Bonnie to be his last portrait at the end of his trip. Unfortunately, Bonnie died May 4, after Glazier began planning his trip and prior to his Aug. 13 departure.

His mother's death didn't discourage the Los Angeles artist from pursuing his cause.

"I felt even more empowered," Glazier told The Times from his parents' home Saturday. "I felt it was necessary."

Glazier, who is not a cyclist, wanted to do the ride for another reason, too. Choosing a route that would be especially hard, Glazier wanted to emulate how it might feel to be diagnosed with and battle pancreatic cancer.

"If I was a poet I might have a better verbal description of what it was like. The most I can say is it was eternal bliss and hell on earth."

Cycling through Death Valley in August, or up 12,000-foot mountains with snow falling, the trek was incredibly dangerous and exhausting, with Glazier at times wondering if he would make it to the end alive.

"At times it was really hard, then I remembered why I was doing it. I can only imagine facing the end of your life with cancer."

"There were times when it would be more than 100 degrees in the desert and Id be downing salt packets from McDonald's to keep up my electrolytes ... I'd run into people who wouldn't even drive through places I went."

At times, Glazier could feel his mother and other loved ones with him spiritually, pushing him ahead.

"I never questioned why I was doing it, I questioned whether I'd make it. Sometimes I'd just throw my bike into the ditch."

To pass the time, Glazier joked he would talk to a plastic lizard he super-glued to the front of his bike. He purchased the item at the Lizard Lips Cafe in Kansas.

"I would talk to it, just like in that movie 'Cast Away,' " Glazier said, referencing the many conversations Tom Hanks' character had with a volleyball he named "Wilson" while stranded on an island.

Asked if Glazier named his traveling companion, he laughed, saying, "I just called him Lizard."

Glazier's route took him through California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri and finally to Illinois, where he met up with his brother, Lee, a week before he arrived in Marseilles, so the brothers could finish the ride together.

During the trip, Glazier slept in a tent, or sometimes a hotel when necessary. He threw out his maps and let people he met along the way guide him. And the people he met will live in his memory forever.

"There were moments that were indescribable. There would be banners when I came into a town, and people would be waiting for me, and people would be waiting for my next blog."

Aside from some media stops in major cities along the way, Glazier purposely wove through smaller towns during the trip, and talking with the local residents in those towns resulted in a newfound appreciation for mankind for Glazier.

"I now have complete faith in the humanity of the nation," Glazier said.

Thumbing through his sketch pad on his father's kitchen table, Glazier points out a couple of portraits he is especially proud of. The portraits are from the shoulder up.

"It's in the soul and in the eyes. I like to capture in the drawings what they're feeling," Glazier said.

Meeting with people who were battling what his mother went through sent a shock of emotions through Glazier.

"It was emotionally hard and therapeutic for me."

While his mother was meant to be his last portrait as part of Crossing for Cancer, Glazier now plans to sketch his father's portrait live at the exhibition Nov. 14 at Northwestern University.

A benefit took place Saturday in Marseilles for Glazier, to help with living expenses as he has not worked in several months. Glazier also thanked Dick Blick Art Supplies, which generated thousands of dollars to help him with the trip, as well as local residents who helped with the cause.

After reaching Marseilles Friday, Glazier made his way to his mother's gravesite, where he planted a "Crossing for Cancer" flag he made.

Glazier's father, Charlie, said he's a proud father happy to have his son home.

"He's a strong-willed person. He said he'd do it, and I knew he'd do it," Charlie Glazier said.

Glazier kept in touch with his family via a cell phone and e-mail from his iPhone. Glazier also kept his blog up to date along the trip, oftentimes transcribing his entries to his public relations representative over the phone.

For more information on Crossing for Cancer go to www.scottglazier.com, or view his blog and photos at www.crossingforcancer.wordpress.com.