Southern Tier
via bicycle from San Diego to St. Augustine, Florida
with WomanTours
March 6 - May 2, 2008
432 miles with 6,072 feet of elevation gain and 6,182 feet of elevation loss
Introduction
This will be the longest bicycle trip I've ever taken, and only the second time I have done a web page as I traveled.
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There will be links you can click on for additional information, and I will separate the trip into sections so it will load faster on dial-up modems. I will also only include small thumbnails of my pictures on the main page so it will load faster and you can see a larger picture if you wish by clicking on the thumbnail (see directions below).
pictures
1) click on a thumbnail picture to view a larger image
2) right click on the larger image if you want to save the picture
3) click on your Internet Browser's Back arrow to return to this page
4) click on the following symbol, if it appears, to expand the image, which has been reduced to fit your screen, to its regular size
or if the cursor displays a + sign just click the mouse to expand the picture
me on my Lightning R-84 -- a super light dual-suspension carbon fiber bicycle with a 3-pound frame made of aerospace grade carbon fiber, titanium, and oversized aluminum
I rode 363.4 miles
March 7 - March 14
San Diego to Phoenix, AZ
I rode 416.67 miles
March 15 - March 23
Phoenix to El Paso, TX
I rode 362.7 miles
March 24 - March 30
El Paso to Del Rio, TX
I rode 405.2 miles
March 31 - April 8
Del Rio to Navasota, TX
I rode 368.2 miles
April 9 - April 16
Navasota to St. Francisville, LA
I rode 345.5 miles
April 17 - April 23
St. Francisville to Crestview, Fl
April 24 - May 1
Crestview to St. Augustine, FL
wind up & shuttle to Jacksonville
May 2
Since a Coast to Coast ride is a major undertaking, I have decided to make it a faith ride and am asking for pledges and donations for a very worthwhile charity--Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian housing organization. Habitat for Humanity works in partnership with people in need to build and renovate decent, affordable housing. The houses are then sold to those in need at no profit and with no interest charged. You can learn more about Habitat at http://www.habitat.org/how/default.aspx
Volunteers provide most of the labor, and individual and corporate donors provide money and materials to build Habitat houses. Partner families themselves invest hundreds of hours of labor - "sweat equity" - into building their homes and the homes of others. Their mortgage payments go into a revolving "Fund for Humanity" that is used to build more houses. Habitat houses are affordable for low-income families because there is no profit included in the sale price--mortgage length varies from 7 to 30 years.
Habitat has built more than 225,000 houses around the world, providing more than 1 million people in more than 3,000 communities with safe, decent, affordable shelter. Throughout the world, the cost of houses varies from as little as $800 in some developing countries to an average of nearly $60,000 in the United States.
Habitat is a worldwide, grassroots movement and has a presence in more than 90 countries, including all 50 states of the United States, the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico. All Habitat affiliates are asked to “tithe”--to give 10 percent of their contributions to fund house-building work in other nations. Tithing provides much-needed funds for international building, and it also gives affiliates the opportunity to demonstrate the spirit of Christian partnership. The Wabash Valley affiliate tithes to Indonesia.
volunteers working on a roof
ISU students working on a foundation
proud owners of the 52nd Habitat home in the Wabash Valley
cyclists working on the annual BikeHome in Minnesota
Building Houses ~ Building Hope
Please Ride with Me (in my thoughts) and Be a Faith Partner
as I Ride Coast-to-Coast on My Bicycle
by Supporting Habitat for Humanity
When
you make a donation or a pledge to my ride, you will be helping Wabash
Valley Habitat for Humanity build decent, affordable housing for
the needy or if you want the Bike.Home Habitat project in
Minnesota (see day 30
for more info). On March 7 I will start my ride in San
Diego, CA, with approximately 30 other women with WomanTours and
should arrive in St. Augustine, FL, on May 1 after riding up to 3,098
miles (or an average of 64.5 miles per day). I’m asking that you pledge
to pay a set amount for each mile I ride; for example, if I ride all the
miles (which believe me won't happen 
) and you pledge 1 penny for each
mile, the total amount paid by you to Habitat would be $30.98. Or if you
prefer you can just make an up-front donation of any amount you wish. Thirty-one dollars would
be about the amount you would spend for a dinner out…or you can spend it for a lifetime of
housing for Habitat for Humanity.
