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Tom Seay's Long Ride

June 6, 2009 12:36 am

EVERY NOW and then I like to call Tom Seay and ask what he's doing. I have never gotten a dull answer.

When I called this week, he said something about New Mexico. Bad connection, I figured. But no, it turns out he's riding the range out there, so I asked the highlight of his latest adventure. He said there were too many to choose just one.

"I'd have to say it was pretty exciting riding in the ruts the freight wagons wore on the Old Santa Fe Trail," he said, "But then sleeping under the stars in the desert at White Sands stands out, too." The same for the friendly families who welcomed his group into Old Mesilla, a tiny historic adobe village. "It looked like a miniature version of a Williamsburg of the West," said Seay.

"Tommy," to the many who know him, is one of the most colorful characters we've known in this part of Virginia, a true original.

Let me back up a bit. As I write, he's nearing Raton, N.M., trail boss for 48 happy riders on his northbound Border-to-Border horseback adventure. They had covered well over 500 miles of the ride this week, with the Colorado line almost in sight. By Sept. 5, when they meet their Royal Canadian Mounted Police escort and cross the northern border, they'll have covered some 1,800 miles.

The journey, a year and a half in the planning, isn't the first of this kind for Seay, who has done similar trail rides from Atlantic to Pacific shores and another commemorating the historic ride of the Knights of the Golden Horseshoe.

The current ride is part of Seay's television series, "Best of America by Horseback," and will air in half-hour weekly segments on RFD-TV, a Texas cable channel, starting this fall. Satellite television carries the network, and two-minute promos for the current ride will start next week.

Seay's wife, Pat, who has worked with him as a producer since the days long ago when they operated RCC-TV, a Spotsylvania County-based cable channel, continues in that role for the new series.

A diverse group

The core group of 48 riders, who vary widely in their saddle experience, hails from 24 states and three foreign countries, said Seay. Two female riders from Winchester are among them, he said. The group, which gets along well, he said, is diverse in age as well as experience, ranging from people in their 20s to 88-year-old Nate Brown, a Wyoming pack outfitter.

Incidentally, three participants are logging their photos and thoughts on the ride in personal blogs, which are linked to Seay's Web page for the series, bestofamericaby horseback.com. Then click on "MCTR Updates" to reach the link for the blogs.

While some of the riders have done fairly long trail rides, said Seay, others have never done anything like it and some have never seen the wide-open spaces of the American West. "We have a farm couple with us from Michigan," he said, "who have never been able to take the time to vacation together."

None of the original core riders has dropped out, he said, even though they put in many hours in the saddle, in all kinds of weather, hot and cold, some rainy days and a wide variety of terrain to deal with not only for themselves but for their mounts.

Each of the riders has a support vehicle, some with drivers to move the vehicles, others running a shuttle to get their trucks. Seay, who draws on his long experience from past rides, says he keeps rules to a minimum, allowing participants plenty of flexibility for their own schedules and needs. Because the trip involves horses, which must be carefully cared for, fed and watered, the undertaking requires careful planning of logistics and much vehicle shuttling.

The route he has planned avoids roads if possible and runs across rangeland, public lands and private ranches. "People have been wonderful, all along the route," he said. Many ranchers have given permission to cross their lands, and some have joined to ride along for a time.

Even Seay has been surprised by the hospitality. "Some of the towns have invited us to dinner," he said, "and they even had parades for us in Old Mesilla, near Las Cruces, and the priest at the basilica came out and blessed our ride."

It's been like that from the start, when a sheriff's posse gave them a formal escort for the start of the trip at the barrier marking the border.

Sleeping under the stars

While this is not a camping trip as such, Seay said he wanted to re-create the wilderness experience to some extent, and the trail route has taken the riders 30 or more miles from the nearest road at some points.

There have been nights when sleeping under the stars was the sole option, he said, and the experience was unforgettable.

It certainly isn't an endurance or speed thing, as Seay said he tries to keep the distance to 15 to 20 miles per day. Reading the riders' blogs shows he must have planned it right.

The trail is long, the West is beckoning, and our phone connections were never good as I spoke with Seay.

But I could have sworn I heard him say: "Come on out. We've got a place for you here."

I'll check in on Seay again as his ride inches its way across the American West. His offer sounds mighty good, but I'm not so sure I can make it happen.

And in the meantime, there are still openings for two more long-distance participants on the ride. Taking part involves a weekly fee and a lot of logistics (see the Web site) but for lovers of horses and the West who have the time to spare and the money and vehicle to make it happen, I'd have to agree with Seay that this is the opportunity of a lifetime.

Paul Sullivan of Spotsylvania County, a former reporter with The Free Lance-Star, is a freelance writer. E-mail him at PBSullivan2@cs.com.