The Ride of Her Life: The True Story of a Woman, Her Horse, and Their Last-Chance Journey Across America

On Memorial Day weekend, Annie neared Kansas City as a storm brewed overhead. The animals seemed agitated, indicating that the storm would start soon. Looking for shelter, a local directed her to a church shed for her animals, warning her that the rains would start soon. Soaking wet, Annie tried to get her animals in the shed, but they refused, so she put them in the field and sheltered in the shed herself. Her belongings were soaked, and Annie walked to the gas station and was invited to spend the night in the office. The attendant warned her that the gas station was a target for robbers, and sure enough, a robbery was attempted that night. When a would-be thief followed the attendant inside, Annie burst out and startled him, and he ran away. Annie was unnerved and exhausted.

The next day, she tried to dry her things and then traveled north, where she received help from the Smith family, who invited her to stay with them. She checked her mail at the central post office and was delighted to receive hundreds of letters of encouragement and invitations. Dodge City, Kansas, invited her to visit since she was a “cowboy” and the city considered itself “the true city of cowboys” (195). Annie happily agreed, and the Smith family trucked her and her animals across Kansas City toward her next stop, Topeka.

These areas were so rural that she camped along the road rather than trying to find a host. Her cough returned, and by the time she reached a farm, she could barely stand or ride. She had trouble finding a doctor who would see her and had little money to pay for treatments. (Healthcare in the US was changing rapidly during this time. Though medications like sulfa, penicillin, and the polio vaccine helped reduce deaths, healthcare costs increased, and the traditional model of people paying care expenses out of pocket changed as most US citizens had health insurance.) A state trooper helped Annie find a doctor, who gave her medication and ordered her to rest for 10 days. She paid him with money from selling autographed pictures. Ignoring his advice and the stable worker’s warning about the isolated road ahead, Annie set off the next day. For several days she had dizzy spells, even falling asleep in the saddle, but pressed on and began to feel better. The weather became much hotter, which helped ease her cough. While the region was far more isolated than any she had been through before, Annie enjoyed the vast and beautiful landscape around her.

Along a rural road, a motorist who had been looking for Annie was eager to share a picnic lunch of tuna casserole. Annie was moved by the woman’s effort to find her and share food. Like her, the stranger had been diagnosed with a terminal illness. Annie encouraged her to stay hopeful and believe that she could survive. On her way to Kansas City, Annie confronted a road blockage because crews were creating a new superhighway. However, the construction boss made an exception for Annie, allowing her to use the brand-new road, and she had it to herself for three days.

Annie enjoyed riding through cattle country and easily found farms to camp on every night. One day, Annie let Tarzan drink from a stream, but a local cowboy quickly intervened and told her that the stream was contaminated with rodenticide from a local farmer. Scared for Tarzan, Annie contacted a vet, who said she could do nothing but hope the poison was not fatal for her horse. That night, Tarzan had symptoms of poisoning: Sweating and pacing in his stall, he refused to eat or drink. Anxious for his friend, Depeche Toi howled, and Annie wondered anxiously whether the Maine legend was true that a howling dog was a bad omen, foretelling death. Annie decided that if Tarzan died, she would not continue her journey. The next morning, Tarzan was back on his feet, and the vet advised her to let him rest before continuing.

Soon, Annie and the animals arrived in Cheyenne, Wyoming, which in 1955 had 30,000 people. Annie looked forward to participating in their Frontier Days parade, an annual event that began decades earlier, in 1897, as a rodeo and quickly became the country’s biggest cowboy event. Even though horseback riding as a means of transportation decreased, it remained popular as a hobby and an escapist form of entertainment for increasingly urbanized US citizens. Thousands took road trips to Cheyenne for Frontier Days, where they enjoyed touristy activities that mythologized the American cowboy.

While Annie was from New England, her independent attitude and journey on horseback still embodied much about the cowboy tradition. Arriving in Cheyenne, Annie received a place to camp at Sloan Lake with the help of some boy scouts. In front of thousands of spectators, Annie, Tarzan, Rex and Depeche Toi proudly rode alongside the other riders and the marching band. Annie reflected on how she had left Minot quietly, somewhat embarrassed about her dream to cross the US, and was now part of something she could never have imagined.

