On October 1st, 1991, she got on an airplane with her new white Sundance Fuji Mountain bicycle and her camping gear for San Diego California. Things were rough for her from the get-go. She got a flat tire in California she repaired her tire and then a few days later she got another flat tire in Lordsburg, New Mexico. A truck driver picked her up and gave her a ride to Deming, New Mexico where a kind man repaired her tire for her.