Pascal Lapointe, seen here, started a cross-country bike ride about five days ago in San Diego, California. The reason for our encounter was that as I was driving east on Interstate 10 from Tonopah, Arizona I passed a man pushing a bike up an off-ramp around noon when the temperatures were already well into the 100’s. Knowing that no one from Arizona would be doing such a thing, plus the man wasn’t wearing white socks so he must be a foreigner, I go to the next exit, turn around and try to find where this guy disappeared to. I could see for miles to the north that he hadn’t gone that way, nothing out there, but there were some buildings to the south. About to give up I see a bike propped up against a church wall, my worst fear is that he went looking for help but this being Tuesday, no one would be at the church and this poor guy might be having a heat stroke. I pull up and walk over to this rail-thin man who greets me with a French accent.

“Hello, my name is Pascal, I’m from Montreal, you know, Canada?” Are you ok? “Sure, but it is quite hot,” I asked if he was drinking enough, he assured me he was and that he understood the hydration requirements of crossing a desert on a bicycle. I shared some fresh-picked green beans with him, chatted a while more to make sure he really was ok and wished him luck on his 2,900-mile ride across the United States. He’s blogging about his journey, in French. You can Google translate if you are interested and don’t read French. Visit his site here.