Cites heat, harsh land as barriers

TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) --A Texas man who attempted to walk and canoe the
1,952-mile U.S.-Mexico border said the harsh land and intense heat -- even in
November -- forced him to abandon his plans and catch a Greyhound bus home
after just two days.

David Chizum, who started his ambitious journey November 7 at California's Border
Field State Park across the border from Tijuana, was trying to become the first
person to walk and canoe the U.S.-Mexico border. He had planned to trek for five
months and was hoping to finish the trip in Brownsville, Texas, this spring.

But the 57-year-old from Valley Mills, Texas, said he ran out of steam less than 20
miles into the journey, as he climbed California's San Ysidro Mountains in 87-degree
temperatures with an 80-pound (36-kilogram) pack.

"It is an embarrassment to me to admit failure, particularly so early in my plans,"
Chizum wrote in an e-mail to the Associated Press.

But, he explained, "it soon became clear that I would put myself into a survival
situation and have to call on the rescue services of the Border Patrol if I kept going.
So I made the only levelheaded decision and turned back, grabbing a Greyhound bus
that night to make a grueling 40-hour trip home."

Chizum said he realized he could not make the trip without a support vehicle to carry
the 24 pounds (10 kilograms) of water, he needed for the trip. Chizum said he was
drinking two gallons of water a day during the journey but still felt dehydrated.

The former college professor of international relations had hoped to change public
perception of the region as a lawless land of banditry and corruption. He called his
trip the U.S.-Mexico Border Friendship Expedition 2001-2002. Chizum said he wants
to recuperate before deciding whether he will give it another try in the future.

Copyright 2001 The Associated Press.