RUMFORD – A teenager is planning to raise funds to go back to college by riding his unicycle across New England.

Maxwell DeMilner, 19, of Peru plans to leave Rumford on May 6 and ride his oversized one-wheeler 750 miles. His journey will make a loop through New Hampshire’s White Mountains, Vermont’s Green Mountains, western Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and eastern Massachusetts before ending up in Rumford.

All the while, he’ll be towing a trailer.

The goal, DeMilner said, is to raise $2,000 for tuition and supplies for his return to college. He attended Chester College of New England in New Hampshire for the 2004-2005 school year but didn’t return this school year because he didn’t have enough money. He plans to attend the University of Maine at Farmington starting in spring 2007, and he hopes to collect contributions from individuals and businesses during his trip.

“A unicycle gets a lot of attention, it’s something I know how to do, and it’s not very common, and it’s a lot of fun,” DeMilner said.

Maxwell plans to pedal 50 miles a day and complete the journey in about three weeks. He averages about 11 mph, but said he can get up to 15 mph.

He’ll tow a small trailer behind him containing changes of clothes, food, a small tent and a sleeping bag. He is prepared to camp along the way.

His longest trips so far have been a 35-mile round-trip trek from Rumford to Peru, where he lives with his mother. He once rode 15 miles in a Boston parade.

To get in training for the mountains, he plans to practice riding to Rangeley and back.

DeMilner is used to hearing from people who see him atop his unicycle, which has a 36-inch wheel. “But it makes people smile, and I think that’s just great,” he said.