Bernice Ende

“Essie swam in both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and three of the Great Lakes and crossed Death Valley (Mojave Desert) and the Sonoran Desert. She made two Canadian trips and traveled from Texas to Calgary. She crossed the United States twice, the Rocky Mountains nine times, and the Cascade Range four. I like to think it beat a long, slow, uninteresting life as a pasture potato.”
― Bernice Ende, Lady Long Rider: Alone Across America on Horseback

“What is it about weather, one of nature’s many hands, that I so want to be a part of? I want it touching me, holding me in its track of infinite personalities. I want the wind crawling up my sleeves and my broadbrimmed hat resisting the sun’s belittling heat. I want to lie on the earth and let the tall grasses hold me. I’m enticed by the wild invigorating and unpredictable challenge of weathering a storm, of finding myself face to face with nature’s playful or unforgiving forces.”
― Bernice Ende, Lady Long Rider: Alone Across America on Horseback