Grant Wishard

Getting to know Sanderson, Texas, through the way it celebrates Easter.

After sleeping in a ditch on US 385, Devon and I biked 30 miles to Marathon, Texas. It was a short distance, and Devon was as cheery to get on the road as he had been the entire trip: "Dude, every day there's a new pain that makes me forget about the old pain." If Devon has taught me anything, it's…

Big Bend National Park is a tough sell because there isn't any one scene or location that's especially notable or so beautiful that it deserves to be your desktop background. But the park does have an overall effect on people that keeps them coming back year after year. I said in the previous entry…

Big Bend National Park is one of the largest, most biologically diverse parks in the country—and you've probably never heard of it. Stuck all by its lonesome in the bendy part of southwest Texas, along 118 miles of the Rio Grande river, Big Bend is famously isolated and inaccessible. Out of all the…

Life has become immeasurably better since one of my very best friends Devon Powley rode into town, ready to bike with me through the toughest section of this whole trip: Big Bend National Park. He flew from Washington, D.C. to El Paso, took a train to the neighboring town of Alpine, and finally a…

The road from Van Horn to Marfa, Texas, is unbelievably boring. I woke up from a night in a highway motel that involved multiple trips to the McDonalds next door and A Perfect World on cable, and went straight back to—you guessed it—McDonalds. Holding my second McGriddle in one hand and my phone in…

After a whirlwind visit to Casas Grandes and Colonia Juarez on the Mexican side I crossed back into El Paso late Friday night to pick up my bike from the mechanic. I still had a few hours of daylight, so I set off immediately for Clint, Texas, a small farming town 20 miles outside El Paso. It was…

"Are you a missionary?" one of my fellow passengers asked. It was a pretty smart bet. We were bumping along on a bus ride south from Ciudad Juarez, and I was headed to Nueva Casas Grandes, a tiny town that looks big in comparison to its neighbors Colonia Juarez and Colonia Dublan, the last two…

Amazon opened its first bookstore in the Washington D.C. area last week, a real brick-and-mortar storefront on ritzy M street in Georgetown, and is attracting the kind of attention you would expect. “An Amazon bookstore? What the hell?” one woman exclaimed to her friend, stopping for a double-take…

El Paso, Texas

Roberta Jacobson, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico announced Thursday that she will resign from her position sometime in May, according to the New York Times.

We ended up staying in Ciudad Juárez a third night in order to attend a political rally for presidential candidate Maria de Jesus Patricio Martinez, better known as “Marichuy.” The University of Ciudad Juarez hosted the event in a large lecture hall. There was standing room only for the students…

We arrived in Janos late in the afternoon and parted ways with Sanchez, the truck driver who gave us a lift, after a quick dinner of enchiladas and steak. As the sun was setting we biked a few miles outside of town to a nature preserve, called Janos Biosphere Natural Reserve, where a group of…

Yesterday we biked from Cananea to Agua Prieta. The hospitality we’ve been shown throughout the trip has been legendary, but our connection in Agua Prieta beats all. Remember the stranger we met in the gas station in Cananea who escorted us into town? His name was Luis Ramirez and he connected us…

Northern Mexico is everything Cormac McCarthy promised it would be. The landscape has taken a Western turn ever since we left the border town, Nogales. On two-lane roads we passed rolling fields of blonde grass and gnarled black trees. The asphalt frequently gave way to dirt and rocks, leaving us…

We're in Nogales, Mexico, a large border city south of Tucson, Arizona. Jon crossed onto our side of the border last night with a new bike. The band is back together again, and the recent Kia Sorento unpleasantness has been resolved.

March 23, 1994—Luis Donaldo Colosio, the leading candidate in Mexico's upcoming presidential election, is about to deliver a speech at a rally in Tijuana. It is assumed he will easily win. Loud music is playing. Colosio is being jostled forward by the crowd. They are chanting his name, excited to…

Every time I’ve taken a bus ride (i.e. Greyhound) I’ve felt the need to write about the experience. Today, we’re taking a bus from Sonoyta to Santa Ana, an even smaller town farther south. ...

