Southern Indiana girl, 14, bikes 2,000 miles in a month

JASPER, Ind. (AP) - A 14-year-old southern Indiana girl who spent part of her summer break making a 2,000-mile bike trip says the excursion gave her a close look at the American West's beauty.

Mia Ahner joined her father and about 40 other cyclists on the 25-day trek that started in Santa Monica, California, and ended in Bloomington, Indiana.

The event sponsored by the ecumenical youth leadership program DeCycles took the Jasper, Indiana, residents past the Grand Canyon and through the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains. They covered 80 to 100 miles most days.

Mia tells The (Jasper) Herald she loved the West's scenery, particularly the rock formations around Sedona, Arizona.

The Jasper High School freshman says that "traveling in a car, you kind of go too fast to take everything in."

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Information from: The Herald, http://www.dcherald.com