Chef Paul Luna aboard the mode of transportation that will bring him back to Atlanta.

Our Facebook pal, former Atlanta chef Paul Luna sent us a cryptic instant message this week: “I’m on a mission!”

We didn’t know precisely what the eccentric chef meant until we read his blog Friday: This fall, Luna (who still has Atlanta eateries Loca Luna and Eclipse di Luna named for him here) will attempt a cross-country journey from San Jose, Calif to Atlanta — by bicycle.

Luna just quit a “cushy stint as a chef consultant” to begin a “quest for a miracle.” The bike trip is a spin-off from the philosophies that anchored “Luna Needs a Miracle,” a bilingual childrens’ book Luna published recently.

“I want to raise awareness about fearlessness and realizing that possibilities and miracles are everywhere,” Luna writes on his blog. He plans to ride across the country on a 10-year-old Bianchi 17-pound bike equipped with new tires and plenty of spare inner tubes.

His training regimen? He plans to train on the road and “drink wine and smoke cigars while I cycle,” he writes. “Just kidding. But I won’t rule it out. Truth is, I an not on a mission to break records. I just need to do this.”

Does all this sound a little kooky and off the wall?

Well, sure, but this is Paul Luna we’re talking about, a man who once banned salt shakers from his popular Peachtree Road restaurant and was dubbed “The Naked Chef” long before Jamie Oliver got sprung from the kitchen of his parents’ pub in England.

And unlike Oliver’s nickname, which is a reference to the use of fresh ingredients, Luna’s moniker originated from the phrase’s more literal, um, bare necessities…

Want to follow his progress: go to crosscountrychefblogspot.com.