Touring - Joe Fors trip across the USA

For those who don't know about this, the story is here (http://www.facebook.com/#!/Joe.Fors?v=info).

My question is this: Why so many flat tires? I have ridden that part of the country, and in touring in general I'm sure we are exposed to a greater risk of flats, but 16 in one day? Is this common for you guys? I have to laugh at all of the tire reviews I read where folks give tires low ratings because they got a flat. Flats happen, but not in numbers like this guy is seeing them. Do you roll with tire liners? Heavy duty tires like Armadillos? Special tubes?

My experiences is from commuting and touring a little.

16 flats probably means repeated occurrence from the same cause. This could be failing to remove the source of the flat, having something in the rim, having worn through tires with exposed bulges of tube, or underinflating with a small frame pump and getting pinch flats.

16 flats in one day is pretty excessive. If he was actually cycling back in the desert with lots of thorns, it's possible, but shouldn't have happened on the road. I bet it was something like Dan The Man mentioned - he didn't get the thorn out or some such thing.

Here's the newspaper article (http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=379152&#storycomments) about Joe


"Joseph Fors figures he's been asked about 4,000 times why he's bicycling across the United States. He's yet to come up with a snappy answer.
"You do it to change your life," the Lombard native said.
Truth is, Fors lost his job and was at loose ends. So on Feb. 21, he climbed on his 17-year-old Trek 6500, a mountain bike he equipped with road tires, and started pedaling for the East Coast. He reached Cape Canaveral in Florida and was headed west when he stopped at Livonia, La., last week for an interview"