John Wayne Haynes

My husband, Josh, ran into a very interesting man on January 5, 2009. His name is John Wayne Haynes. He is from Hudson, Michigan moving to Santa Fe, New Mexico near family. The thing that made this man interesting was he was going to New Mexico on horse back! He was riding, Misty and leading Harley and his dog Sheila walked along side. He has been riding since October and plans on making his destination by Easter in April.

Since Josh and his dad,Ronnie, love horses and dream of the olden days, they are very captivated by this man and his journey. The day that Josh found him it was raining and very cold. He was heading west on Highway 4 through Thyatira, MS. Josh stopped to see if he needed anything and was okay. He was at the old gin and was going to get a fire going to get dry, so Josh told him of a country store up the road where he could go and get some food, he declined then.

Josh called his dad and told him about The Traveler. Ronnie and Phil, a co-worker, went and got him some horse feed. Out of much curiosity they asked him why he was traveling on horse back. He told them he thought it would be an adventure. He's a pretty brave man riding down Highway 4! They left him to dry out and later on Ronnie brought him coffee and Phil brought a pork chop dinner. He planned on heading for the Helena Bridge in Arkansas around 8:30 the next morning.

The next morning Josh brought him a sausage and biscuit and so did Curtis, another co-worker, along with more coffee. He was very appreciative and always offered to pay for anything they would bring. The weather still wasn't on his side and he decided to stay another night in the old gin. Through out the day they brought him firewood, dog food, and hay for the horses. As they spent more time with him, he told them his story. His three children were grown, which made him smile to talk about them, and he grew tired of Michigan and the horrible weather there. He had lived there for 55 years and was ready for a change. His brother and sister live in New Mexico and he sold everything he could and gave away anything he didn't. They asked why he decided to come south and so far out of the way. He told them that after waking up one morning in Ohio with everything frozen it was time to head south to warmer weather. They still didn't understand why he was riding horse back. He told them that he has had horses all of his life and loved riding them and thought it would be an adventure to ride. They offered to trailer his horses and take him to the Helena Bridge. He declined the offer with great appreciation and explained that he wanted to ride the whole way, he was trying to get into the Long Rider's Guild and he must ride 1,000 miles to do so. They asked where he would sleep during his journey. He told them where ever he could. That most people had been very nice and would let him stay in there house or barn.

They left him to rest for a while that day and came back with more supper that night and even more conversation. He told Ronnie that he was a butcher back home and that he trained the horse that he was riding, Misty. Josh asked if he had, had any trouble while riding and he said only one incident. While in Indiana a group of teenagers was shouting at him and flipping him the bird. Most of his journey he only encountered very nice and caring people. Josh asked him if he needed to use his cell phone to call anyone, and he told him he has a cell phone. He would turn it on once a day around 7 o'clock Michigan time to call and let his kids know where he was and that he was okay. Josh exchanged phone number with him and asked him to let him know how he's doing every now and then.

On Wednesday morning they went to see him off, but to their surprise he had already made it two miles to Barr. They stopped and wished him a happy and safe journey. He made it all the way to the Northwest Mississippi Community College Arena, about 15-20 miles from the gin. He spent the night there and was off the next morning. He made the front page of our local newspaper,www.thedemocrat.com.

By Friday at lunch he was only 1 mile from the Helena Bridge. Josh has said that he was a very nice man and is glad to have had the chance to meet him. We wish a very safe trip and our thoughts and prayers are with him. We have seen on the Internet all of the interesting people he has ran into along the way. Just google his whole name and you will be surprised by all of the people that he has intrigued with his journey.