John Castellucci was seeking a special way to celebrate his 65th birthday. So he flew a solo, cross-country round trip, thousands of miles in a 300-horsepower, open-cockpit Starduster biplane built for aerobatics.

"It was exhilarating," said Castellucci, a Malibu resident who took only his sleeping bag and a certain amount of survival gear for the trip.

People think he's a little nuts, he said, "but they don't realize how peaceful it is. In all these little towns, there's beautiful clean air. And you see millions of stars when you get away from the big city lights of Los Angeles."

Castellucci began and ended his flight from the Camarillo Airport, with the coast-to-coast round trip taking about seven weeks. A highlight of his journey was the five days he spent at the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis, where he heard both Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Arizona Sen. John McCain speak.

"I got to see the entire country as it used to be: Once you get out of the metropolitan area, our country was wide open and gorgeous," said Castellucci, who had to contend with difficult weather conditions created by Hurricane Gustav and Hurricane Ike.

"At 15,000 feet, the Rockies are intimidating but beautiful. ... All the farmlands are so picturesque."

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Castellucci bought two acres in Malibu in 1976, where he has a home with his wife, Linda, and their 20-year-old son. They run a family-owned business, USA Exploration and Production.

"We're small oil producers, and we have a drilling company in Casper, Wyo.," he said.

‘I used to watch birds'

He first started flying in 1974 and bought his first open cockpit biplane before he had his license.

"I literally used a single plane to do my cross countries to get my certificate," Castellucci said. "I actually started in 1968, but I didn't have the money then to complete the flying lessons. In 1974 I had the money. ... Now I'm what they call a certified private pilot."

His love for flight began when he was a boy.

"I used to watch birds and I was mesmerized by the way they could fly," he recalled.

Prior to his most recent cross-country round trip, he had flown across the United States about seven times.

"I had a buddy that flew a similar plane, but he died several years ago," Castellucci said. "We would fly in formation together."

He took a 15-year hiatus from flying after he had to bail out of his plane because of engine failure in 1990.

"I was in the mountains above Hollister," said Castellucci, who crashed and climbed out of his plane with spinal compression. "The exciting part was figuring out how to survive knowing I couldn't walk. I wasn't paralyzed, but I couldn't stand up. It took two days of crawling to get out of there."

He relied on survival skills he learned from fellow pilots, including some who flew in World War II.

"There was a big mountain and cattle dung all over the place. ... I was dying of thirst," he recalled. "I saw fresh cattle dung and dry cattle dung. So I followed the fresh cattle dung up the mountain ... and found a fresh water spring."

‘It's like riding a bicycle'

He eventually found a farmhouse.

"It was the only farmhouse within 40 square miles, the San Benito Cattle Ranch."

After that episode, his wife made him give up flying. "She was afraid something would happen while our son was small, so I gave it up."

But it wasn't long before he wanted to fly again.

"It's like a drug; you keep craving it," he said.

Three years ago, he bought another plane from a friend in Ohio.

"I flew the thing home. My wife thought I was nuts because I hadn't flown in 15 years. I said, ‘Don't worry, it's like riding a bicycle.' "