“I‘m Grant Wishard, a journalist at The Weekly Standard, and I plan to bike the entire U.S. Mexico border, from Tijuana, Mexico to Brownsville, Texas, starting January 17th.” Yes, you read that right. Currently I’m in JFK airport waiting for a connecting flight to San Diego International. The flight out of Washington was a puddle jump, but I was loath to deplane, knowing 500 mph at 10,000 feet is the last traveling comfort and convenience I’ll enjoy for several weeks.
The plan, put simply, is to pedal from one end of the border to the other. My friend and editor, Ethan Epstein, came up with the idea. After completing my first bike trip along the east coast of Florida around this time last year, I was looking for a way to combine biking and writing, two of the things I love most. I don’t know where Ethan pulled the idea from, because, as far as I can tell, no one has attempted this route on a bike. If I’m wrong, then they’ve displayed a humanly impossible level of humility and haven’t bragged about it online.
Despite Ethan’s encouragement, my first proposal to the bosses was, admittedly, underwhelming. The route covered just half of the border, El Paso to Brownsville, some 800 miles. What a wuss I was! Saddle up, Grant! It was Robert Messenger who said, “Well you’d have to do the whole thing to make it worthwhile. San Diego is an amazing place.” I’m glad he did. In a few hours I’ll see the West Coast for the first time.
This trip is absolutely about politics. The U.S.-Mexico border is a political boundary, and unlike the U.S.-Canada border, is interesting, controversial, dangerous, and varied. It goes far beyond questions concerning immigration, however. There are also issues surrounding drugs, trade, foreign policy, criminal justice, welfare, and unemployment.The goal of this trip is to answer, really, what does the U.S.-Mexico border look like? Who lives there? What do those people have to say?
Check back to see what I learn, and thanks for reading.
