A man, his horse...and a ride of a lifetime

Duo traveled 1,100 miles to Wyoming in ‘96

By Scott Thoma

Teaching is in the blood of Bob Anderson and his family. Bob and his wife, Diane, of rural Kandiyohi, were longtime teachers in the Willmar school system. All three of their children also became teachers.

Just because you teach others, though, doesn’t mean you can’t learn something yourself. In the summer of 1996, Bob got a valuable learning lesson from atop a horse named Coach.

“I learned a lot about life, people and the beauty of the country,” he said. “It was an experience I will never forget.”

Together, Bob, then 55, and Coach traveled 1,100 miles from the Anderson home six miles east of Willmar and two miles south of Kandiyohi in west central Minnesota all the way to Pinedale, Wyoming, where his brother lived.

“A lot of people asked me why I wanted to ride a horse all the way to Wyoming,” Anderson said. “I had the horse and I’ve always loved the western culture. Being a teacher, I had the summer off and this was something I could do with my horse.”

After deciding to take the western journey, Anderson informed his wife of his plans.

“She didn’t think it was a good idea and tried to talk me out of it,” Anderson said. “But she knew it was something I wanted to do, though, and supported me.”

Anderson’s original plan was to take a pack horse along with Coach so he could take turns riding each horse to give them a break, while also being able to carry more supplies.

“When I was riding Coach, the pack horse didn’t follow at the same pace and there was always tension in the line attached to the saddle,” Anderson said. “I didn’t want to put up with that the whole way to Wyoming, so I decided to leave the pack horse with someone I knew in western Minnesota.”

With just one horse, room for supplies and gear was limited. Anderson laid out all the items he had in the two horse’s packs on the ground and picked out the items he needed most.

“I took things like my small tent, a blanket, a few clothes, a raincoat, some food and a few other things,” he said.

Anderson had drawn a straight line from his home in Minnesota to Pinedale and tried to follow that route as closely as possible.

“Of the 1,100 miles, I probably walked 250 of them when I felt Coach needed a break, or just to do it like the pioneers did,” said Anderson. “Of the entire trip, I don’t think we traveled more than 100-125 miles on a paved road. It was mostly on gravel roads or the prairie.”

The trip took one month to complete — from June 5 to July 5. The average daily trips were 37 miles. Some days he didn’t travel at all due to weather conditions and other factors. His longest one-day trip was around 60 miles.

“I slept in a lot of different places,” Anderson said. “If I was in a town and a motel was available, I would find someone to put up my horse for the night and then stay in the motel. Otherwise, some people would let me stay in their house, or I would sleep in my one-man tent with my half-blanket I brought along. I also slept in barns, corncribs and even a lumber yard office. I got caught in a storm one time and a sheepherder who didn’t speak English let me stay in his sheep wagon.”

The people that Anderson encountered during his trek to Wyoming were often kind and helpful, giving him food and shelter.

“I met some wonderful people along the way,” he said. “Some would welcome me into their home, feed me and allow me to take a shower.”

When Coach developed a cough during the trip, a woman Anderson met retrieved some veterinary medicine for the horse. When Coach needed new shoes, people helped him with that, too.

“Not one person ever said ‘no’ when I asked if they could put Coach up for the night,” Anderson said. “I guess they felt that not many criminals looking for a place to stay would be on horseback.”

Anderson would also have some snacks to munch on during the trip such as dried beef and candy bars. Coach would dine on grass and oats, and drink water from a stream.

“I would even give him some cereal,” Anderson said. “He would eat a whole box of Cheerios in no time.”

With no cell phones available, Anderson would phone home on a pay phone from a town he was passing through to let his wife know how the trip was going.

“She drove out with the trailer and picked me and the horse up so we could cross the Missouri River in South Dakota,” said Anderson.

Bob wrote down things he encountered on his trip in a journal.

“It’s nice to look in it and remember the wonderful time I had,” he said. “I wish I had brought a camera with because I saw some beautiful sites that you wouldn’t see if you were traveling out west in a car.”

Once the trip was completed, Diane traveled to Wyoming to pick up her husband and the horse and bring them back to Minnesota.

The Andersons are retired from teaching — Bob as an Industrial Tech instructor and Diane as an elementary teacher. They have been married for 63 years and have three children, seven grandchildren, and one great grandchild (and another on the way).

Anderson currently has two horses at his home, both over 25 years old. He still rides, although a recent hip surgery has curtailed his riding for now.

“I have learned to appreciate people in so many ways after taking that trip,” said Anderson. “I wish there was a way to repay all the people for their help.”