Who hasn’t fantasized about riding off into the sunset on your own horse through beautiful Western terrain that is all yours for as far as the eye...
Ups & Downs of Ranching Dream
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Travel & Preservation
Journey Through Spanish Missions Country
Tourists—tons of them—walk inside these walls with a quiet reverence. It’s not because the Daughters of the Republic of Texas (DRT) remind them of...
The Road to Mangas
The dirt road to Mangas almost loses itself amid low hills as it winds through the windswept plains of New Mexico’s high desert. It isn’t a drive...
The Lazy Person’s Guide to Oregon
“A lazy person should never think about going to Oregon,” wrote Elizabeth Wood, in her diary entry for August 3, 1851. Elizabeth was traveling on...
Wagon Train Rediscovers America
The discovery of gold in 1874 by Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer’s expedition ignited a stampede. Mining camps sprang up in the Dakota Territory’s...
Alaska’s Quiet Gold Rush
He said his name was Tommy. In his 60s, he had driven his compact pickup truck from Mississippi all the way to Alaska. Arriving in Homer, he spent...
Staycations & Vacations
This past winter, when I finally made my way to Mystery Castle at 800 E. Mineral Road in Phoenix, Arizona, I was glad to hear I was not the only...
What’s in a Name
GENE AUTRY If not for his job as a telegrapher at the St. Louis and San Francisco Railway, Gene Autry may not have become famous as the Singing...
Phantom Rides Still Rollin’
The floor swings beneath your feet. Steam whistles toot. Train wheels clatter over the rail joints of a track. Your body rocks in the train...
Ride Green
Don’t consider yourself an environmentalist? If you’re a trail rider, you’re more eco-friendly than you realize. Horseback riding is an...
Florence, Arizona
In his teens, in the 1950s, Tom Smith found himself atop the "world's wonder horse"—or rather, the second Champion. After a long day at the Junior...
Following Thomas “Broken Hand” Fitzpatrick
Irish immigrant Thomas Fitzpatrick signed on with William Ashley to head out West in search of beaver in 1823. He traveled up the Missouri River,...