During a wagon ride from the Columbia River to Olympia in 1992, Gaylord Perkins crossed paths with a group of wagoners and horseback riders. The riders were part of the John Wayne Pioneer Wagons and Riders Association , making their annual trek across the Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail with horse-drawn wagons bound east. A year later, Perkins joined the ride himself. After more than three decades, the now 80-year-old still rides with the group each spring, crossing Washington’s varied landscape, from the evergreen forests of the Cascades to the amber rolling hills of Eastern Washington. “We call it the ride of a lifetime, if you’re tough enough,” Perkins said. For the past 45 years, the riders association has traversed the PTCT over 15 days on a 200-plus-mile journey from Easton, Kittitas County, to Tekoa, Whitman County, helping preserve the historic route and its legacy.…