Athena and I are now two-thirds of the way through our Pacific-Atlantic, cross-country bicycle tour. Today, we are in DeRidder, LA, which is 1962 miles from where we started and about 1,000 miles from our destination of St. Augustine, FL.
We set off from San Diego on a beautiful morning on March 3 only to battle rain, wind, and horrendous roads for three full days, until we entered Arizona late on our third day of riding. We had six punctures in the first three days due to a combination of gaping potholes and road debris. On our fifth day, thunderstorms and hail in southern Arizona caused us to take refuge in a Circle K gas station/market for the better part of an hour.
Throughout the first couple of weeks, after descending the Cuyamaca mountains east of San Diego, we mostly hugged the southern border–sometimes just yards from the border wall–through Arizona, New Mexico, and for the first couple of days in Texas. On our first rest day (day 8), I took our bike to a bike shop and discovered that the we’d not only punctured in California roads but had managed to sustain cracks in both of our wheels. Fortunately, we brought along an extra pair of wheels.
Highlights during the first two weeks were Ocean Beach/San Diego (our starting point), notable (or notorious) because of its bohemian character, large homeless population and open drug use; Gila Bend, AZ, notable for the kitchy, space-themed Space Age Lodge where we stayed (see photo); Tucson, notable for Mt. Lemon; Bisbee, AZ, a former mining town that has metamorphosed into a fun, artsy tourist spot; and Columbus, NM, notable because it’s the only place we stayed in New Mexico and it felt so verty remote.
We entered Texas on our 12th day and spent a total of 17 days crossing this large state, transitioning from desolate-looking desert and the big-sky, high desert of Western Texas to Texas Hill Country with mountains (Camp Wood, TX to Ingram, TX) that gradually turned in to gently rolling hills as we travelled eastward. By the time we reached Lumberton, TX near the state line with Louisiana, the terrain was flat and the climate humid.
Texas is a beautiful state, especially Hill Country and especially this time of year. The transition from desert/high desert to the Hill Country was truly beautiful and, for the most part, we experienced it on fairly quiet roads. We spotted Antelope, Elk, Javelina, and other wildlife as we traversed the desert areas and fields of wildflowers, especially blue bonnets (a species of lupine), but also orange, yellow, white, and lavender wildflowers, became increasingly abundant as we entered Hill Country and rode eastward. Heretofore unbeknownst to us, Texas has quite a few vineyards and Fredericksburg, where we spent our third rest day, is the center of Texas wine country. We rode past quite a few vineyards both west and east of Fredericksburg. Neither of us tried Texas wine…we’ll save that for later.
Rather than a self-contained bicycle tour we sprang for a fully supported tour where hotels and most meals are provided by the tour company (Cycle of Life Adventures in our case). It’s an efficient–and quick–way to ride a bike across the USA, although it doesn’t leave much time or energy for sightseeing. Moreover, when you ride 75+ miles day in and day out, the towns and hotels tend to run together and it’s easy for us to forget where we were a couple of days ago. Our average days consist of riding, eating, washing kits, and sleeping. Repeat. Whereas the first two weeks were quite tough, the second two weeks seemed much easier as we rode into better shape and got used to long days in the saddle. We’re riding with a group of 10 other riders, most of whom are retired and aged 60 or older. The oldest (and fastest) rider is 73. We have three riders from Tennessee; one each from Ohio, Connecticut, Florida, California, Virginia, Kansas, and Wales, UK; and one rider who changes weekly (riding for a charity org). Our group is supportive and the camaraderie is real.
And so we keep rolling….the rest of Louisiana, then Mississippi, Alabama, and finally, Florida await us.
Tom & Athena
