Two months ahead of schedule, but with a lifetime of new memories, Filipe Masetti has made it to Grande Prairie from Fairbanks, Alaska on horseback.
“I made it!,” Masetti yelled while riding up to meet with mygrandeprairienow.com. “Very happy to be here, this was our plan, you know, we marked an ‘X’ on the map and it was Grande Prairie. We were trying to make it before winter and we made it.
However, this is only the winter stop. The full ride will take him back to where he began the trip, the Calgary Stampede grounds, by July 2020.
Masetti, who has also taken similar trips across North and South America, says stretches from the Yukon through to Northern Alberta represented a whole new ballgame when it came to challenges.
“We’ve dealt with problems and hurdles that I’ve never dealt with before, like the bears. A lot of bears; Grizzly Bears, Black Bears, little bears, big bears. Metal grate bridges, I’ve never seen those before in my life, I had a lot of those.”
Along with his partner Clara Davel, who Masetti met during his first adventure, he says he is ready for the little things in life, like a cup of coffee and a comfy bed before figuring out just how long he plans to stay in the Swan City.
Before the final leg of the trip, however, Masetti says life will be like a blank canvas, with nothing set in stone just yet.
“I have no idea, I’ll probably stay with the horses for a bit, may go back to Brazil, I’m not sure. I have no idea what I’m going to do, so we’ll figure it out when I finish here.”
Masetti says they will begin the final leg down to Calgary sometime early in the Spring.