News from all over - Fredonia
When rancher Bill Inman decided to show there's more to America than the gloom-and-doom on the nightly news, he hopped on his horse and started riding. Some 1,700 miles later, he's burning through his family's life savings as he collects stories of hardworking, honest everyday people in rural America.
"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. Inman soaks it all in atop Blackie, a 16-year-old thoroughbred-quarter horse mix who's averaging 20-25 miles a day along backroads from Oregon to North Carolina.
Hundreds of interesting people have greeted Inman along the way. They include a 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; and 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.
Inman arrived in this rural town with a sweat-stained Stetson and a weathered face that left no doubt ranching has been part of his entire life. The couple rely on media coverage and word-of-mouth to let people know when they reach a new town.
Raised on a Texas ranch, Inman worked cattle, herded wild horses and managed a ranch on an Indian reservation in Nevada before he moved to Oregon last year and began selling horses there. He's also an auctioneer and has done horse shoeing for nearly 30 years.
Inman ticked off a list of what's been bad about the trip — temperatures ranging from 108 degrees to freezing, insects, water shortages, crossing mountains and desert, and riding in a lightning storm. People aren't on the list. "I haven't run into any bad people," he said.
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"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. Inman soaks it all in atop Blackie, a 16-year-old thoroughbred-quarter horse mix who's averaging 20-25 miles a day along backroads from Oregon to North Carolina.
Hundreds of interesting people have greeted Inman along the way. They include a 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; and 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.
Inman arrived in this rural town with a sweat-stained Stetson and a weathered face that left no doubt ranching has been part of his entire life. The couple rely on media coverage and word-of-mouth to let people know when they reach a new town.
Raised on a Texas ranch, Inman worked cattle, herded wild horses and managed a ranch on an Indian reservation in Nevada before he moved to Oregon last year and began selling horses there. He's also an auctioneer and has done horse shoeing for nearly 30 years.
Inman ticked off a list of what's been bad about the trip — temperatures ranging from 108 degrees to freezing, insects, water shortages, crossing mountains and desert, and riding in a lightning storm. People aren't on the list. "I haven't run into any bad people," he said.
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