Last night we slept in the desert. We dug a pit in the sand for a fire, and desecrated the surrounding brush for wood. This was probably against the rules, it being a national park and all, and we each feel terribly guilty. But the hot dogs were delicious, wrapped in tortillas with refried beans…

The plan was to leave Puerto Penasco today and bike to Sonoyta, a border town 60 miles north. The road in between is smooth, lightly traveled, and has a generous shoulder on both sides. The only problem was the wind, which pushed directly against us and picked up speed the further we pedaled on the…

All of the different states in Mexico have their own identity, even more so than our United States, I'm told. Today was our first full day of biking in the state of Sonora, and it's a drastic change from Baja, California. Sonora is rural, and today we passed endless fields of cotton, alfalfa, and…

Last night we joined two of Davi's friends for beers at a local brewery. Both women are now full-time residents of Mexicali, but living in the border town for the sake of their engineering careers in the United States. Special SENTRI passes allow them to commute back and forth every day. We woke up…

We spent an unexpectedly luxurious night in Bosques del Condor, a rustic campground in La Rumorosa (translation: "the one who tells rumors," because of the wind that blows and whispers through the canyon). When the sun goes down here the temperature plunges immediately, and we were relieved to find…

Before biking into Tijuana, we took a tour of the San Ysidro border crossing, the busiest land crossing in the world. Two agents at Customs and Border Protection generously came into work early to show us what they do day to day. At 7 a.m. the place was already a parking lot, packed with traffic…

My life is entirely in the hands of near strangers and new acquaintances. On other bike trips I’ve traveled with close friends, but this time it’s an army of mercenaries. Yesterday and today all those hired deckhands came together to push this trip out of drydock. We arrived in Tijuana early this…

We arrived in San Diego late last night and took an Uber to the International Travelers House, our hostel accommodations for as long as we’re in the city. It’s a collection of brightly colored beach homes right in the heart of downtown San Diego, and its costing us $44 a night instead of the $209…

"I'm Grant Wishard, a journalist at The Weekly Standard, and I plan to bike the entire U.S. Mexico border, from Tijuana, Mexico to Brownsville, Texas, starting January 17th." Yes, you read that right. Currently I'm in JFK airport waiting for a connecting flight to San Diego International. The…

There are many serious and well-justified complaints against the decrepit Washington Metro system, but sometimes there’s a happy surprise.

If you’re around Washington D.C. this winter, you might want to consider swinging through the Renwick Gallery, located just a stone’s throw from the White House. A new display there, called “Murder Is Her Hobby,” features the work of Frances Glessner Lee, who used dollhouses to recreate real-life…

Jennifer Rubin at the Washington Post took time recently to accuse Republicans, specifically Representative Barbara Comstock of Virginia and Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina of sounding “altogether too complacent, too passive and too resigned” to Roy Moore’s failed U.S. Senate candidacy. Moore,…

Back in 2013, in my last weeks as a high school senior, with plenty of free time on my hands, I wrote a survival guide for future students. This tome, full of wit and wisdom, remains unpublished, safely stored on a laptop buried somewhere in my closet. Which is just as well. I now realize Tina Fey…

The moment its doors officially open, the new Museum of the Bible, with its prime real estate in the capital, will be the nation’s most prominent institution dedicated to educating the general public about Judeo-Christian ideas and history. But it is far from the first attraction built by…

I spoke with Peggy Grande about her new book, The President Will See You Now, a look back at her work as Ronald Reagan’s executive assistant.

The American Red Cross was founded in 1881 by Civil War nurse Clara Barton. It was the first U.S. relief organization and established its effectiveness with responses to the Great Thumb Fire of 1881 and the Johnstown Flood in 1889. In the 20th century, the Red Cross became a byword for…

The American Red Cross was founded in 1881 by Civil War nurse Clara Barton. It was the first U.S. relief organization and established its effectiveness with responses to the Great Thumb Fire of 1881 and the Johnstown Flood in 1889. In the 20th century, the Red Cross became a byword for…

The American Humane Association (AHA) awarded its K-9 Medal of Courage to five dogs this past week for their exceptional service in the U.S. military. After multiple combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, spent searching for explosives and chewing up insurgents who regard them as unclean (dogs: 1,…

When my grandparents—proud, independent, Greatest Generation types—consented to move into a retirement community, they offered to give one of their cars to us grandkids. They didn’t need and couldn’t keep two cars, and they offered this vehicle free of charge. It was a lavish gesture, especially…

The resignation of A.R. Bernard from the White House Evangelical Advisory Board was nearly ignored amid the slew of high-profile departures from White House advisory councils in the wake of President Trump’s response to the violence in Charlottesville. And for good reason, as Bernard had begun…

This summer, the Shakespeare Theater Company has brought Othello to the stage for its annual “Free For All,” a decades-old Washington, D.C., tradition that offers a Shakespeare classic to the public free of charge. And, no, it’s not like most other freebies. Unlike Costco samples, junk mail, and…

When the U.S. entered World War I, the thousands of soldiers who headed to Europe were joined by combat artists attached to the American Expeditionary Force.

