GALVESTON — Mikail Davenport choked up as he pedaled down Eighth Street, each push bringing him closer to the front doors of the hospital where his most painful memories live.

For the past three weeks, Davenport, 58 of Austin, has pedaled across the state using a hand cycle. He survived the West Texas desert, bouts of severe pain brought on by his post-polio symptoms and bronchitis, but he had yet to face the pain he’s suppressed for more than half a century.

University of Texas Medical Branch’s John Sealy Hospital holds memories of the polio Davenport contracted at age 2 and of the dozen or more reconstructive surgeries he underwent before he was a teenager.

As Davenport rolled to a stop at the hospital’s front doors Tuesday, onlookers cheered and shook his hand.

“It’s beautiful,” he said.

Davenport, who is partially paralyzed, said his trip across the state is the most insane thing he’s ever done. He embarked on the trek from El Paso on March 4 to raise awareness about disabled Texans. As a member of the nonprofit Coalition for Texans with Disabilities, Davenport wants legislators to waive the state’s immunity to the Americans with Disabilities Act and to appropriate $1.8 million for additional Centers for Independent Living, nonprofit agencies operated by individuals with disabilities. This action could help more than 4.5 million Texans with disabilities, Davenport said.

“This is not just for people like me. I have a comfortable existence. This is for those with far less than me, who have almost nothing and have to subsist in a less than dignified life,” he said.

Davenport recovered from polio as a child, but developed post-polio syndrome at 40 years old.

“I was doing tai chi one morning and my legs just gave out,” he said. “I knew it was going to happen eventually.”

This trek across the state is his longest trip so far and it hasn’t been easy, he said. When he reaches Beaumont on Thursday, he will have traveled 750 miles (he lost five days of cycling when he became ill and had to be transported 200 miles). He averages 6.5 to 7.5 miles an hour, he covers 40 to 60 miles a day and he subsists on fruit and nut bars.

Because he makes 25,000 to 30,0000 arm rotations per day on the hand cycle, his biceps and triceps are almost always sore. When the pain from his post-polio symptoms became unbearable, he’d jump off the bike and scream.

Still, Davenport doesn’t regret a moment of the ride, he said. When he talks about those he met on the road, “the angels of above,” his eyes fill with tears. With awe, he talks about a Vietnam veteran with a wooden leg and an elderly couple, both legally blind, who are traveling across Texas to see what countryside they are still able to see. These were the folks he’s riding for, he said.

“This is a spiritual quest for me,” Davenport said.

“The important thing is not the messenger, but the message.”