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South Phila. newlyweds have horse, donkey, 5,000 miles to go

Dropping everything and heading west is a romantic notion people dream of but rarely carry out. Bucking the norm, a young South Philadelphia couple are preparing for just such an unlikely journey: a trek on the backs of a horse and a donkey, in the company of a dog.

Deidra Slough, left, and Chrisian Muniz, right, are planning a daring feat of riding their horse, Buffy, and donkey, Sancho Panza, across America on the little-known American Discovery Trail.
Deidra Slough, left, and Chrisian Muniz, right, are planning a daring feat of riding their horse, Buffy, and donkey, Sancho Panza, across America on the little-known American Discovery Trail.Read moreDAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer

Dropping everything and heading west is a romantic notion people dream of but rarely carry out.

Bucking the norm, a young South Philadelphia couple are preparing for just such an unlikely journey: a trek on the backs of a horse and a donkey, in the company of a dog.

People can decide whether they're bold, or crazy, or simply not yet 30 years old.

"We like to take plunges into things," easygoing Christian Muniz, 25, said.

"Everybody who knows us says it makes sense," his hard-charging wife of eight months, Deidra Slough, 27, said. "They see us doing it."

Sometime next month, the pair will leave from Cape Henlopen State Park in Delaware and follow the little-known American Discovery Trail (ADT) across the country to Point Reyes National Seashore near San Francisco.

The roughly 5,000-mile trip (the trail meanders, adding about 2,000 miles to America's ocean-to-ocean breadth) could take a year or more.

The ADT is an amalgam of roads, old railroad right-of-ways, canal towpaths, woodland trails, and mountain footways that crosses 15 states.

It traverses Washington, downtown Cincinnati, and other urban areas. But the trail gets lonely fast in Nevada, where it crosses a desert as well as 14 mountain ranges in 500 miles.

"You will go days," Nevada ADT coordinator Ted Oxborrow said, "without meeting folks. That wilderness stands for freedom."

And freedom's worth the risks, Muniz and Slough believe.

"I read about people who rode horses on the trail, then went to Deidra and asked her if she thought this was cool," Muniz said. "She did."

Slough explained: "Everybody who knows Christian says he does his crazy ideas."

The pair will bring a tent and sleeping bags to sleep in the open. But they also will bunk in farms, or even hotels along the way, as long as the animals can be safely boarded.

They'll have prepared meals with them, but, as Muniz said, there won't be any rabbit hunting for fresh meat in the woods, since both husband and wife are vegetarians.

As supplies are needed, friends and family will mail or ship them to the couple at designated spots along the very long way.

To self-educate, they read articles online such as "Duct Tape - 25 Applications."

As seriously as they're preparing, the couple still have a sense of humor about things.

"We have a pool on who'll die first out there," Slough said, smiling.

"I'm on the top of the list," he added with a laugh.

Actually, the two are being careful, starting with training the animals.

The other day, horse (Buffy, 12, a thoroughbred), donkey (Sancho Panza, 5), and dog (Caleb, 8, a poodle-boxer) took a small conditioning walk at Mount Laurel Animal Hospital, where the two big animals are being boarded.

Buffy, a flea-bitten gray, is a bit bossy and flighty. Responsible, no-nonsense Sancho has the demeanor of a permanent designated driver.

And he's as soft as a plush toy, with giant ears seemingly capable of hearing whispered talk a few towns over.

Caleb, meanwhile, is stalwart and sweet, just happy to be scuffling along at the feet of his friends.

Slough commands Buffy with a gentle, practiced manner. Born in Colorado, she grew up riding horses, and used to race motorcycles in Florida.

She earned undergraduate and master's degrees at the University of Florida, where she studied agricultural communications. Slough got a job as a grant writer doing social research on the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

After her parents died, Slough, "energetic and adventurous," according to Florida friend Laura Bernheim, 29, came north, where she met Muniz.

While not a horseman, Muniz once rode a rodeo bull for two seconds and, despite his 5-foot-6 frame, was a bouncer in a New York City nightspot. He's used to taking on challenges bigger than he is.

Born in Mexico, he's lived in Camden, Pennsauken, and Cinnaminson, and has a degree in criminal justice from Berkeley College in New York. Muniz's immigrant parents became entrepreneurs, running a money-transfer business and a nightclub.

They taught Muniz and Slough about investing in real estate. The couple buy houses, then repair and rent them.

Nothing they do in their normal day-to-day lives compares with the trip ahead.

As the departure date approaches, the two are beginning to break ties with their current routines. They've rented out their apartment; they got their taxes done early; and Muniz will soon give notice at the Marlton L.L. Bean store at which he works part-time, and where he has gotten employee discounts on expedition accoutrements.

The couple got a lot of other equipment from guests at their wedding, where the gift registry was camping gear only.

Nearly all preparations are made. So, is this trip feasible?

Sure, said Lisa Fortier, professor of equine surgery at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine.

"In this day of cellphones and instant access, I'd be less worried about the health and safety of people and animals," Fortier said. (Muniz and Slough have a satellite phone and charger.)

The couple's plan to amble 30 miles per day "is very easily doable," Fortier said, although she added that the difference between riding a donkey and a thoroughbred is comparable to driving a clunker vs. a Lexus. Muniz, the donkey rider, is in for some fun.

"I applaud them," Fortier said, with a caveat: "I hope they like each other."

Megan Smith, staff veterinarian for the University of Pennsylvania New Bolton Center Equine Field Service, said horse feet "are going to be the main thing on this trek."

She recommended horseshoe care every four to five weeks.

The long walk is fine for the dog, too, according to Cindy Otto, executive director of the Penn Vet Working Dog Center.

"Dogs are incredible athletes and love to walk," she said.

Water for the animals may be the biggest problem Muniz and Slough face. Veterans of the ADT have told them they may have to contact people to deliver water to them as they travel.

"We'll see how that goes," Slough said.

The couple will pack movies, cards, and electronic books to pass the time. Muniz plans to learn German while Slough takes up Spanish.

They'll also contribute to their blog, www.itsourbigadventure.com. At the end, Slough said, she might try to write a book about the sojourn.

Ultimately, the trip's success depends on the couple's trusting each other, Slough said.

"And we do," she added.

alubrano@phillynews.com

215-854-4969@AlfredLubrano