Cross-country on horseback: an Oklahoma man’s journey

Tehachapinews.com - Full Article

Tuesday, Nov 01 2011
By Ed Gordon, Staff Writer

Twenty–four year old Luke Nowlin set out on June 8 from Emerald, North Carolina, to cross the country to Eureka, on the Northern California coast, on horseback. He arrived at the Chadeau Mountain Clydesdale Ranch in Tehachapi the afternoon of Thursday, Oct. 27.

Chuck Lewter was returning from the Worlds Clydesdale Show in Wisconsin and got a call from a friend who told him about, “Hey there’s this guy riding across the country and he needs a place to stay every night, he’ll be in Boron tonight, Mojave the next night and can he stay at your place on Thursday night?”

Lewter replied, “Yeah, we’ll be home send him here.”

That’s how Nowlin ended up in Tehachapi at the Chadeau Mountain Ranch.

Nowlin depends on the kindness of others for shelter for himself and his horse. He's fully prepared to sleep outdoors, on the ground with the sky for a roof if he has to, but he's only had to do that on few occasions. Some nights he stayed with people who were living in trailer houses, the floor was rotted out they didn’t have anything to eat because it was the 28th of the month and food stamps don’t come till the 30th. The rest he's spent in the guest bedrooms in strangers' homes or in barns and he even spent a few days at the Biltmore Mansion in Asheville, North Carolina.

“It’s really interesting about his journey,” Lewter said. “There’s nothing really set, it just seems like it’s just kind of a day-to-day thing. [He goes] wherever he can find a place to put his horse up for the night and find some hay and some grub.”

Nowlin has averaged about 25-30 miles per day during his journey...

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http://www.tehachapinews.com/lifestyle/x1763723927/Cross-country-on-horseback-an-Oklahoma-man-s-journey