VALPARAISO | While many motorists are breathing a sigh of relief over the dropping gasoline prices, Jay Weinberg sees it as further evidence of undue corporate influence in this country.

"Now we're at election time and mysteriously the price of gas begins to drop," said the 29-year-old, who captured international attention in May when he climbed to the top of a local Family Express gas station with a guitar and bull horn to decry rising fuel prices.

"Did they just discover a huge supply somewhere we don't know about?" he asked.

Weinberg is pedaling his way to Washington, D.C., to find out, or at least to raise the question along the way.

He returned to the Family Express store at the corner of Silhavy Road and Ind. 2 on Monday to set off on the more than 600-mile bicycle journey with his wife trailing in their Honda Civic. He said attempts to arrange for an electric car failed, though he was able to convince Trek to donate a bicycle for the trip.

Weinberg plans to arrive in Washington late next week and head right to what he sees as the seat of power to sing his protest songs, including "Price Gouge'n."

"I want to play on K Street where the lobbyist convene," he said.

He also hopes to generate some interest along the way and get others thinking about the direction this country is headed.

Weinberg is concerned that neither of the two main presidential candidates opposed the recent $700 billion economic bailout package. The self-described nonvoter is backing neither candidate.

"I'm not voting because the system's broken," he said.

Weinberg said he does not believe his trip runs afoul of the unsupervised probation he was given in July after pleading guilty to trespassing for the May 5 stunt at the Family Express.