Globalroamink’s Weblog

E’leese Madgett-Manrique is a 12 year-old girl that is doing something really cool.

She is riding her horse (and Arabian named Chip) in a loop through the state of Minnesota.

It’s going to take her entire summer to do. Her big departure date is June 7. She leaves from the town of Buffalo, Minnesota. As her map stands right now, she won’t get back home to her Minneapolis suburb until August 31.

But this isn’t just some sort of horseback joy ride. E’leese is actually a girl on a mission.

She wants to raise money for an organization she started called oneGirloneRide.

After she collects enough dough, she wants to buy a 3,000 acre ranch in rural Minnesota and turn it into a resort retreat for members of the military and their families.

As E’leese pictures it, the resort (which she wants to call The Ranch Minnesota) will be a place that is staffed by volunteers willing to clean cabins and cook meals so that soldiers can vacation for free.

I met E’leese, her mom Kerry and their dog Lucky the other day. I didn’t meet Chip, though. He was off in a barn somewhere. They were excited, nervous and ready to get on their trip underway.

As the summer days tick by, I’ll be checking in with E’leese to see how her journey is going. But if you want to follow her trip on your own, you can check out her oneGirloneRide blog.