Sea G. Rhydr, the woman who passed through Calhoun County last April while riding across the country on horseback, finally reached her destination in Maine, but still had Calhoun County in her thoughts.
Upon completion of the more than two year ride, during which she visited countless communities across the nation, Sea chose to make Big Creek, Mississippi her new home where she will settle down and write the book about her cross-country experience.
Sea G. Rhydr with her two horses this past April as they made their way through Pittsboro. Photo by Joel McNeece
“I had always envisioned going back to New Mexico afterwards, but there was just something about Mississippi,” Sea said. “The hospitality was over the top. I think I gained 20 pounds riding across the state.”
Calhoun County especially had an impact on her.
“There was an inescapable sense of community there,” she said. “It was as if people were working at the art of being good neighbors.”
Sea explained that she was on the verge of complete exhaustion when arriving in Calhoun County and had even contemplated halting her cross country journey.
“I’d had enough. We’d made it through our second winter. I’d survived a fall which resulted in a concussion and torn muscles and two fractured vertebrae. The ponies were weary and I wondered at the wisdom of asking them to continue,” Sea said.
She was greeted in Calhoun County by Jess Moore and invited to stay on his place in Sabougla.
“We weren’t going to be there for several days so we invited her to stay and set her horses out to pasture and just make the home hers for the weekend,” Jess said. “She hadn’t had a house to herself in a long time.”
That evening, Jess hosted a monthly gathering at his circa 1890s farmhouse for a musical jam session of mostly bluegrass, “breaking bread, and fellowship.” It was there Sea fell in love with the people.
“I spent several days in Calhoun County, catching up on rest and getting to know some of the people who live there and I found myself starting to feel a bit homesick for a community where I could have a little house and settle down with the ponies,” she said. “I suddenly realized how much I wanted a home.”
The following night Sea was treated to dinner at Paisley’s in Big Creek and she mentioned to Jess how Big Creek was a place she could settle down in. He told her about the old Caldwell house just behind downtown that sat on five acres of land.
The house, which dates back to the 1840s, once served as the Big Creek school.
Upon the first visit, Sea fell in love with the property.
“I walked up on the porch of the house with its two rocking chairs, and suddenly I knew I could write the book there,” she said. “I started thinking about the ‘Little House in Big Creek’ a lot.”
Over the course of several weeks during her journey to Maine she made contact with the owners and ultimately worked out an agreement to buy the property.
“The day before Halloween I got the news that the ponies and I have a home in Big Creek, Mississippi,” Sea said. “We’ll be living a bit rough at first – an outhouse and a spigot and a wood stove.”
This home, built around the 1840s, once served as the Big Creek schoolhouse. Among all the places Sea visited across the country during her journey, she chose this house in Big Creek to become her permanent home where she will write her book about the experience.
“The house needs a lot of work. I wound up speaking with one of my neighbors to be (Wanda Harrison). She was wonderfully helpful and friendly and mentioned that the house hadn’t been lived in since she moved there in 1975. By my understanding the house was built in the 1840’s and human beings a lot like me lived there – before there was any such thing as city water or electric. I’ve got good camping skills and a fair amount of determination – and a book to write before I get too carried away with learning how to restore a house. I’m looking forward to it. I’m also looking forward to being the host instead of the guest for a change – and I’m not going to apologize for my rustic and random housekeeping.”
Sea departed her home in Philo, California two years ago and traveled an average of 15 miles per day on her tall (14.3 hands) red, Pinto hybrid “Jesse James” and her trusty pack horse Finehorn, a Norwegian Fjord.
The trip was part of a lifelong dream inspired by Rhydr’s love for reading. The trip was born from reading Mesannie Wilkins, “The Last of the Saddle Tramps.”
“Wilkins was 63 years old in 1954, she had no family, her farm was being repossessed and her doctor said she had a year or two to live, if she lived quietly,” Sea said. “Her mom had always wanted to go to California but never made it. Mesannie had nothing to lose so she bought herself a grumpy summer camp horse named Tarzan for $5, loaded all her gear on her horse, called her dog and, with $32 in her pocket, headed out for California.”
The book chronicles her amazing two-year adventure to California, which landed her on the Art Linkletter show.
Sea undertook a similar mission with the final destination of Minot, Maine, where Wilkins is buried, and she recently led a celebratory parade.
“This has been very tiring, but a wonderful experience. The people I’ve met have been incredible,” Sea said. “You get the idea from watching the news that there are a lot of dangerous people out there. Well if I met them, they only wanted to be friends.”
During her trip through Calhoun she spent a weekend with Calhoun native Billy Hankins and his family in Eupora before riding to Calhoun City and meeting up with Jess Moore. She stopped at Susan Massey’s near Banner as she headed out.
Sea described Mississippi as “beautiful” and said she loved the scenery in Calhoun County, although her horses weren’t fond of the log trucks.
Sea is now with her parents in Greenville, New York, where she’ll stay through Thanksgiving.
“I hope to leave New York on Dec. 2, but I don’t have anything worked out yet,” Sea said.
In addition to her two horses, she has a puppy and a few milk goats and a few pieces of furniture to try and get transported to Mississippi.
Sea. G. Rhydr stands by a map that marks her 25 month journey across the United States from California to Maine.
Moore, who said he talks to Sea on a weekly basis, said many in the Big Creek community are looking forward to her return.
“It’s still overwhelming to me that out of all the places she’s been she chose Calhoun County to call home,” Jess said.
“I’ve been so blessed on this journey, over and over again in ways I never could have imagined,” Sea said. “I have had experiences and learned things that most people only ever get a glimmer of. It feels good to have finished the trip and know where I’m going. I’m really honored they wanted me back.”