Nov 8, 2001

Texas Man Begins Attempt to Walk, Canoe 1,952-Mile U.S.-Mexico Border

By Julie Watson
Associated Press Writer

MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) - Despite increased security and fears about travels since Sept. 11, David Chizum slipped on his $200 Swiss hiking boots and set out on a voyage that few would have the guts to attempt even during peacetime.

The 57-year-old Texan is trying to become the first person to walk and canoe the 1,952-mile U.S.-Mexico border.

Chizum's travels will take him through a region considered by many to be a lawless land of smuggling and banditry, where the weather can fluctuate from searing heat to bitter cold in a single day.

"I've got a lot of determination and some apprehension," he said before setting out. "But I'm really looking forward to the trip."

Chizum began his trip Wednesday by dipping his wooden walking stick in the Pacific Ocean. Then he headed out in the fog along a wall of corrugated metal that marks the U.S.-Mexico border at California's Border Field State Park.

His wife saw him off as a U.S. border patrol agent watched from his parked vehicle nearby. Joggers passed by on the other side of the fence, in Tijuana, Mexico.

"You either live life trying to increase safety or you live life to the fullest and take the acceptable risks," Chizum said in a telephone interview from his home in Valley Mills, Texas, before starting the trip.

"That's my attitude as it should be for the nation. If America wants to be the home of the brave, it can't be the home of security paranoia."

The former college professor of international relations hopes his journey over the next five months will remind people that before Sept. 11 much of the world viewed borders as welcoming mats rather than security threats.

"We have to find a way to keep our borders open," he said. "Economic interdependence is not only important to North America, but the whole world."

Chizum, who has been planning his trip since March, considered canceling after terrorists slammed commercial airliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

But then he decided this could be the most auspicious time for the journey. The trip, which he calls U.S.-Mexico Border Friendship Expedition 2001-2002, will provide him with the opportunity to change people's perceptions of the border.

"It should be a friendly meeting place between two neighbors rather than a place of suspicion," he said.

Before the Sept. 11 attacks, Mexican President Vicente Fox was pushing a plan to eventually open the U.S.-Mexico border to permit the free flow of workers and goods. But these days, talk in the north has turned toward remilitarizing the U.S. border and severely limiting immigration.

Chizum will walk first on the U.S. side, passing through mountains that connect to La Rumorosa, a region that the Mexican government recently declared off-limits to migrants because so many people have died there while trying to slip into the United States illegally.

He said he didn't inform authorities because the border is public property, but he will be carrying a letter of introduction from a former U.S. Border Patrol chief.

"I expect to be stopped, but if I'm not, I will stop myself to talk to people," he said.

He will carry an 80-pound pack with a sleeping bag for freezing temperatures and an electronic Spanish dictionary. His wife will send him provisions at stops along the way.

Chizum said he will take photographs and document his coordinates on a Global Positioning System. He also will ask people along the way to sign his log book.

Chizum plans to walk 15 miles a day, crossing back and forth between the two countries, until he reaches Presidio, Texas, where the depleted Rio Grande swells to a fast-flowing river. There, his family will meet him so he can pick up his canoe to complete the final leg.

Throughout his trip, Chizum plans to camp out of sight and rely on the watchful eye of Border Patrol agents for protection. Chizum said he's more worried about running out of energy and water than running into bandits.

"I've found people incredibly hospitable along the border," he said.

Chizum, who has visited more than 50 countries, said he knows his own limits and will stop if he feels he can't make it.

"I have every expectation that I will be capable of finishing," he said. "But one thing I do not have is a death wish."