Yee ha! The mule and I have arrived in Illinois.
Illinois is the third state that claims Abraham Lincoln. He was born in Kentucky but didn’t live there long enough to get on too many road signs. He spent time in Indiana where he got a mention on the state line. But the Illinois Lincoln Marketing Board was smart enough to step up and just claim him. They branded… Continue reading →

It seems odd that a guy traveling across the land with his mules would need to buy gas. Sorta seems to defeat the whole reason to travel with a vehicle that gets most of its fuel from grass.

But, about twice a month, I’ll ease in to a gas station. Tie my mules up next to the gas pump.… Continue reading →

“What are you doing about the storms and tornadoes?”, folks ask me.
It’s been an active summer tornado season with twisters getting lots of press as they destroy homes and communities.
I tell them, “nothing”.
When the closest shelter is a telephone pole, your options are limited.

To get ready for my mule ramble, I looked at a lot of maps – from Google maps to topo maps to hand drawn sketches. They’re fine for giving you a general idea of what direction you need to go. But to see the water run under the bridges, and feel the whoosh of a semi roaring, well, you just gotta physically be there.
It looks different on a map than it looks on a mule. Join mules Brick and… Continue reading →

I hope you have a good Sunday. I thought you’d enjoy this photo of Cracker starting his day. Yes, the sky really was that vivid.
He’s pretty chill about dawn’s early light but intense skies like this freak out the mariner in me. It’s that “red skies at morning, sailor take warning” thing. Sure enough, it rained like bejusus-crazy-hell for the next three days with tornadoes thrown in for good… Continue reading →

Taking a lunch break with my mules at Stephenson’s General Store in Leavenworth, Indiana, I was reminded of one of my favorite books, “Shanty Boat” by Harlan Hubbard. The book is the account of Harlan’s 7 year journey down the Ohio and MIssissippi Rivers in his shanty boat. Accompanying Harlan were his wife Anna, a few dogs and occasionally, a hive of bees.

Last week the mules and I crossed the Ohio river from Kentucky to Indiana … under police escort. It was a challenging steering job steering Cracker past oncoming traffic and over the bridge’s expansion joints. I really wanted you to experience what it’s like to ride across a river so I filmed it. Enjoy!

I wanted to show you some of the Kentucky wildlife the mules and I are seeing. But my camera doesn’t have a strong telephoto. So to get nice closeups, I’ve just been photographing dead animals as I find them on the roadside. Here’s a selection of Kentucky creatures I thought you’d enjoy.

As to my labeling, you know that’s… Continue reading →

Western visions pull the mules and me toward the setting sun: piñon canyons, cut throat trout and big horn sheep. This week I encountered a highway catfish, a gravel barge and a cooling casket. Indiana is proving as colorful as the land I’m riding toward. Here are a few photos from this week on the road, Week 6 of my Mules West ramble.

Blue above, blue behind, blue below. Today Brick, Cracker and I tackled the obstacle that’s been on our minds the past few weeks: how to cross the Ohio River.

In the end, crossing the Ohio River wasn’t too difficult. I… Continue reading →