Glasscock is riding his two horses, Frank and George, to all 48 state capitals in the continental United States to raise awareness for a scholarship fund for students in Paraguay. The odyssey will take him “somewhere between two to three years,” he says nonchalantly.
Glasscock rode through Moore County on Monday on his way from Raleigh to Columbia, S.C. He rode Frank. George carried his pack. As the three traveled south on U.S. 1, a number of motorists slowed down to get a look. They walked along the sidewalk recently installed by Southern Pines.
Glassock stopped at Sagebrush just before 11 a.m. The restaurant opened up early so he could have a cup of coffee. They offered water for his horses, but George and Frank seemed interested only in the sugar packets for Glasscock’s coffee.
Sagebrush, a Western-theme restaurant, seemed the perfect setting for Glasscock. He lowered his 69-year-old frame from the tall gelding and leaned on an old barrel, framed by a wagon wheel.
He wore cowboy boots, dusty blue jeans and a cowboy hat. Glasscock’s orange reflective vest served as the only reminder that he was not a cowboy, but a man journeying down a busy highway.
Long journeys are becoming old hat for Glasscock, a native of Texas who was raised in eastern Oregon. He has lived in Alaska and Washington state, and served as a missionary in both Paraguay and Mexico.
He is considered by the Long Riders’ Guild to be the only man to successfully ride from the Arctic Circle in North America to the equator in South America. One of his horses died on the journey. He presented the other horse as a gift to the president of Ecuador.
Glasscock’s trek from the Arctic Circle to the equator was just for fun.
“I’ve had my thrills,” he says.
On this trip, he is promoting the Philip Scholarship Fund, which pays for students from Paraguay to attend school at Pensacola Christian College in Pensacola, Fla. They can study anything they want, he says.
The idea is that the students would then take what they have learned back to Paraguay. The students have to sign a contract saying that they will return to Paraguay, he says.
Glasscock became involved with the scholarship as a missionary in Paraguay, where he taught English. He was forced to stop teaching when he lost the hearing in his right ear. He never gained enough of his hearing to allow him to hear the high voices of the young boys and girls.
That’s when he decided that there was still something that he could do to help them.
“I still love the kids and I wanted to see things change down there,” he says. “I believe the only way to do that is to educate the people and send them back.”
On Sept. 17, 2002, he set out on his journey from Denver. His path so far has taken him from Denver to Cheyenne, Wyo.; Lincoln, Neb.; Topeka, Kan.; Jefferson City, Mo.; Little Rock, Ark.; Nashville, Tenn.; Frankfort, Ky.; Charleston, W.Va.; Harrisburg, Pa.; Albany, N.Y.; Montpelier, Vt.; Augusta, Maine; Concord, N.H.; Boston, Mass; Providence, R.I.; Hartford, Conn.; Trenton, N.J.; Annapolis, Md.; Richmond, Va.; and Raleigh.
His horses have grazed on the lawns of 21 of the 22 state capitols he has visited so far.
“They didn’t have a lawn at Harrisburg,” he says.
At every stop, Glasscock met either the governor, the first lady, the lieutenant governor or another emissary of the governor. In Raleigh, Gov. Mike Easley couldn’t meet Glasscock, but he sent out a representative to greet him.
“They always send somebody,” he says.
During his ride south from Raleigh, Glasscock stopped to have his horses checked. Even though horses’ hooves have chipped from the miles of travel, Glasscock says they got a clean bill of health. He’s required to have them checked every month.
“They’re always amazed at the way [the horses] are holding up,” he says.
Glasscock is holding up pretty well, too. He may be 69, but he says, “I’m 23 for the third time.”
He rides through rain and snow most of the time. He has been forced to stop a few times when the rain was coming down as a deluge and once when 17 inches of snow fell in a day. He stops where he can and looks for shelter along the way. Since about southern New Jersey, people have heard what he is doing and have set up places for him to stay.
Monday night, he stayed at Bellevue Farm in Hoffman.
Glasscock draws inspiration from some of the experiences he’s had along the way.
In New York, Glasscock helped 103-year-old man ride his horse, Frank. Glasscock hopes that his trip can inspire some senior citizens to do things that they think they might not be able to do.
In Providence, Glasscock met an 8-year-old girl and her grandmother. They were obviously from a very poor neighborhood, he says.
Glasscock noticed she was looking at his horse. He asked her if she wanted to ride him, and she told him she did. Her grandmother agreed, so Glasscock helped her into the saddle. He led her around a statue of Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island.
As Glasscock rounded the statue and brought the girl back to her grandmother he noticed the girl’s wide smile and tears on the grandmother’s cheeks.
“She’s been wanting to get on a horse since she could talk,” the woman told Glasscock.
“To see that smile, and those tears of joy,” Glasscock says, “it makes you one of the richest men in the world.”
Once Glasscock has visited 48 capitals, he hasn’t mapped out plans for another trip. He may move back to Paraguay.
“My heart is with the kids down there,” he says. “They tell me home is where the heart is, so that’s my home.”
