‘Land of plenty’: Why Kentucky woman came to Sacramento by horse to raise awareness
A woman raising awareness for childhood hunger while traveling thousands of miles by horse, a winding path from Kentucky to California, passed through Sacramento this week at the tail end of her 14-month journey.
Angela Wood, 51, crossed the Tower Bridge atop Star-Buck before the two spent some time in Old Sacramento on Wednesday. A white sign with an American flag and the words, “Childhood hunger ... one mile is not enough” hung over Star-Buck’s hind end.
Wood says she was inspired by her work as a truck driver.
“Going into the big towns and even the small towns early in the morning, lots of times you’ll see people sleeping on the streets – children on the streets. And I just hate the thought that children are going hungry in America. We shouldn’t. We’re the land of plenty.”
Wood’s long trek started Aug. 2, 2018, in Liberty, Kentucky; headed east to Sunset Beach, North Carolina; and finally headed west toward California. Wood says she hopes to conclude the journey in Bodega Bay by early October.
Wood actually started with two horses plus her 8-year-old chihuahua, Schatzi, traveling in a covered wagon.
But plans changed when Renegade, Wood’s 17-year-old American Paint Horse, got injured after slipping on pavement near Placerville. Renegade injured a muscle, but is expected to recover, she said.
Wood found a farmer who agreed to board Renegade as she finishes out the journey with Star-Buck. Then, she made arrangements to trade her wagon for a ride home to Kentucky for herself, the two horses and the dog in the coming weeks.
Wood said Thursday in a phone interview with The Bee that she also had to take Star-Buck to the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine early Wednesday afternoon after the horse “pulled up a little bit lame,” which turned out to be because of sores.
Wood took Thursday off from riding for Star-Buck to recover, but said she plans to leave from the UC Davis large animal clinic about 8 a.m. Friday.
The plan is to take one last trek to finish the journey, riding Star-Buck to Bodega Bay.
Despite the injuries, Wood says she considers her awareness campaign a success.
“I think that what I did and am doing – people see the signs and of just walking by with a blind eye, maybe they’ll think about their local neighborhood ... You just don’t hear about (hunger) in America, so I decided I’d tried to raise awareness and try to get people to think about that in their communities.”
This story was originally published September 26, 2019 at 3:02 PM.
