Miles Dean rides down the home stretch

Ben Fredman/For The Star-LedgerNewark schoolteacher Miles Dean rides west out of Las Cruces, N.M., during part of his 6,000-mile horseback journey from New York to California.

He may be behind schedule, but Miles Dean is still riding high in the saddle -- if a bit more gingerly these days.

Dean, a 52-year-old social studies teacher in Newark, is heading down the home stretch of his half-year, 6,000-mile horseback journey from New York to California -- an adventure intended to heighten awareness of black cowboys and other African-Americans who helped forge American history.

Dean left New York City in September and had hoped to finish his coast-to-coast trip in February in honor of Black History month, but the ride has taken longer than expected. The long trek also took a toll, with Dean taking a four-day break at a Texas ranch to rest his aching body and weary horses.

By today, Dean and his two horses were traveling through southern New Mexico along Interstate 10, and in a telephone interview he said he now hopes to end his journey in Los Angeles sometime late next month.

Dean has encountered some tough going along the way, especially through mountain trails in West Virginia where one of his horses developed an abcess on his foot that required medical attention.

He also said he dreaded the long, monotonous ride through the prairies of Texas, a trip that took 40 days.

"That's over 800 miles in one state and I couldn't wait to get out," he said in the interview from Akela, N.M. "I'm not a very religious man, but I made the sign of the cross when I got to the border."

Taking two horses for the excursion, the 9-year-old Arabian stallion, Sankofa, and a 12-year-old palomino named Blaze, Dean has been accompanied by a driver, a horse trailer with living quarters and a video cameraman.

He has checked in regularly throughout his journey with The Star-Ledger, which has reported his progress on its news blog at nj.com/news. He also noted in a recent posting to his own website that the trip has begun to take its toll.

"By last week," he said, "it had become difficult not only to step into the saddle but difficult and hurtful to ride in the saddle. My kidney was hurting, my back was hurting and my horses were hurting. But I push on. It's amazing what the mind will tell the body to do."

At the end of his break at the ranch, Dean was again ready to hit the trail with "a new spring in my step."

Read more in Thursday's Star-Ledger, and listen to Dean's previous dispatches.