Travel by Mule

Summer Ramble

bernie harberts raft pickle barrel barrel raft shanty boat adventure
Mule Polly takes a grazing break on a canal along the Cache La Poudre river (french for “cache the powder”) north of Fort Collins, CO.

Mule Polly and I have hit the road for the summer. We’re touring Colorado visiting with underwriters interested in sponsoring the Lost Sea Expedition TV series, the 4-part program about mule Polly and my 14 month wagon voyage across America. The series will premier on Rocky Mountain PBS.
Lots more about the voyage and TV series here on the LostSeaExpedition.com site. If you’d like to make a gift to the series, you can do so right here.

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Preppin' for Leatherwood

bernie harberts raft pickle barrel barrel raft shanty boat adventure
Caaaarefuuuuullll with those scissors. Polly waits patiently as I trim her forelock for Leatherwood Mule Days. From her calm eye, you can tell she knows there’s a head rub waiting when the job is done.

I sharpened the scissors. I caught mule Polly. Then I trimmed her mane and tail and took a swipe at her toes.
Man, she’s as spiffed up as mule can be for Leatherwood Mule Days. I’m already thinking Coon Jump, pasture camping and starlight dancing.

More over here on my LostSeaExpedition.com site.

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Hoofing and sharing it.

A while back I decided to travel across North Carolina by mule. Trouble was, I didn’t own a saddle bag, horse trailer, or, yeah, it gets worse, a vehicle.

I did own a mule named Woody.

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Mule Woody and pony Maggie on the North Carolina leg of our 13 month journey across America. I’m grinning because I’m trying out the blue saddle bags I just made of old horse blankets and leather scraps.

By dint of sewing, borrowing and improvising,… Continue reading

Woody and Maggie (198/9? – 2014)

I’ve written and read a lot of obituaries lately. In the span of eighteen months, my mother, dad, mule, pack pony and family dog have died. None of this comes as a surprise. The young are supposed to scatter the ashes of the old. Then they go on living. Potatoes are banked. Winesaps are pruned. Commutes are commuted. May be some ash slips in to the orchard.

Here’s a look back at two extraordinary equines that took me in to… Continue reading

Winter 2014 "Hoofing It" Programs

Gulp! Woody and Maggie pause to gawk at a traveler in distress. This time it’s Jonah “swallowed” by a whale in Granite Fall, NC. The two (pony and mule, not boy and whale) walked across North Carolina – and the USA – a while back. You can learn about this voyage at one of the following “Hoofing It” programs.

So you left Christmas in the dust. Made some resolutions but back slid moments after 2014 kicked off. Now you’ve got… Continue reading

Upcoming Hoofing It programs

Sap’s rising and you’re getting the urge to hit the road like back in the day when all it took was a stick and a hankie. Sure, those hobo days are romanticized but face it, the older you get, the more reasons you come up with to stay put.

Still, every year, you wonder. If you don’t run away this year, will you ever?

Hoofing It Night #1: Mule Woody, the mule that traveled with me across North Carolina –… Continue reading

Too Proud To Ride A Cow Original

Read previews from "Too Proud" – click here

Too Proud To Ride A Cow


Order online with MasterCard, Visa or PayPal

Paper back version $16.95. (shipping just $3.95 to any US location)

Kindle version $2.99. No shipping charge. Download your digital copy here.

After spending almost 5 years sailing alone around the world, Bernie Harberts arrived home a prisoner of the very independence he’d worked so hard to cultivate.

Harberts decided it was time to let people back in his… Continue reading

"Too Proud to Ride a Cow" in Digital Form

The book “Too Proud to Ride a Cow” the way is used to be. You could buy a copy at a store or online. Or even off my wagon. Now there’s a new way. “Too Proud” is available in digital form.

Used to be, if you wanted a copy of “Too Proud to Ride a Cow”, my account of traveling across America by mule, you bought a copy at the bookstore or ordered it from the RiverEarth General Store. If… Continue reading

Woody and Maggie Walk Across America Original

Woody and Maggie Walk Across America

“Woody and Maggie Walk Across America” is an account of Bernie’s cross-country mule and pony adventure. The 40-page, full color, hard cover children’s book is written for 5 to 10-year-old readers. Join Bernie, Woody and Maggie to discover:

  • What Bernie found unusual about each state
  • What Woody and Maggie imagined about each state
  • How the three lived from day to day.

Exercises at the end of the book help children find their way across… Continue reading

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