A restless fellow by the name of Ezra Cooley is riding a horse around the world and raising funds for the National Children’s Cancer Society. Cooley stopped in Rolla, Mo., looking for old Route 66, reported the Rolla Daily News.
He’s already gone 7,000 miles, going from Chico, Calif., to New York City.
Doubling back, Cooley will go southwest on much of Route 66, then head to Mexico, through South America, and then he’ll catch a plane to Australia. After that, it’s Asia and Europe. He wants to circle the globe on horseback in a decade.
Just outside Aspen, Colo., as he sought the best way through a snow-clogged mountain pass, he and his horses fell through an ice bridge, falling about 40 feet. On another day, he successfully eluded a grizzly bear without altercation.
“The grizzly was something else. It was a big one, you know, the kind with the huge hump on its back. That was a little scary,” he said.
His travels are painted with stories, some from the most unlikely places. In Manhattan, he rode his horses up Wall Street and roped the Merrill Lynch bull.
You can follow Ezra’s adventures or make a donation at EzrasExpedition.com.