A 2,300-mile trip on an airplane is a one-day foray, in a car it's a long trip that will take a few days, but on horseback, it is an epic journey that can last months.

It is with the locomotive means of the epic journeyer that Bob Gacke of Port La Vaca, Texas, has chosen to undertake a 2,300-mile odyssey across the American interior to bring attention to, and raise money for, Shriner Hospitals.

"I've been a Shriner for 25 years and I just have a real passion for the care of these kids in these hospitals," Gacke said Tuesday as he made a stop in Casper. "So to ride from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada is one thing, but to do it and raise a substantial amount of money for the hospital is another. So it is kind of a win-win for everybody."

Gacke left the Gulf Coast of Texas on March 1 and plans to finish his journey around Aug. 1 in Sweetgrass, Mont., on the Canadian border, he said.

Accompanying Gacke are his horse, Fancy, and two mules, Bud and Miss Maddie.

For the most part, the 49-year-old cowboy rides Fancy and uses the two mules to carry supplies, but he has ridden Bud at points along the way, he said.

Among the supplies Gacke carries with him are a lap-top computer - which he uses to make diary entries on his Web site (www.whereisbob.com) - food for himself, feed for his horses, and a tent, which he said he has only had to pitch about six or seven times during the trip.

The tent has mostly gone unused, he said, because people along the way have allowed him to stay at hotels free of charge.

Gacke, who is vice president of a publishing house in Texas, has tried to stay on roads that run through large population centers, like Denver, in order to bring more attention to himself, thereby bringing more attention to the good work that Shriners do for sick children and in an effort to reach his fund-raising goal of $500,000.

Fellow Shriner Hal Williamson of Casper said endeavors like Gacke's are true refections of the Shriner spirit.

"That's dedication and … what the Shriners believe in," said Williamson, past potentate of the Korein Temple.

The Shriners have 22 hospitals located around the nation, none of which charge the families of children treated at them for the care they receive, Williamson said. The Shriner hospital nearest to Casper is located in Salt Lake City and specializes in orthopedic care, he added.

Gacke said he has confronted all kinds of weather along the long road he, Fancy, Bud and Miss Maddie have walked.

"I haven't ridden through a hurricane, but I think I've been through everything else," he said.

He added that perhaps the most frightening weather he has confronted so far came his way a few days ago as he rode between Bosler and Rock River in Albany County.

"I was riding along and I saw these blue clouds building and coming my way and I was just thinking, 'There is no way that I am going to get out of this one,'" Gacke said. "And there is no place to hide, no place to go, there is no place, I mean you are out there in the middle of nowhere. And so I got off and I tied my mules head-to-tail and so all they could do is go around in circles."

After he tied his mules he noticed that the clouds above him were going in a circular motion, and Gacke was sure a tornado was heading his way.

"I thought, 'This ain't good, this is not going to be good.' And I started thinking, 'You know this could be it. This old boy from Texas is going to end up dying right here in Wyoming,'" he said.

"I have always heard that a tornado sounds like a train, like a freight train," Gacke continued.

"And man I could hear that freight train noise and I thought 'Man this is it,' And boy that sound got louder and louder, that freight train. And all of the sudden I looked up and there was a freight train going by! I forgot that I was riding along side a railroad track!"

The realization brought a moment of jubilation.

"I got so happy, I just started dancing around in the hail," he said.

Gacke can joke about the story now, but at the time, things got so tense, he confessed his sins to the only thing that would listen, Miss Maddie the mule.

"I confessed all my sins to Miss Maddie. And when I realized it was just a freight train going by it dawned on me that she know all my sins," Gacke said with a laugh. "So if that mule ever goes to talking, I am just going to have to shoot her."

From Casper, Gacke said he plans on heading toward Cody and then up to Yellowstone where he plans on crossing over into Montana.

On his Web site, Gacke advises anyone who sees him - he can be recognized by a yellow banner on one of his mules that reads "www.whereisbob.com" - to honk twice after they pass him and let him know you support him on his journey.

Anyone wishing to donate to the Shriners Hospitals can either log on to Gacke's Web site or contact Casper's local Shrine Club.