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DESERT26 is a documentary expedition departing July 29, 2026 – exactly 250 years after the Domínguez-Escalante friars left Santa Fe and 50 years after my father did the same.
A 1,900-mile horseback journey retracing the original route with a professional documentary film production to ensure this forgotten story that shaped the American Southwest finally reaches the audiences it deserves.
Fifty years after my father led the 1976 Bicentennial reenactment on horseback, I am attempting to do the same: a 1,900-mile journey to retrace the Domínguez-Escalante Expedition.
Here’s the catch: I am spectacularly unqualified to lead this expedition: can’t yet ride worth a damn, in recovery, recently laid off. So, why? What do we owe to the legacies we’re unqualified to inherit?
For me, it’s my father’s expedition - his maps, his demons, his unfinished mission. Can I pull off what seems utterly impossible, and crazy, most of the time?
For America, it’s so much more than 13 colonies and those founding fathers. It’s a long lost story - outside of four Western states - about two other Fathers and their ancestral home, Spain, without which the Declaration of Independence likely would have passed into history nothing more than a treasonous fantasy.
It’s also a story about my father and, ultimately, my own fatherhood: Which stories do we preserve, which do we transform, and which do we finally tell honestly?
How do we make amends for stories we've buried?
What does authentic American identity look like when we finally reckon with origins messier, more diverse, and more complicated than our textbooks admit?
I have no idea how this will all turn out … but the story, and the adventure, is in trying, and the journey itself.
1776
On July 29, 1776 - while the Declaration of Independence was just being shared with the world - two Franciscan Friars…
1976
Two hundred years later my father, decorated Vietnam veteran William “Bill” Daley, led the Domínguez-Escalante …
2026
Now it’s my turn. Departing July 29, 2026, we’re retracing both expeditions. This time with a documentary crew…
Mission
We will ride to remember what we all too often ignore – our shared history of exploration and exploitation – as modern adventurers carrying complicated legacies; not to enforce preconceived narratives or manufacture redemption, but to listen, to reckon, to identify with voices that were always here. In a spirit of openness to whatever truths emerge where vulnerability replaces authority and listening replaces lecturing, we seek to better understand the inheritances we carry while determining what we owe to the past, to the present, and to the future.
The Domínguez-Escalante Expedition encountered many Native communities along its route. Some of these encounters were considered "first contact" with Europeans. Notable interactions followed from encounters with bands of Utes and Paiutes and the Hopis. The 1776 route, and the 1976 route, also crossed lands that were and remain sacred and ancestral to the Jicarilla Apache, Navajo, and several Pueblos. As we build DESERT26 our hope is to work with both the tribes whose ancestors called these lands their home and those whose home it has become in a manner consistent with their wishes. We will offer more information as we work to engage Native peoples whose ancestors were here long before the Spanish and the United States.
The 1976 DEBE riders crossing the Green River at Vernal, UT.
Support DESERT26
DESERT26 brings a multicultural story about our oldest Western origins to America’s 250th birthday party – it’s a Western that predates the genre, and ultimately a father-son journey about inheritance: what we carry forward, what we leave behind, and how we transform in the carrying.
We’re seeking support for expedition logistics and documentary production to capture this once-in-250-years story. Your contribution helps preserve three centuries of American history while we still can.
We’re also recruiting expedition participants – especially filmmakers and cinematographers with riding experience who want to be part of documenting this unprecedented journey. Also: endurance riders, cowboys and/or cowgirls, ranch hands, a farrier, a veterinarian, a doctor. All are critical pieces to ensure a successful journey.
Whether through financial support, joining the expedition, or simply following/sharing the story you can help ensure America’s forgotten founding story finally reaches the audience it deserves.
Visit our Sponsorship page to learn more.
To learn more about expedition participation opportunities and/or explore partnership and sponsorship options, please contact me using the form on this page.
Thank you for your support!
Join the Journey
Can't Fund or Ride? You Can Still Make This Happen.
Tired of the same 13 colonies stories? Eager for something more during America’s 250th?
So are we.
Here's what we need to prove to funders and sponsors: that America is ready for founding stories beyond powdered wigs and Boston Harbor. That while the Declaration was on its way to England, equally significant history was unfolding across 1,900 miles of the American West—and people want to learn about it. That there's an audience hungry for multicultural narratives documenting what 1776 actually looked like across the whole continent, not just the East Coast.
You prove that by showing up:
📱 Follow @DESERT_2026—every follower shows funders there's interest (links below)
📧 Sign up for expedition updates—our email list demonstrates audience commitment
💬 Share why this story matters to you—personal testimonials are powerful ammunition
🔄 Spread the word—the more people know, the harder this is to ignore
We're not asking for money. We're asking for attention, for shares, for proof that America's 250th anniversary deserves founding stories from across the continent, not just the same thirteen colonies we've heard about for 250 years. History enthusiasts, adventure lovers, educators, anyone who believes American history is bigger than one coast.
We need your voice to amplify ours.
The 1976 expedition never reached beyond the Four Corners because it lacked this: a community demanding the story be told nationally. And the 1976 DEBE knew it:
“Those who organized the DEBE have two regrets in the field of public relations … The expedition’s failure to receive national media coverage of any kind: The national media was prejudicial toward covering only those stories which were pertinent to the history of America’s 13 original states. In short, they felt that what transpired in the Southwest 200 years ago is of regional interest only, while what happened on the East Coast during 1776, commands universal attention”. From The Final Report on The Domínguez-Escalante Bicentennial Expedition.
Don't let that happen again.
Help us bring something new to America’s 250th birthday party!
Help us bring America’s forgotten founding story to the national stage.
We need funders, sponsors, partners, riders, filmmakers, educators to help share this once-in-a-lifetime story.
Follow the Expedition
You can find us @desert_2026
#SaddleUpForHistory
Sponsors & Partners
Domínguez-Escalante Expedition Education Project (DEEEP)
Denver Film Fiscal Sponsorship