Iowa trip on horseback raises about $2,000 for Alzheimer’s research

IOWA CITY - An 80-year-old Iowa man raised just shy of $2,000 on a journey on horseback across Iowa. The money will go toward Alzheimer's research at the University of Iowa, and he expects more donations to come in from people along his route.

Bill Taylor, of Millersburg, started his journey on June 6 from Grandview, with plans to ride to Council Bluffs on his 17-year-old horse, Liberty. The roughly 260-mile trip took 12 days, and he averaged about 22 miles a day. On his last day, he rode 32 miles to get to the Council Bluffs city limits.

The weather was the biggest challenge, but Taylor says for the most part he sat back and watched the Iowa scenery roll by.

“I'd just ride and look at the countryside and stay out of the way of the trucks,” Taylor said Thursday in Iowa City. “I had a lot of rain, but I'd just put on a slicker and started riding every morning.”

He chose Highway 92 because it has a wide shoulder, and Taylor said he didn't have any problems during his ride to raise awareness and money for Alzheimer's research.

The money will go to the research laboratory of UI neurology and psychology professor Daniel Tranel, director of the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Neuroscience and the Benton Neuropsychology Laboratory. Tranel on Thursday said such financial support - and efforts at awareness - are great.

“I think the attention and doing it this way - riding your horse across Iowa - is tremendously important,” Tranel said.

Taylor said his horse did well during the journey.

“He was walking just as fast at the end of the day as he was at the beginning,” Taylor said.

More information about the ride and an opportunity to donate to Taylor's cause is available

here.