Ride of Passage brings trailblazer through Marion
Matt Parker, 24, of Ann Arbor, Mich., is on a journey.
He wants to be the first person to travel by horseback over the 6,800-mile American Discovery Trail that stretches from California to Delaware.
He's also using the experience as a soul searching journey to find his inner-self and make life-changing decisions.
Parker traveled through Marion, arriving Saturday evening. He camped out and departed Sunday morning.
"My generation has few dreams and more aspirations," Parker said. "When this trip concludes I will have fulfilled a dream but not sure about an aspiration."
Traveling a total of 11 months, Parker began his trip May 28, 2003, from Sacramento, Calif., on a Tennessee walking horse, Smokey.
He crossed the brutal Nevada and Utah deserts during the summer months before reaching the Colorado border Sept. 22.
During the desert passage, Parker's father drove a truck ahead and left hay and six-gallon water jugs at strategic stops, calling the coordinates to his son using a Global Positioning System.
While traveling through the Rocky Mountains, the kindness of strangers sustained Parker and Smokey.
"People were so kind to me," Parker said. "It was very desolate but I had a place to stay every night."
Averaging between 20 and 30 miles per day, Parker spends some of the trip walking with the horse to give himself and the horse a change of pace.
Parker returned to Utah and spent the winter months working and resting for the next leg of his trip. A rancher he stayed with "loaned" him a mule, Danny Boy, to carry nearly 150 pounds of supplies.
Numerous times Parker was offered a fresh horse in exchange for Smokey but couldn't bear to part with him. In Provo, Utah, he did part with his loyal partner, selling him to a woman who would "take good care of him," Parker said.
He acquired a Palomino-colored, Missouri foxtrotter named Little Face who continues to be his companion through Kansas. Parker said he knows gaited breeds typically don't make good traveling horses but these particular horses were chosen for their spirit and perseverance.
Parker arrived in Kansas in September. The mule was left behind at Hutchinson Correctional Institution. In exchange, Parker will get first pick of a mustang at an upcoming sale.
The young man said there have been times the journey has tested his physical and mental abilities to the point of despair.
On Sunday, he was extremely fatigued and at times seemed discouraged in his lonely sojourn across the U.S.
He plans to travel another two weeks, then stop in Missouri for two months. He wants to complete the trip in May 2005 on the east coast.
"This is showing me what I'm made of and what I stand for," Parker said.
Parker said young people today do not have many "rights of passage." However, he thinks children who grow up in smaller communities have more opportunities.
"Kids in small towns like Marion grow up stronger with rural values and family ties," Parker said. "People like me who grow up in a city have to test themselves."
Parker has met thousands of people and only has met two he didn't like and who didn't like him.
Some people he's met will be lifelong friends, Parker said, like a priest in Larned who didn't become a priest until he was 38 years old. Parker asked the priest why he waited so long to make the commitment and the priest responded he denied the calling.
"This trip is serving as spiritual enlightenment for me," Parker said and added he is considering answering the call to enter the seminary to become a priest.
Although he doesn't look like the typical hitchhiker or "down and out" traveler, some people are suspicious of his appearance.
"Some people are turned off by my appearance," Parker said. "I'm dressed to endure the elements and I have to travel light."
Prepared for whatever nature dishes out to him, Parker carries a gun, knife, ax, and cell phone.
"My parents are very supportive of my goals," Parker explained, "but one of their requirements was for me to have a cell phone."
The trip has had its share of physical challenges. His horse was attacked by a mountain lion. Parker was drugged by someone who offered him a place to stay, and later kicked in the knee by his horse, which laid him up for a month.
Parker earned a fine arts degree from Hope College, Holland, Mich., and has spent time in numerous countries. No stranger to challenges, he spent a month in India, and has traveled extensively through Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Greece, and Cypress.
The weary traveler planned to spend Sunday night at Herington.
Donations are needed to offset expenses for supplies and expenses. For more information about Parker and his trip, visit his Web site at www.rideofpassage.com.
