Borderland Revisited

Nineteen years ago I did something few financial journalists do. I hopped on a used BMW motorcycle and left Dallas for a ride along the 2,000-mile U.S./Mexico border. By the time I parked the bike, in bitter cold, in Santa Fe I had ridden nearly 3,900 miles. I reported on some mishaps, like getting a flat tire more than 200 miles from anywhere. Not to mention breaking a foot peg when I dropped the bike in Tucson.

But I didn’t say much about being snowed in for several days when I managed to get into Flagstaff ahead of a major storm.

The bike was a 1995 R1100RT. It was equipped with three bags, heated grips and an electrically controlled windshield that I came to love for its protection from rain, snow and cold. Loved the heated grips, too.

For reporting I brought along a laptop, a cellphone, a recorder and an early electronic camera. (You can tell just how early when you see the photos that have a fraction of the pixel count of current cameras.)

The other thing I did was invite readers along and ask for their suggestions about people and places to visit that I could report on. Reader response was amazing and I wrote Bob Mong, who had recruited me to the Dallas Morning News in 1985, that we had something new going on – I called it “Reader Directed Reporting.”

The result was an interesting picture of another place. A place that isn’t Texas and isn’t Mexico. It’s Borderland, a different kind of place, and another kind of country.

The posts, 18 of them, are all on my archival site, www.scottburns.com, but you can access them all from here.

Have a great trip! 

Borderland

Riding into Laredo

A statistical picture of life along the border

Austin: The Incredible Disappearing Slacker 

San Antonio: High Times and Low Water

Yturria Land and Cattle and El Canelo Ranch: Where’s the Beef?

Brownsville: Lifeguard on the Rio Grande

McAllen:  Fields of dreams

Nightsong in Nuevo Laredo

All roads lead to Crystal City

Big Bend and the bridge at Presidio 

Marfa:  Herds of tomatoes, as far as the eye can see

A great raw deal in Juarez 

Tucson: Containing growth

Tucson: Born to be wild?

Yuma and the dusty road to Mexicare

San Diego:  The Ultimate Crop

Lessons from the road

Notes, mile marks and pictures

Related columns:

Scott Burns, “Clothes Horse, Clothes Rider,” 8/29/1999

https://scottburns.com/clothes-horse-clothes-rider/


This information is distributed for education purposes, and it is not to be construed as an offer, solicitation, recommendation, or endorsement of any particular security, product, or service.

Photo: Scott Burns, on the road in Big Bend National Park

(c) Scott Burns, 2019


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