This Teen Senita Takes a Cross-Country Bike Ride

He's 18 and bikes about 70 miles a day, from small town to small town, traveling the Silver Highway somewhere in Wyoming and then beyond.

Tracen Tanner, who graduated in early December from Maricopa Virtual Academy after spending the majority of her education at A+ Charter School, embarks on an incredible journey from Astoria, Oregon, to Yorktown, Virginia, approximately 3,500 miles.

The Senita resident is participating in the TransAmerica Trail adventure that crosses 10 states.

“I really didn’t need a lot of planning because it already exists,” Tanner said of the trail.

He hasn't trained for the trip simply because he rides a lot and is in no rush, except that he hopes to reach the East Coast by the end of summer.

“I just got on my bike, got my licenses and headed to Oregon,” he said.

More recently, he crossed the Grand Tetons, Wyoming's high country, reaching elevations of more than 5,000 feet.

“When I went through grizzly bear country, it was very scary,” he said, simply because there wasn't a lot of metal to protect him.

The trail begins at a scenic coastal beach on the often foggy beaches of Oregon and travels through Boise, Idaho, through that state's panhandle and into southwest Montana, then into central Colorado, Kansas , Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky and, finally, Virgina.

Tanner stopped at campgrounds and city parks along the way to sleep in his tent. About once every two weeks he stays in a hostel. He might dine at a small grocery store or sit at a roadside restaurant every evening.

Along the way, he said he meets other cyclists, riding from Mexico to Canada, or from Canada to Los Angeles.

On his best day with lots of hills, he hiked up to 135 miles, the distance from Shashone to Casper, Wyo.

His shortest day was 18 miles, with headwinds around Casper just too relentless to overcome, he said.

He packs high-protein, high-carb snacks in his saddle bags, like beef jerky, pop tarts, and granola bars.

He wears a yellow vest to be visible to the many cars and tractor-trailers that pass by him, some getting too close for comfort.

As of Thursday, he had traveled about 1,400 miles.

His Specialized Rock Hopper mountain bike was equipped with road tires for long distances on pavement.

“I'm just taking my time,” he said in a telephone interview as another tractor-trailer passed, with the sound of a plane taking off.