News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Augustin Blanchard, left, and Marc Polier are on the final leg of a long horse trek from Kentucky to Oregon.
Augustin Blanchard and Marc Polier have found the perfect way to see the United States: The two Frenchmen are trekking on horseback from eastern Kentucky to Florence, Oregon.
They paused on their cross-country adventure in Sisters on Monday.
The riders left Kentucky in June, cut across Indiana and Illinois, then followed roughly the course of the Missouri River across the Great Plains. They crossed South Dakota to visit the Black Hills then headed into Wyoming and on to Idaho and Oregon - dazzled by the scale of the landscape and the friendliness of the people.
"It's a huge country," said Polier. "Just big, big. And it's beautiful; just look around here."
The Frenchmen are riding gaited Rocky Mountain Horses, purchased east of Lexington, Kentucky. The horses have performed spectacularly on the journey.
"They need a good rest," Poier said. "They've worked really hard."
Blanchard, who hails from Normandy and has been working as a business consultant in New York City, rode Amigo, while Polier is driving a cart behind Midnight. The cart is a recent acquisition, added to relieve Midnight's sore back. Polier notes that the cart has an advantage - he can now bring some wine along on the trail.
Polier formerly worked in the cosmetics industry, marketing to Russia and former Soviet republics. He had been living in Moscow before the trek.
This is not the pair's first long ride. They've trekked in Mongolia and in France.
"I guess it's the perfect way to visit a country," Polier said. "It's the perfect speed. If you travel by car you just see the road - you don't meet people."
Meeting people has been a highlight of the long journey.
"It's pretty amazing how nice people are when you're traveling by horseback," Polier said.
The long riders were taking a break at Space Age Gas, talking to curious passersby and gearing up for the climb over McKenzie Pass. The end of their journey is in
sight.
Polier described their post-trek plans: "We'll probably rent a small house on the seaside, relax, enjoy good seafood, sell the horses, then go back to work."
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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