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Southwest U.S. Coast to Coast

Departed San Diego on February 26, 2012.
Arrived in Corpus Christi on April 17, 2012.

2744 miles (4390 km)
52 days
52.8 miles (84.5 km) per day
5 rest days

It was my 31st bike tour but only my 2nd coast-to-coast bike tour.
The first was in 1989 from Seattle to Bar Harbor.

Only 4 states:
   California      334 miles (534 km)
   Arizona           719 miles (1150 km)
   New Mexico  560 miles (896 km)
   Texas              1167 miles (1867 km)

Every state had its own time zone:
   Pacific Standard Time in California.
   Mountain Standard Time in Arizona.
   Mountain Daylight Time in New Mexico.
   Central Daylight Time in Texas.

101 miles (162 km) of unpaved roads.

96,896 feet (29,541 m) of climbing.

Hiked 18 miles (29 km), less than most previous tours.

51 nights on the road:
   24 nights camping
   24 nights in motels
   1 night in a bunkhouse
   1 night in a hostel
   1 night in a trailer

Highlight: Sonoran desert at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

Lowlight: Hot bunkhouse at Yorktown, Texas.

Best surprise: Goliad, Texas.

I visited 4 National Parks, 3 for the first time on a bike:

   Saguaro
   Carlsbad Caverns
   Guadalupe Mountains
   Big Bend

Also 2 outstanding National Monuments:

   Organ Pipe Cactus
   White Sands (upgraded to National Park status a few years later)

I only visited 3 hot springs:

   Five Palms
   Holtville
   Faywood

The only major mechanical problem was my failing rims. The front brake pulsed somewhat at the beginning of the tour. By the time I got to Big Bend National Park both brakes pulsed so badly that it was nearly impossible to stop without skidding. With both rims, the bulging area locked up the brake when my speed got below about 3 mph. I tried to avoid aggressive high speed braking because of the high probability of a skid. Braking causes the weak spot to wear very quickly because braking friction is concentrated at the bulging weak spot. The bulges got noticeably worse every time I pumped up the tires.

I had 4 flat tires during the tour, all on the front tire. That's very strange. Two of the flats were from wires and one was from a huge thorn. I couldn't find the cause of the other puncture. I'm surprised I didn't get flats from glass, because I saw glass on the road very often. Goatheads and various small thorns were NOT a major issue during this tour. Perhaps goatheads are more of a summer and fall problem.

I did not enjoy camping for much of this tour. Nights were uncomfortably cold at the high elevations in New Mexico during a long spell of cold weather. A few days were very hot in west Texas. Then days and nights were extremely humid in the rest of Texas. I stayed in motels 24 nights, about half the time. I really don't want to camp when the nights are warm and humid, or when the temperature gets below 40F. Maybe I will get a warmer sleeping bag.

I mailed my camping gear home in Del Rio, Texas. So the last 8 days of the tour were a prototype of a possible future motel touring setup, with underseat panniers only. That worked well except for the night that no motel rooms were available in Yorktown, Texas because of an ongoing oil boom.

I had a tailwind most of the time in California, Arizona, and New Mexico. I had a headwind most of the time in Texas.

Verizon wireless service was very reliable in California and Arizona. In New Mexico there were two nights with no Verizon service. In Texas I had several nights with no Verizon service. Most of those places had AT&T service. Verizon Wireless has better rural coverage than AT&T in most of the U.S., but not in Texas.

Solar battery charging was 100% reliable because it was sunny most the time. I never once had to charge a battery with AC power until I mailed the solar panel home with the camping gear 8 days before the tour ended.

What would I do differently? Perhaps it would be more interesting to go south from Yuma into Mexico to ride along the northern coast of the Sea of Cortez to Puerto Penasco, then north to Sonoyta and back into Arizona at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. The distance would be about the same and then the tour would be coast-to-coast-to-coast, with 3 or 4 days of busy highways in Mexico.