Building a Covered Wagon in Southern Pines, NC

I, Bernie Harberts, did not use generative AI to write or illustrate this article. Spell check and grammar check, yes. AI, no.

Note: Originally published January 25, 2006

Recently, I’ve been reorganizing the RiverEarth.com website. It’s twenty years old and has over 800 posts. Over time, links break, which means when you search for them, you get those annoying 404 errors. This is one of those articles whose link needed repair. Yeah, it’s a blast from the past.

At the time I wrote it, I was living in Southern Pines, preparing for what would become the Lost Sea Expedition. But like many journeys, this one had many layers and just as many false starts. Jack and Bill, the mules I write about in this post, ultimately didn’t make the journey. Neither did the wagon I was so excited to start building in my friend Mel Wyatt’s garage.

In the end, though, I had an extraordinary voyage with a second wagon I built. That became the Lost Sea Expedition which premiered on Rocky Mountain PBS and won the Winnie award at the EQUUS International Film Festival. Stream the Lost Sea Expedition free on YouTube.

More importantly, my mule Polly came into my life. Almost twenty years later, she’s still part of my wife Julia’s and my life.

Enjoy.

Bernie

Winter Quarters

Back in the early nineties I had this madcap dream.

I was going to become a steeplechase jockey, get rich, retire and run away to sea.

Well, I moved back to Southern Pines, dieted from 165 to 125 pounds and lived out that crazy notion.

But the weight loss came hard so to keep my mind off food, I built a sailboat.

At the time I was galloping horses for my friend Mel Wyatt. “Hey Mel.” I asked her one day as we were walking a set of race horses we’d just galloped, “Can I use your garage for a bit of a project.”

“Sure!” she said, not knowing.

And that winter, I built a sailboat in her garage.

I kept at my steeplechasing a few seasons until I bunged up my leg and decided that now I had a sailboat, I could run away to sea. So I sailed down the Hudson River, continued down the East Coast and ended up in the Bahamas. (But that’s another story. See “The East Coast in an Eighteen Footer” at RiverEarth.com.)

Ok. Now flash forward to the present.

It’s Sunday morning. The sides and roof are bolted onto my wagon and it’s raining outside. Mel Wyatt and I are doing the crossword at her kitchen counter. “Hey Mel.” I ask “Can I use your garage to finish” and she knew what was coming and replied “Sure!” almost before I could add “my wagon.”

This time I measured though.

When I built the aptly named Garage Sail in Mel’s garage, I’d forgotten to measure the distance from the floor to the bottom of the garage door. So when the time came to pull the hull out, well, it wouldn’t fit.

So I threw a Bojangles biscuit party and after everyone had eaten announced that there was this boat I was building in Mel’s garage that needed moving. And since we were all here already we might as well work off those biscuits by getting that boat out.

We finally extricated the Garage Sail. On its side.

So this time, with the wagon, I wasn’t about to repeat the mistake.

I measured, and sure enough, there was an inch to spare under the garage door.

So with the help of Mel and another friend, we put a bunch of steel pipes under the wagon body and rolled it into her garage.

And this time I didn’t have to spring for a party.

Bernie
RiverEarth.com

PS Thanks, again, Mel, for letting me use your garage and tools. I owe you a few rides.

PPS Mel broke her hip this week so I’ll be taking a break from wagon building for a few days to help out on her farm. Mel, I sure hope you get well soon. Bernie

PPPS Today a dog Mel’s had for ten years attacked Boots, the barn cat she’s had for fifteen years. It appeared one of the lungs had been punctured so we took it to the vet.

PPPPS The vet said the damage was terminal and had to put Boots to sleep. Not a good day to work on the wagon.

PPPPPS While I was burying Boots behind the barn, Zoro, Mel’s other barn cat, wandered up with a gash on his shoulder. I put the shovel down to look closer at the wound and saw the muscles in his shoulders through the hole in his skin. He definitely needed stitches.

My last visit to the vet hadn’t gone well so I stitched him up in the tackroom with Susan and Melissa. I don’t know if I got the dose of horse painkiller right but I reckon I’ll soon find out.

I’m definitely taking the rest of the day off.

Bernie

Stream The Lost Sea Expedition

I filmed mule Polly’s and my covered wagon journey from Canada to Mexico. That footage became The Lost Sea Expedition, a documentary series that premiered on Rocky Mountain PBS. You can stream it free on YouTube.

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Read more posts from this ramble: The Lost Sea Expedition — Wagon Journey Across America.

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