Sons’ quest took them across the USA on horseback
By DEUCE NIVEN
tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com
Lucas and Levi White had high school in their future, their parents were considering a different crossroads, when their parents, Josh and Terra, had an idea.
Nearly four years ago Josh had a vision for a different kind of education, home schooling on hoofs, with the family trekking from coast-to-coast, almost, bartering their way across America, and the sons learning much more than the three R’s.
“I had an epiphany,” Josh said as the family made camp recently at a Beaverdam area rental home as guests of the owner, Huey Godwin, who they met the night before.
Levi, Lucas and Josh White, from left, set carefully packed saddle bags on a mule before leaving the Beaverdam Community on June 13. That leg of their 4,000 mile cross-country trek began on FM Cartret Road, top photo. (Deuce Niven, TLT)
There were family meetings, some questions about the sanity of Josh, and eventually agreement.
Their trek began west of the California coast after learning that access to the beach, with their horses and mules, would be very expensive. Sticking mostly to back roads the family saw this country in a way few have, small towns and Indian reservations, highways and by-ways, a journey of more than three and a half years destined to end on the Atlantic, at Holden Beach, perhaps by Father’s Day 2025.
More on that later.
Gold miner
Josh had a career in the gold mines of Nevada, work as a millwright that paid the bills but didn’t always leave time for family.
His epiphany, essentially, was that life is short, lessons elusive, and that time with family was more important than the job. Josh and Terra, the high school sweetheart he had married, wanted something different for their sons.
Pilot takes the lead as the White family – Lucas, Josh, Terra and Levi – make their way down FB Cartret Road enroute to Brunswick County on June 13. (Deuce Niven, TLT)
“I wanted to make sure they boys became men,” Josh said. “They are grateful for the simple things, now.”
Simple, initially, meant travelling with horses and mules, finding odd jobs as they make their 4,000 mile trek across America, and paid their own way.
“We’ve been with people of all kinds of faith, all sorts of ethnicity,” Josh said. “We’ve been in the ghetto, lived with the Navaho for some time, and learned from them all.”
Early in their journey they spent time with an elderly woman with way too many dogs, their pens and dog houses filthy with waste their owner was no longer healthy enough to take care of.
“We worked hard, shoveled it all out,” Josh said. “It was hard work. She paid us well.”
Part of that payment seemed a bit of a burden, at first, and became a treasured part of the family.
“She told us she had too many dogs, and would we take one,” Josh said. “I didn’t want a dog, another mouth to feed.”
Terra, however, was smitten by the small Heeler mix puppy.
“He was too small to walk to start with,” Terra said. “I had to make room in my saddle bag for food, for treats, and I carried him.”
He seemed eager to point the way along their 16-state journey, and soon a name that fit, Pilot, was chosen. Friendly with family and strangers, Pilot was soon at home among the hoofs of horses and mules, and while passing through Columbus County seemed eager to lead the way.
Lucas and Levi picked up plenty of skills on the way, both said, from training horses to shoveling stalls, anything to pay their way.
Through home schooling, they are now high school graduates and are weighing their options. Neither said they were sure of what the future holds, but that their LLManQuest journey will shape their lives.
They will share some of their knowledge in Pittsboro this Saturday in the first of what will likely be many “Introducing LLMANQUEST meet and greet events as they make their way back west, by truck or other vehicles this time.
Noting the “4,000+ miles, across 16 states” horseback journey, a flyer for the all-day event at Double C Arena offers an opportunity to “meet the whole team including family, horses/mules, and pilot!.
“Join us while LLManQuest share infinite knowledge of ancient art of horseback travel. They will share critical information on gear, supplies, struggles, equine maintenance, and more.”
For more on this story, and a photo with boots and hooves in the Atlantic, see this week’s Tabor-Loris Tribune in print and online.