Please click on pledge-card.pdf so you can print out a copy of this info and can fill out a card like the one shown below stating the amount you want to pledge or the amount you want to donate then mail it to the address given
or if you wish send me an email to the address given below!
mail the card to:
Coast to Coast Ride
Wabash Valley Habitat for Humanity
2313 Tippecanoe Street
Terre Haute, IN 47807
or click on the link below to send an email to
barbj1939-habitatride@yahoo.com
giving me your pledge and/or words of encouragement
then keep checking this website for updates on my ride
I rode 363.4 miles
March 7 - March 14
San Diego to Phoenix, AZ
I rode 416.67 miles
March 15 - March 23
Phoenix to El Paso, TX
I rode 362.7 miles
March 24 - March 30
El Paso to Del Rio, TX
I rode 405.2 miles
March 31 - April 8
Del Rio to Navasota, TX
I rode 368.2 miles
April 9 - April 16
Navasota to St. Francisville, LA
I rode 345.5 miles
April 17 - April 23
St. Francisville to Crestview, Fl
April 24 - May 1
Crestview to St. Augustine, FL
wind up & shuttle to Jacksonville
May 2
The Southern Tier was designed with women over 50 in mind, but women of any age are welcome. We will dip our tires into the Pacific Ocean on March 7 down the road from our hotel catching the sunrise over the city. Our route takes us on a bike path as we leave the city of San Diego. We then begin the experience and adventure of a lifetime over back roads of the southernmost part of the United States that will take 58 days.
We will bike for 48 of the 58 days, and a daily itinerary with the tentative miles we will ride and the city we stay in each night is shown below. Notice that we have eight rest days during the ride in Blythe, CA; Silver City, NM; Ft. Davis, TX; Kerrville, TX; Navasota, TX; St. Francisville, LA; Dauphin Island, AL; and Crawfordville, FL and will spend a day at the end shuttling to Jacksonville.
the specific stopover towns and mileages are, however, subject to change
Date
Location
Miles
Section 1
March 6
San Diego, CA
0
March 7
Alpine, CA
33
March 8
Jacumba, CA
46
March 9
Brawley, CA
68
March 10
Blythe, CA
89
March 11
Blythe, CA - rest day
0
March 12
Salome, AZ
64
March 13
Wickenburg, AZ
57
March 14
Phoenix, AZ
67
Section 2
March 15
Apache Jct, AZ
53
March 16
Globe, AZ
55
March 17
Safford, AZ
83
March 18
Lordsburg, NM
75
March 19
Silver City, NM
47
March 20
Silver City, NM - rest day
0
March 21
Kingston, NM
48
March 22
Las Cruces, NM
88
March 23
El Paso, TX
67
Section 3
March 24
Fort Hancock, TX
47
March 25
Van Horn, TX
74
March 26
Ft. Davis, TX
90
March 27
Ft. Davis, TX - rest day
0
March 28
Marathon, TX
60
March 29
Sanderson, TX
54
March 30
Armistad, TX
111
Section 4
March 31
Brackettville, TX
42
April 1
Camp Wood, TX
49
April 2
Vanderpool, TX
39
April 3
Kerrville, TX
51
April 4
Kerrville, TX - rest day
0
April 5
Blanco, TX
64
April 6
Bastrop, TX
95
April 7
La Grange, TX
41
April 8
Navasota, TX
69
April 9
Navasota, TX - rest day
0
Section 5
April 10
Cleveland, TX
73
April 11
Kountze, TX
56
April 12
DeRidder, LA
92
April 13
Opelousas, LA
90
April 14
Simmesport, LA
68
April 15
St. Francisville, LA
53
April 16
St. Francisville, LA - rest day
0
Section 6
April 17
Franklinton, LA (changed to Bogalusa, LA)
127
April 18
Wiggins, MS (stone county)
61
April 19
Pascagoula, MS
67
April 20
Dauphin Island, AL
42
April 21
Dauphin Island, AL - rest day
0
April 22
Pensacola, FL
68
April 23
Crestview, FL
56
Section 7
April 24
Marrianna, FL
90
April 25
Quincy, FL
51
April 26
Wakulla Springs, FL
48
April 27
Wakulla Springs, FL - rest day
0
April 28
Perry, FL
52
April 29
High Springs, FL
76
April 30
Palatka, FL