Now that's what I call a trail ride...

["guest@endurance.net" <guest@endurance.net>]

LeeAnn Dreadfulwater oscar@intellex.com
This makes me feel pretty wimpy....

Just for fun, here is the website of "WolfRider" L.Samuel Burton, who is riding the Trail of Tears backwards from Oklahoma to North Carolina.  Our city (Tahlequah) is where his ride officially "begins" but he's already ridden 1500 miles from his home in Illinois with his two horses just to start.  It will be another 1000 miles to Cherokee, NC and he is riding over the winter.  His two horse companions are Tibiano Cherokee and Ghost Dancer, two young Paints.  Samuel is a 60 year old retired engineer and youth outreach worker of Cherokee and African-American descent, and this trip is the result of a promise to his Cherokee grandfather made years ago.

The web page was created especially for him by two seventh grade girls in Hays, KS...they plan to help keep the media and various schools and communities notified of Samuel's progress, as he has graciously given talks and interviews along the way.  He was here this week and met with our Principle Chief, Chad Smith, and is now off on his journey to retrace the trail that he believes his ancestors walked during the winter of 1838-39. My husband spotted him riding about a mile from our house yesterday
evening...I didn't even know anything about Mr. Burton's ride until I read the paper today...he says along the way everyone has been very gracious and hospitable, and that many folks have even saddled up their horses and ridden a few miles with him.

My thought for posting this (other than as just a very fascinating story) is that some of you who live along his trail route might want to welcome him and his horses, and you might even want to get out and ride with him if you can.  If anyone is up to the task, it would have to be a bunch of endurance/CTR riders, LOL!  I'm just sorry that I was at work yesterday and didn't know anything about it until it was too late, or I would have loved to ride with him.  He'll be heading into Arkansas shortly and he is averaging about 15 - 20 miles per day from the sound of things.  He hopes to reach NC by March 26--the same date when Cherokees reached our area in 1839.

Here's the URL...I suspect you could e-mail the young ladies in KS to find out exactly where he'll be headed next.  Hope some of you will help him out and give him some company along the trail.  I think you can also get e-mail to Mr. Burton, himself, according to the newspaper.

http://www.dailynews.net/ads/wolfrider

LeeAnn and Joker in Central Region (Hey, get off that computer and feed us!)



Ý-Ý-Ý-Ý-Ý-Ý-Ý-Ý-Ý-Ý-Ý-Ý-Ý-Ý-Ý-Ý-Ý-Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp
Ý-Ý-Ý-Ý-Ý-Ý-Ý-Ý-Ý-Ý-Ý-Ý-Ý-Ý-Ý-Ý-Ý-