Mount up, ride your horses out, and live life!
The next time I begin to tell my eight and nine-year-olds that I'm too tired to ride with them after a day at the office, I'm going to mount up instead.
This week, the SeniorJounal.com reports—
Long Rider Gene Glasscock at age 70 is about to complete a horseback journey of over 20,000 miles and three years in his quest to visit every state capital in the lower 48 states.
A founding member of the Long Riders Guild, Gene began a journey in Denver that was initially taken by a group called the Overland Westerners in 1912. The original ride took 3 years (from 1912-1915). The Overland Westerners rode their horses a total of 20,352 continuous miles.
Gene says he undertook the horseback trip at 67 years of age to raise money for the Philips Fund, a scholarship program at Pensacola Florida Christian College for young adults from Paraguay. He cites his second reason as sending a message to an "often overlooked" segment of America's population—our senior citizens.
The only known person on record to have ridden from North to South America, Gene says—
"I know I'm older now. But I can still swing into that saddle. So even if I have to ride a little slower, I want older people to look at me and realize they don't have to just sit on the porch and do nothing. I'm proof positive they can mount up, ride out, and still live life."
He is also legendary for his two-year ride from the Arctic Circle in Canada to the Equator in Ecuador in the mid-1980s.
He rides 15-20 miles a day.
The last thing my daughter said to me as I was dropping her off at school today was, "Mom, can we ride together this afternoon?" I think we can go a few miles!
Sources: SeniorJournal.com;Gene Glasscock; The Long Rider's Guild
