Mules West
Trenton, MO Greetings
I steered the mules in to Trenton, Missouri to pick up a a canvas water bucket at the post office. Thanks, Julia, for supporting your husband in his rambles! Brick, Cracker and I arrived last night (Thursday). Right now we’re camped at veterinarian Dr Dale Alumbaugh’s clinic Affordable Veterinary Care.
Dancing (Sorta) With Mules
The day didn’t quite start with dancing but it looked that way. In the photo above, I’m faring Luna Ortiz well. She and her husband Kevin put us up for the night. What looks like a Fred Estaire-esque move on my part really isn’t.
To make this photo I set my camera on a tripod and set the self timer to go off in 10 seconds. 3 seconds before the… Continue reading
Playing the Harmonica to Stay Awake
Paul Compton used to play the harmonica to stay awake. “I had a mail route and as I drove around I’d get sleepy so I just played the harmonica to keep from nodding off.”
I met Paul because I needed to find a place to stake out my mules Brick and Cracker for the night. His son, Gerry Compton, said it was okay to picket them out by the old grain… Continue reading
Mule Speed Storm Drain Cover Observations
Traveling the land at 3 mph with my mules, I’m noticing things I’ve overlooked my whole life. Like how, west of Jasper, Indiana, many of the cast iron storm drain covers are humped up, not flat, like back East. They’re the same way here in Missouri.
Have you noticed that humped-up thing about the storm drain covers… Continue reading
The Stay Put Mule Rain Blues
I rode in to La Plata, Missouri, ahead of the storm. The plan was to buy sardines and ramen and then ride out the other side toward Idaho. But the rumblng clouds shattered and poured down on me in pieces. It’s rained over an inch and I’ve eaten most of the sardines and some of the ramen and the damn wet stuff keeps falling. And I’m still in La Plata.
Grain Bin Drowning Danger
How is a grain bin like an above ground pool? You can drown in both.
Last week the mules and I took a lunch break in the shade of an Illinois grain bin. I had the usual sardines and dry ramen noodles washed down with jug water. Then I strolled around the grain bin and discovered how it might kill me.
Bridge Across the Illinois River
In the past month, mules Brick, Cracker and I have crossed 4 major rivers: the Ohio, the Wabash, the Illinois and the Mississippi. For the first two, we enlisted the help of local law enforcement to get across. For the Mississippi, the mules got a ride… Continue reading
Crossing the Mississippi River With 2 Mules
Mules Brick, Cracker and I have crossed the Mississippi River! No, not on a barge, ferry or flatboat. No, I didn’t ride them down Interstate 24 across the bridge that connects Quincy, Illinois to Missouri. No, I loaded them up on a trailer and hauled them across Big Muddy behind a red Ford pickup.
Herald-Whig (Quincy, Illinois) Photo Essay About the “Mules West” Ramble
A wonderful photo essay in the June 13 issue of the Quincy Herald-Whig. It shows how mules Brick and Cracker and I are passing the time waiting… Continue reading
How Cracker Cracked my Helmet Not my Brain
I got the space man’s view of the rodeo. There I was way high up in the air above my mule Cracker. There he was way down below me bucking his guts out. Then gravity took over and I re-entered the earth head first like a faulty Russian rocket. CRACK! Landed right on my skull….which was snugged up in my helmet.