On Monday, the congressional leaders of the Democratic party announced their 2018 campaign agenda, modestly titled “A Better Deal.” And it was no coincidence that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and Senator Elizabeth Warren visited Berryville, Virginia for…

Amtrak interim CEO Charles W. Moorman III made a rare admission for a businessman in a speech last week: His company is never going to make a profit. That’s no surprise to anyone who knows anything about Amtrak, which has cost taxpayers more than $45 billion in subsidies since service began in…

According to the government, Roswell, New Mexico, is an uninteresting place. They want you to believe the city (population 48,754) is little more than the birthplace of John Denver and the location of Leprino Foods, one of the largest mozzarella factories in the world. The men in black want you to…

To the recent college graduates who have somehow failed to spend all of Daddy’s money in five-and-a-half years, fear not, tradition says you deserve a vacation. Consider it your version of the Grand Tour, the jaunt through Europe that served as the capstone to a formal education in centuries past…

A century ago today, Captain T.E. Lawrence helped capture the city of Aqaba and became the legendary Lawrence of Arabia. Sent by the British army as a military advisor, Lawrence convinced Emir Faisal I, leader of the Arab Revolt, to attack the Turkish stronghold by way of the Nefud desert, which…

Democrats are lining up to challenge Republican congresswoman Barbara Comstock in the 2018 midterms in Virginia’s 10th district. The field includes Army veteran Daniel Helmer, former union leader Kimberly Adams, one-time Obama administration official Lindsey Davis Stover, and state senator Jennifer…

I recently regaled WEEKLY STANDARD readers with tales from my Florida biking adventure—eight days, 650 miles, and two college friends pedaling the east coast of the state to reach Key West—but I haven't yet told you how we got back home. The return trip was an adventure in its own right, best…

The worst stage performance I ever saw was If Then, an off-Broadway production about hip young adults, standing around, wearing leather satchels, drinking coffee, and singing loudly about big life decisions. Besides having an irritating syllogistic title that wouldn't allow you to forget your own…

During a recent break home from school, a friend and I biked the east coast of Florida. Leaving our car in a Wendy's parking lot, we began in St. Mary's, a town straddling the Georgia border, and in eight days traveled 650 miles to reach Key West, the end of the panhandle and the southernmost point…

If you've been to an Olive Garden anytime in the last year, you'll notice the Italian casual dining chain no longer offers unlimited pasta on the menu. More consequentially, the Olive Garden menu itself is displayed by a computer monitor at your table. It's called Ziosk, a black 7-inch touchscreen…

The next big new thing is here—Black Mirror—and you have to watch it now. The British television series, created by Charlie Booker, has recently begun its third season on Netflix and it deserves our limited attention spans. Why? Because Black Mirror theorizes the consequences of future technology…

Did you know this year is the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death? Theater-rats have been told this a hundred times by now, but it bears reconsidering. In the course of four centuries, audiences have remained entranced by his work—the same plots, characters, and dialogue—unchanged, ever since.

If you've been casting around since April trying to find a way to celebrate Shakespeare's 400th deathday, look no further than The Merchant of Venice, just now completing its run at the Kennedy Center. Normally you should be mortified to forget such an occasion, but the rules of etiquette begin to…

Find a friend with HBO and be sure to watch All the Way, a new political drama that remembers the first year of Lyndon Johnson's accidental presidency and his unlikely passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Robert Schenkkan has adapted his critically acclaimed Broadway play for television (it left…

Astoundingly, 40 years after his death, China still celebrates Mao Zedong. He lies permanently preserved in Tiananmen Square and is honored annually by hundreds of thousands of Chinese visitors who come to pay their respects.

To the eye of Charles Murray, the situation is grim—grimmer than you realize. Our government is increasingly corrupt. The legal system is lawless. The regulatory agencies possess tyrannical levels of power. Murray, social scientist and author of Losing Ground and Coming Apart, no longer believes…

Asheville, N.C.

My recent visit to the National Geographic Museum’s exhibit, Indiana Jones and the Adventure of Archaeology, revealed what the modern museum must do to keep the turnstiles turning. And the exhibits, I learned, they are a’changin’.

The sun is a stubborn on-again-off-again partner in our solar energy relationship. With no way to store excess solar energy, solar homes are forced to return shamefacedly to the electrical grid each evening, not to mention in moments of cloud cover and/or rain.