STAFF REPORT
What’s on your retirement list? When Mark Moberly of South Dakota retired, his friends said they were tired of him talking about wanting to take a cross-country bicycle trip. They pushed him to take the plunge – and he did. Halfway on his journey from California to Florida, Moberly came peddling into Buda, in from Wimberley. He was heading into Austin – just in time to fight the F1 race traffic – to visit a niece and nephew in west Austin.
What were the hardest parts of the trip so far? Hills, he said. While he had heard of the Texas Hill Country, he didn’t think much of those “hills,” until he hit Leakey. Moberly said he had to walk up – and down – a lot of those hills.
His advice to anyone wanting to take on such a trip? Go in a pair; travel with a friend. He said that while he meets a lot of people who talk to him because he is alone, he finds the roads very lonely traveling by himself. The loneliness was especially evident in West Texas, he said, when he would bike all day long and not see a single person.
