To see a new part of the United States and to pass my long winter break, I came up with the grand idea of riding from Texas to California in a month. I loaded up an Xtracycle and took the Greyhound from Minnesota down to Pecos, Texas, assembled the bike and started riding. Everything had been planned in advance, and my route would take me through deserts and mountains, through abandoned towns and state parks.
The first day’s ride went well, although I had overpacked and was weighted down. I put in 80 miles on a small road in the middle of nowhere, seeing a car only every half hour or so. I camped that night just off the road in a cow pasture and went to sleep as soon as it got dark 6 PM. The next day I crossed into New Mexico cruising at 20 mph and followed a winding uphill path up to the Carlsbad Caverns to wander on foot in the darkness for a few hours. I headed out again and pedaled through the rest of the daylight to put in 90 miles. That night I found a warm meal, shower, and a bed at a Christian home for guys getting out of drug addiction and the next morning I turned my bike westward. I immediately hit a headwind and fought my way 20 miles into the middle of nowhere until the wind stopped me in my tracks and 65 mph gusts blew me off the road. I was forced to hitch a ride to White Sands National Monument, dodging tumbleweeds, and made camp in a sandstorm. My fourth day I summited a mountain in the wind and got a hotel room and a good meal in Las Cruces for Christmas. I fought my way down the interstate in the wind at 6 mph for the next couple days until I could take no more. I got a flat tire and snapped a couple spokes when I reached Deming, New Mexico, completely exhausted. Beautiful though it was, the desert is best seen from behind a windshield, not from a bike seat, and I had seen enough. 300 miles, a third of the way to California, I decided that I was done and headed home. If you decide to cross the US by bike for the first time, take my advice and go west-east with the wind.?
