Twenty years ago, Matt Parker was in a weird phase of life. He was right out of college; rudderless and adrift, unsure of what adulthood would hold. And then an idea hit him: he'd ride across the country on horseback.
Never mind that he'd never really spent time with horses. But he was ready for the challenge of a lifetime.
“I knew that my idea was crazy enough that I did not want to tell a lot of people about it,” Parker said. “It's like somebody who's seen Bigfoot. You don't want to … telegraph that necessarily, especially if you don't know if you're going to be successful.”
No other American had done what Parker was about to embark on: ride a horse across the United States – from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean – on the American Discovery Trail.
This episode comes from Michigan Radio’s podcast Ride of Passage. Listen and subscribe to the adventure wherever podcasts are found.
Credits for Ride of Passage:
Producer: Laura Weber Davis
Editors: Rachel Ishikawa, Mercedes Mejia
Music: Bob Skon, Blue Dot Sessions