While watching a rodeo event, Annie met Harvey Kelsey, a rancher who lived west of the Green River, where Annie would be passing on her route to California. Harvey invited her to stay at his house when she reached his place; in 1955, this was a social taboo since they were both single. When Annie left Cheyenne, she experienced the open and deceptive Wyoming landscape, realizing that things that appeared quite close were far away. She continued toward the mountains in the distance, unsure of what it would take to cross them.

Annie approached the Snowy Range, the mountain range in southern Wyoming. She needed to either cross it directly or travel north to go around it. Horseback riding was still an integral part of Wyoming’s rancher culture, so her local host encouraged her plan to traverse the mountains but ensured that she was properly equipped with a sleeping bag and winter clothes.

The hilly Kentucky and the Ozarks paled in comparison to the much larger Snowy Range. Annie and her animals slowly made subtle elevation gains as they neared the mountains, noticing the landscape’s wild grandeur and the bald eagles, antelope, and wild horses. She passed sheep herders, who greeted her warmly, and her fit horses seemed unaffected by the lower oxygen as they steadily gained altitude. Annie, meanwhile, was dizzy and could barely walk. Fortunately, the horses ably carried her, and she enjoyed the scenic beauty of the lakes, meadows, and peaks. Annie was stunned when she and the animals reached the mountain’s peak, called Libby Flats, and joined other picnicking tourists who had driven to the top. She felt that her mountain travels were much easier than she anticipated and was thrilled to eat the families’ picnic leftovers.

Relieved to have crossed the mountains, Annie headed toward the Great Divide Basin, one of the least populated areas in the US. For days she saw few people and stopped at station crossings for water and shelter. Finally, she approached the Red Desert, which had a small population. A storm loomed, and a local told her where to camp. It rained hard but passed quickly, and Annie went to bed in her tent. During the night, she heard the animals cry and went out with her flashlight. Suddenly, a wave of water pummeled Annie and her dog, momentarily knocking them off their feet. Shocked, Annie realized that a flash flood had triggered a “wash” of water to come down the mountains. The horses had run away, and Annie needed the local sheriff’s help to track them down.

Frustrated and unnerved, Annie felt daunted about continuing her journey to Idaho but had no choice. She reached the Green River region, where she found the rancher who had invited her to stay with him. While they enjoyed dinner and conversation, the rancher startled Annie by proposing to her. She promised to consider it but liked her independence and felt committed to her goal. While her days of riding in Idaho continued to be isolating, Annie was not lonely because she had her animals and herself for company.

Annie remembered her promise to Mina Sawyer to deliver a letter to the governor of Idaho. As September ended, the weather worsened, and she rode through increasingly gray and rainy weather. In mid-October, she arrived at Massacre Rocks State Park, a beautiful site famous for a narrow, rocky passage through which hundreds of thousands of West-bound settlers had passed in the mid-19th century. Annie hurried on, wary of the approaching winter. Soon reaching the capital of Boise, Idaho, she found a county jail to sleep in for the night. The next day she walked to the governor’s office at the statehouse, where she tried to deliver her letter. The secretary brushed her off, and Annie retreated, embarrassed. However, the secretary soon caught up with her and apologized, explaining that the governor had been hoping to meet her. Annie returned and met with the governor, who read the Maine governor’s letter with interest and proudly showed off Idaho’s largest potato, which sat on his desk.

Annie set off again, now more than a year into her journey. While her chosen paths were inefficient, she enjoyed a certain freedom in her horseback wandering that would soon be obsolete as highways and car culture took over. Leaving Idaho, she arrived in the small town of Ontario, Oregon. Annie’s route to California was not direct, and she was unaware that eastern Oregon was a sparsely populated, sandy region quite different from California. Annie was not geographically far from California, but to get there, she had to cross the Sierra Nevada region, a route that settlers had learned to avoid after October.

Mormons had settled the area, and Annie easily found places to stay. Hosts often sent her down the road to family or friends for the next night. One day, as she headed for the town of Burns, the weather worsened, bringing icy winds and blinding snow. Unprepared for such conditions, she worried about the lack of motorists and homeowners on her route. Finally, she reached a farmhouse, where a kind couple, the Eisenhowers, welcomed her, astonished that she was out in the cold with her animals. They said her only choice was to stay with them until the snow melted in April. She was devastated that she had made such a miscalculation and at delaying her trip for so long. She spent Thanksgiving with the Eisenhowers, feeling depressed about the delay. However, the next day Mrs. Eisenhower gave Annie the good news that a friend was trucking through the mountains to California and had offered her a ride. Annie eagerly accepted.