A native of Tucson, he is going on a cross-country bike ride for the second time, over 40 years later

TUCSON (KVOA) – In 1980, two Tucson best friends in their twenties went on a cross-country bike ride from Tucson to Bangor, Maine.

Now, 41 years later, one of those friends is making the cross-country trip back to Tucson.

It’s a bike ride of well over 1,000 miles from Longmont, Colorado, to the Old Pueblo and Curtis Jones has already started.

“We were strong and young,” said Jones. “But it was a wonderful trip, sometimes we camped, sometimes we stayed in hotels. So that was this trip.”

Curtis Jones remembers his previous trip at the age of 64.

Now take another long-distance hike that has already inspired so many.

Jones averaged 65 to 70 miles a day.

He calls this journey his “mindfulness journey”.

“It’s an experience where you always learn to live in the now and not always live in the future,” said Jones. “I realized that I was living in the future the whole time, and what could be better than a bike tour where you are in the middle of nowhere for nine hours to be able to enjoy it, to enjoy the experience now and not, Don’t think about the future because if you do this it will drive you crazy. “

It’s not been the easiest trip, Jones said, “when a high pressure system is over and temperatures are around 115.”

But it has proven time and again that it’s worth it.

“My bike broke down and a construction worker came over and threw my bike in the back of his pickup truck and took me to a bike shop and I thought, ‘Oh my god,’ said Jones. “Then I got caught in the storm yesterday, the wind was a whopping 40 miles an hour, I can’t even stay on the road, sand trucks drive past me, sand is sticking out on me. I’m driving into a landfill and the guy there says “I’m taking him into town, you won’t drive the last mile, you will probably die. And he took me to this hotel.”

He says these were angels that came into his life.

You may be wondering what about Curtis’ friend who made the trip with him all those years ago?

“If everything goes according to plan, my last night will be Oracle, so it’s only 45 minutes with Tucson,” said Jones. “At that point he will ride with me.”

Here’s a fun fact about Curtis, he’s a senior graduate student at Sabino High School.

Curtis is expected to end his trip and arrive in Tucson on June 28th.