Lady Long Rider: Alone Across America on Horseback

by Bernice Ende

Overview

Riding 2,000 miles on horseback from Montana to New Mexico sounds like a crazy but thrilling dream or pure hardship and exhaustion. According to Bernice Ende, the trip was all that and more. Since swinging her leg over the saddle for that first long ride in 2005 (at the age of 51), Ende has logged more than 29,000 miles in the saddle, crisscrossing North America on horseback-alone. More than once she has traversed the Great Plains, the Southwest deserts, the Cascade Range and the Rocky Mountains. From 2014 to 2016, she was the first person to ride coast to coast and back again in one trek, winning acclaim from the international Long Riders' Guild and awe from the people she met along the way. Lady Long Rider: Alone Across America on Horseback chronicles Ende's travels, the instant friends she meets along the way, and her ongoing encounters with harsh weather, wildlife, hard work, mosquitoes, tricky route-finding, and the occasional worn out horseshoe. Ende reveals her inner struggles and triumphs-testing the limits of physical and mental stamina, coping with inescapable solitude, and the rewards of living life her own way, as she says, "in her own skin." Along the way, she discovers a sense of community and love of place that unite people wherever they live. Saddle up and come along for the journey of a lifetime.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781560377221
Publisher:	Farcountry Press
Publication date:	06/27/2018
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	533,771
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments v

Foreword ix

Prologue: An Introduction to Long Riding xiii

Chapter 1 My Montana 1

Chapter 2 Something Pretty Interesting to Do 9

Map-Montana to New Mexico: 1st Long Ride, May-September 2005 14

Chapter 3 Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My! 15

Chapter 4 Bald Goldilocks 24

Chapter 5 In My Own Skin 35

Map-Roaming the West: 2nd Long Ride, April 2006-September 2007 60

Chapter 6 If You Want to Be Extraordinary 61

Chapter 7 Pie a la Home 74

Chapter 8 Night of the Black Stallion 91

Chapter 9 Jewel of the Columbia 95

Map-Deserts, Plains, and Small Towns: 3rd Long Ride, February-October 2008 98

Chapter 10 Essie Pearl You Beautiful Girl 99

Chapter 11 Legends of Kansas 107

Map-Down Texas Way and Around the West: 4th Long Ride, March 2009-June 2011 114

Chapter 12 A Long Winter's Nights 115

Chapter 13 Migrating with Geese 130

Chapter 14 Out of the Past, Paulette 143

Map-Vacation Ride: August-October 2011 152

Chapter 15 Montana Here and There 153

Map-Northern Neighbors: 5th Long Ride, April-September 2012 162

Chapter 16 Oh, Canada 163

Chapter 17 Weather or Not: 6th Long Ride 187

Map-Coast-to-Coast International: 7th Long Ride, April 2014-June 2016 198

Chapter 18 Sea to Shining Sea 199

Chapter 19 History, Heritage, and Hoof Prints 223

Chapter 20 Farewell Old Friends 234

Epilogue 241

Addendum 249

Bibliography 253

About the Author 254