MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) --Despite increased security and fears about travels
since September 11, David Chizum slipped on his $200 Swiss hiking boots Wednesday
and set out on a voyage that few would have the guts to attempt even during peacetime.

The 57-year-old Texan is trying to become the first person to walk and canoe the
1,952-mile U.S.-Mexico border.

Chizum's travels will take him through a region considered by many to be a lawless
land of smuggling and banditry, where the weather can fluctuate from searing heat
to bitter cold in a single day.

"I've got a lot of determination and some apprehension," he said before setting out.
"But I'm really looking forward to the trip."

Chizum began his trip Wednesday by dipping his wooden walking stick in the Pacific
Ocean. Then he headed out in the fog along a wall of corrugated metal that marks
the U.S.-Mexico border at California's Border Field State Park.

His wife saw him off as a U.S. border patrol agent watched from his parked vehicle
nearby. Joggers passed by on the other side of the fence, in Tijuana, Mexico.

"You either live life trying to increase safety or you live life to the fullest and take the
acceptable risks," Chizum said in a telephone interview from his home in Valley
Mills, Texas, before starting the trip.

"That's my attitude as it should be for the nation. If America wants to be the home
of the brave, it can't be the home of security paranoia."

The former college professor of international relations hopes his journey over the
next five months will remind people that before September 11 much of the world
viewed borders as welcoming mats rather than security threats.

"We have to find a way to keep our borders open," he said. "Economic
interdependence is not only important to North America, but the whole world."

Chizum, who has been planning his trip since March, considered canceling after
terrorists slammed commercial airliners into the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon.

But then he decided this could be the most auspicious time for the journey. The trip,
which he calls U.S.-Mexico Border Friendship Expedition 2001-2002, will provide
him with the opportunity to change people's perceptions of the border.

"It should be a friendly meeting place between two neighbors rather than a place of
suspicion," he said.

Before the September 11 attacks, Mexican President Vicente Fox was pushing a plan
to eventually open the U.S.-Mexico border to permit the free flow of workers and
goods. But these days, talk in the north has turned toward remilitarizing the U.S.
border and severely limiting immigration.

Chizum will walk first on the U.S. side, passing through mountains that connect to
La Rumorosa, a region that the Mexican government recently declared off-limits to
migrants because so many people have died there while trying to slip into the United
States illegally.

He said he didn't inform authorities because the border is public property, but he will
be carrying a letter of introduction from a former U.S. Border Patrol chief.

"I expect to be stopped, but if I'm not, I will stop myself to talk to people," he said.

He will carry an 80-pound pack with a sleeping bag for freezing temperatures and an
electronic Spanish dictionary. His wife will send him provisions at stops along the
way.

Chizum said he will take photographs and document his coordinates on a Global
Positioning System. He also will ask people along the way to sign his log book.

Chizum plans to walk 15 miles a day, crossing back and forth between the two
countries, until he reaches Presidio, Texas, where the depleted Rio Grande swells to
a fast-flowing river. There, his family will meet him so he can pick up his canoe to
complete the final leg.

Throughout his trip, Chizum plans to camp out of sight and rely on the watchful eye
of Border Patrol agents for protection. Chizum said he's more worried about running
out of energy and water than running into bandits.

"I've found people incredibly hospitable along the border," he said.

Chizum, who has visited more than 50 countries, said he knows his own limits and
will stop if he feels he can't make it.

"I have every expectation that I will be capable of finishing," he said. "But one thing I
do not have is a death wish."

Copyright 2001 The Associated Press.