A week researching in Deming answered many questions and created others. I made several trips to the Deming Luna Mimbres Museum, the...

We had such a great time following Bedi's 983-mile bicycle route. You can read the posts here. Once in Deming, we stayed for a week to really experience it and do research. Bedi made it to Deming (apparently in one piece and unscathed) and filed a claim for 160 acres (the maximum amount allowed) under the 1862 Homestead Act. Lillian joined him over a year later. They were married, had two children, and together they "proved up" on their claim and were granted full ownership.

132 miles: Tornillo - Isleta - El Paso - Rio Grande - Strauss - Aden - Cambray - Deming Well I done it! I got on the bicycle at Eddy,...

213 miles: Marathon - Alpine - Marfa - Valentine - Sierra Blanca - Fort Hancock - Tornillo From Marathon, we followed US90 to Alpine on...

We parted ways with Mom and Dad after Davis Mountains State Park. Our last evening together, we reflected on the trip, so far. We all felt that this trip was leaving us with more questions than answers about Bedi's bicycle ride! What did Bedi bring? We have no record of what Bedi brought with him -- or even how he carried it. Bikes in 1909 didn't appear to have bike racks or ways to mount saddlebags. Maybe he improvised?? We collectively asked the question, "What did Bedi bri

We just finished a week detour off the railroad track. First stop, the Davis Mountains – a favorite destination of Bedi’s in his later years. He devotes two chapters to the Davis Mountains in Adventures. Toward the end of each August I have an attack of Davis Mountain Fever. Nothing will do it any good except a visit there for a week or two weeks, or just as long as I feel that I can afford to stay. Adventures with a Texas Naturalist, Chapter 10 The town of Fort Davis is the

134 miles: Seminole Canyon State Park (near Comstock) – Langtry – Dryden – Sanderson – Marathon Unfortunately, no rail depots from 1909 still exist along this stretch. The landscape became more and more desolate. In late April, it is already very hot by noon – though the clouds and breeze provide relief. Thinking back on Bedi’s short diary noting a 4:45am start from Eddy, I can imagine he began every travel day in the early morning twilight. Even walking a bike would be exhau

The Pecos High Bridge Today exceeded my expectations in so many ways! Along Bedi's route was the Pecos High Bridge -- the tallest railroad bridge in North America and third tallest in the world at 321 feet above the river. The story goes that while he was carrying his bike across the bridge a train approached. He managed to scramble to a ledge, bike and all, and sit perilously on a sill with his bike dangling a bit as the train passed. I can't even imagine!!! He felt a strang

144 miles: Uvalde-Spofford-Del Rio-Comstock As we make our way across west Texas, my goal is to stick as closely as possible to the railroad Bedi rode his bicycle along. From Uvalde, US 90 followed the railroad pretty closely until the tracks veered south toward Spofford -- population 44 -- so we did, too, on road 1572. Spofford was about 16 blocks of tired houses and mobile homes, no people or 1909 buildings. At Spofford, the railroad left town with no road along it, so we t

40 miles: Hondo-Sabinal-Uvalde After several rainy days in Bartlett, Bedi would come to San Antonio in 140 miles and then another 40 to Hondo -- where I caught my first view of the railroad tracks Bedi rode. I still cannot imagine how he made much daily progress on any type of gravel or dirt path on a 1909 one-speed bicycle! The railroad tracks have obviously been replaced since then -- and the dirt track is no longer there. We found the original location of the Hondo depot.

I think Bedi would be pleased to know that his granddaughter and great-granddaughter visited Aransas National Wildlife Refuge today. Established in 1937, the Refuge played a major role in bringing the Whooping Crane back from extinction. Bedi spent considerable time out here and lobbied for nature-focused management, rather than management with hunters in mind. On the 1938 bird list below, he adds a note to lobby for the road-runner. In Adventures with a Texas Naturalist, his

Why is Quintana so special? It is in the "path of totality" for bird migration from Central and South America to nesting grounds in North America. These little guys fly SO FAR! The birds that fly across the Gulf land here tired and hungry. The Quintana Neotropical Bird Sanctuary provides them with fresh water, insects and loads of dewberries ripe on the vine. When the prevailing north winds are strong and create a tough headwind for the migrating birds, there are events calle

We started our Bedi's Bike Ride trip (the one where we follow Bedi's route with our trucks and travel trailers) in Waco, Texas (about 20 miles from his starting point in Eddy) to view the April 8, 2024 eclipse. What an amazing celestial event! It was my second solar eclipse, but the better, by far. Coincidentally, Bedi was born one month before the eclipse of 1878 that crossed the US. That year, the US scientific community leveraged the eclipse to "prove" itself as more than

The third and fourth (final) pages of Bedi's journal resurfaced in my documents from last year's trip. Here are his reflections from his first couple of days. Things that stuck in my memory – Tender shoots of corn – a field of it – Pekin ducks waddling away frightened holding heads first on one side and then another – Green of trees – lights of town in distance --- odor from peach orchards – a lost bird-dog – [band?] practicing across the street from me now Wednesday Mar 24

Roy Bedichek started his 900-mile bike ride 115 years ago, yesterday. In that early morning after the Vernal Equinox, he looked across the open prairie at the clear pre-dawn sky and decided it was a good day for a bike ride. He set off at 4:45am. He notes in his brief (and unfinished) journal, "Sky cloudless except for bank in west & northwest. Sun[?] flared red awhile through a small rift in the bank and I discovered new, a very new moon. It occurred to me that it looked lik

In about a month (after viewing the eclipse!), my family will launch on a trip -- following as closely as possible the same route that my great-grandfather, Roy Bedichek ("Bedi" to friends), rode a bicycle. I, my husband, my father and my mother (Bedi's granddaughter who is also a birder) will drive with travel trailers in tow. Fortunately, highways follow fairly closely the railroad that Bedi rode alongside. We will arrive in Deming about the same time of year he arrived --

In 1908, Great-Granddaddy bicycled from Eddy to El Paso. These maps show his route, as best as I can work out. (**Update: Since this post...