Join us as Joy S. MillerUpton, a Hocking County resident for five decades, will talk about her first book, “Journeys: Finding Joy on Horseback,” at the Perry County District Library. The presentation will include a few selected readings, after which MillerUpton will engage in conversation with attendees.

The memoir of transformation from a traditional 1960s role of wife/mother to writer/photojournalist is framed by six horse journeys MillerUpton took over a period of 27 years, beginning with a 30-day, mostly-solo ride in 1973. Many of her horseback travels were through terrain folks in Hocking, Athens, Vinton, Perry, Morgan, Guernsey, Belmont and Noble counties will recognize. Two of her rides traced Underground Railroad routes in Gallia, Lawrence, Washington and Monroe counties. MillerUpton includes much history of the locales she rode through, including the 1863 sweep through Ohio by John Hunt Morgan’s raiders and the 1925 fiery crash of the U.S. Navy dirigible, the USS Shenandoah, in Noble County.

People MillerUpton met along the way portray the rich variety of individuals who have made their homes in southeastern Ohio for the past two centuries. The reader will also learn what it takes to pack all necessities on the back of a horse and ride through the countryside for days or weeks at a time.