Cooperative Living September 2022 - 14

COOPERATIVE FOCUS
The Cows Come Home
(continued from page 11)
riders and wagons over 3,000 miles, from
Savannah, Ga., to San Diego, Calif.
Called the American Transcontinental
Trail Ride, it took four-and-a-half
months.
" Our 256 riders were welcomed and
accommodated in 83 towns by mayors,
chiefs of police and Texas Rangers, " he
says. " Former President Jimmy Carter
engaged the group with Sunday School
teachings when the trail ride took a
break in Plains, Ga. "
More recently, Seay organized and
led another highly successful trail ride
from Mexico to Canada, which lasted
nearly five months.
Other riding trips
have included Wyoming's
Chisolm Trail, Old
Tombstone in Arizona,
Missouri's Jesse James
Festival, President Ronald
Reagan's Ranch and
Abraham Lincoln's ride to the White
House.
" Best of America on Horseback, "
Noah Solomon
Kamerra Brown
DOWN-HOME ATMOSPHERE
In addition to being a traveling
cowboy, Tom Seay is also a supreme
storyteller and practical joker with a
heart as big as the Montana sky. Pat
Seay often keeps quiet to allow Tom to
tell stories about his adventures, some
of which include Roy Rogers, John
Wayne or Ted Turner. Pat has interesting
stories, as well. She once caused a
media-blitzed controversy by trying
out as a young girl to be a bat boy for
the Washington Senators.
Later, she worked as a
" Something
speaks to me
here. "
- Warren Perkinson
television producer with
a who's who of famous
personalities that reads like
the history of television.
Today, the Seays come
across as a warm, welcoming,
Seay's RFD-TV cable television show,
documents many of these rides. Some
previous episodes are on YouTube.
salt-of-the-earth couple who invite all
their cattle drive participants to enjoy
elaborate home-cooked breakfasts,
lunches and dinners in their colonial
farmhouse.
Lisa Relford, who manages and
Madison Gebski
organizes reservations for cattle drive
weekends, has also been cooking for
cattle drivers on Andora Farm for
18 ye
cattle drivers on Andora Farm for
cattle
drivers on
years.
" When I first came here to apply
for ththe job nearly 20 years ago, Tom
internt viewed me and then told me that
hhe hae had bad news for anyone interested
iin thn the job because he had already hired
ssomeomeone, " she recalls. " As I thanked
hihimm for the interview and got up to
leavee, he said 'Where are you going?
YYou'rou e the one I hired!'We both
lalaughu hed, and I've been here ever since. "
Friday and Saturday family-style
dinnnners at Andora Farm are like
celeb
ha
cran
celebrating Thanksgiving each night.
A typ
ypical meal might include turkey,
ham, stuffing, cornbread, sawmill gravy,
am, stuffing, cornbread, sawmill gravy,
ranberry sauce, assorted charcuterie
and giardiniera, asparagus, vine-ripened
tomamato slices, hand-whipped potatoes,
fresh
hom
homemade pound cake and semisweet
zucc
zucchini bread.
" I " 'm so amazed at how the Seays
invitnvite you into their home and allow
yyou tou o instantly become part oftheir
fami
amily, " says cattle drive participant
Karen Simmons ofPylesville, Md.
" I hahave an Airbnb that I rent out, but
I keeke p boundaries. Not so here. I felt
welc
elcomed in their home, like I truly
belonelonged there. "
HISTORIC FARM
Nestled in the foothills ofthe Blue
Ridge Mountains, the Seay's 1758 farm
hhas ia
From left, Marlene Cashin
and her grandson,
Noah Solomon, practice
their team penning skills.
12 ● Cooperative Living ●
September 2022
it, ToTom named it Andora by joining
a comcombination ofthe first three letters
ofhi
his parents' first names: Andrew
aandnd Ora.
He says GeorgeWashington once
surveyed the colonial-era property.
ur
co-opliving.com
ts own history.When he purchased
eshly baked loafbread, churned butter,
ndora Farm
for
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Cooperative Living September 2022

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