Worth, the Commander of the United States Army's Eighth Military District, which included Texas, selected him to lead an expedition to find a road to El Paso which both settlers and wagon trains carrying commercial loads could use.
The party left San Antonio, passed through the state capital at Austin, and finalized its preparations at the Torrey Trading House near what is now Waco, Texas.
In addition to Rip Ford, Neighbors selected three other white men, D. C. Sullivan, A. D. Neal, and James Shaw (a celebrated part-Delaware scout and interpreter, and a man with a reputation for being able to talk to, and deal with, Indians).
[1] At this point, Buffalo Hump left the party, and Neighbors then engaged Guadalupe, the Chief of a Comanche band, to guide the expedition on to El Paso.
Though they experienced considerable difficulty with the weather and terrain, they were able to cross the far northern end of the Davis Mountains, north of what is today the University of Texas at Austin McDonald Observatory.
Neighbors determined the last hundred or so miles they had traveled were completely unsuitable for a wagon road, so he then returned by a more northern route that had been used by the Mexican army between El Paso and the Pecos River.
The Expedition began its return on May 6, 1849, by way of Hueco Tanks, Ojo del Alamo, and the Guadalupe Mountains en route to the Pecos River, and home.
The expedition entered Fredericksburg, Texas, on May 31 and San Antonio on June 2, only eight days after Whiting, who had left far earlier, and who was unable to provide a good road to El Paso.