DodgeCity.com Dodge Globe Local News Stories
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AP
Nov. 5: Bill Inman rides east along U.S. 400 near Fredonia, Kan. Inman is riding his horse, Blackie, from Oregon to North Carolina.
Posted on 11/13/2007 12:58:59 AM PST by Stoat
FREDONIA - When rancher Bill Inman decided to show there's more to America than what's seen on the nightly news, he hopped on his horse Blackie and started riding.
And riding, and riding.
Weary of the daily drumbeat over war, crime, poverty and assorted social ills, he and his wife are burning through their life savings to tell the stories of hardworking, honest everyday people in rural America. Inman soaks it all in atop Blackie, a 16-year thoroughbred-quarter horse mix who's averaging 20-25 miles a day along backroads from Oregon to North Carolina.
"Unfortunately, the image they are portraying is there's corruption in every politician and there's criminals running everywhere," he said. "I guess guys that rope like me, we wouldn't need to rope steers. You could just sit out there and rope a criminal because they're coming by every 10 minutes."
Inman, 48, started June 2 from his hometown of Lebanon, Ore. Halfway through his cross-country trek dubbed Uncovering America by Horseback, he's rolled up 1,700 miles. His wife, Brenda, also 48, drives ahead in a pickup with a horse trailer filled with water and provisions for Blackie, three dogs and themselves.
"The scenery in America is changing and I'm really proud we're taking a snapshot at slow motion of this time period because 20 years from now it will be different," he said.
The couple estimates the journey will cost them $45,000. They want to make a documentary film and write a book, and a filmmaker and Web site operator are tagging along.
"If we waited until we could afford to do it, we could never do it. It was do it now or never do it," Brenda said. "We gave everything up in our lives to do this. We used all our savings and everything else."
Said Bill: "It's probably the most stupid thing I've done financially, but I truly believe in it."
Hundreds of interesting people have greeted Inman along the way. There's the Dodge City man who collects bridle bits, spurs and barbed wire. A Wyoming deputy sheriff who drove 25 miles through a rain storm to bring dinner to the Inmans where they were camped. A Wyoming woman who gave Bill a pair of stirrups she bought as a Christmas present for her grandson before he was killed in car wreck.
He arrived in Fredonia with jeans tucked into boots with spurs, a sweat-stained Stetson and a weathered face, leaving no doubt that ranching has been part of him all his life. As with most stops, they rely on a combination of media coverage and word-of-mouth to let people know about the ride.
Raised on a Texas ranch, he's worked cattle, herded wild horses and managed a ranch on an Indian reservation in Nevada before moving to Oregon last year and selling horses. He's also an auctioneer and has been a farrier for nearly 30 years.
Among those meeting Inman on the outskirts of town was Kurly Hebb, former rodeo cowboy and Kansas Cowboy Hall of Fame member.
"He's got my respect. I can tell from talking to him he's going to make it. Just be a cowboy, that's all you got to do," said Hebb, an area rancher.
DodgeCity.com Dodge Globe Local News Stories
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Saddle Club ping :-)
It would be great if the major media woke up and noticed this...but there seems to be no news in saying GOOD things about America. :-(
Retro-Sexual (Manly Men) ping :-)
Very true, but this story has been picked up by the Associated Press and I saw it at Fox
so there may be some hope :-)
It's true that the major media is usually only interested in something if it bleeds or death or suffering is involved (or a wayward Republican) but this story has tremendous appeal and I think that a lot of people will enjoy seeing it.
They're either here at Free Republic or they are riding their horses across America :-)
Thank you very much for pinging your list :-)
That’s real cool.
And sometimes our lives are enriched more than we'll ever know. Taking the time to really live life, each moment, and take in each breath...these are things money can't buy. You can never take back a missed moment, one can always make more money.
It was hard for me when I first came to Germany to understand that the word "cowboy" is a term of opprobrium here. Why do liberals hate the automobile? For the same reason they hate the image of the cowboy who mounts his pony and rides into the sunset utterly free and unregulated across the open range. How much better to deprive these cowboys of their guns and their spurs and make them take public transportation.
Excellent photo op for Hunter or perhaps Thompson?
Sadly it appears the threads and the pictures have been deleted...probably during one of the (early) server crashes or changes.
However you might try this url:
Or enter a fR domain only for Ted and Thunder in a google advanced search and then enter that into the wayback machine.
In any case it was cool, I hope the linky works.
prisoner6
A good on ya ping
Now there’s a man after my own heart. That was always one of my dreams. Never could pull it off, but wouldn’t have hesitated to do so with the means and the opportunity.
Yep.
What a great horse. Nothing better than a TB/QH cross. I hope he stays sound for the whole trip.
American cowboys ..quintessentially American! ;-D
Fellow Freepers,
You ought to check out
http://www.chieftain.com/metro/1194940734/6 to see the battle my father and his neighbors are facing in SE Colorado with the US Military Complex.
Here is the skinny. The US army “thinks” they need an additional 418,000 acres of private land to enlarge their training base to support Ft. Carson. Not to mention that they took over 200,000 acres back in the 1980’s, now they say they need more. Never mind that the Military complex already has 25 million acres but has clearly said that they will need an additional 5 million acres by 2011.
Our patriotism has been questioned by the city leaders in Colorado Springs business community who stands to totally benefit from the enlargement of Ft. Carson. We support our troops but who is supposed to supporting who?
How come ALL federal land is off the table when our military thinks they need more training area? Their solution is to simply invoke imminent domain on private property. We are hard working US citizens who have faithfully paid our taxes and have minded our own business for generations.
This is just one example of how the ranching life is slowly being eroded away. For further reading, check out http://www.pinoncanyon.com/
My two cents,
MFO
bookmark for later reading (BFLR)
A reminiscence of the Abernathy brothers (ages 9&5) who rode across the USA in 1909. Their story is Ride The Wind.
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