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Mule Ride With Ronald Hudson at Faith Tabernacle of Praise

Published October 26, 2024

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

This weekend my long time mule buddy Ronald Hudson and I gave wagon rides at the Faith Tabernacle of Praise in Asheboro, North Carolina. Here are some videos and photos you’ll enjoy.

This is my dear friend Ronald Hudson. We go back to 2005. I visited Ronald this weekend to borrow his mule named Sandy for an upcoming mule ramble. As a sort of shake-down, the plan was to hitch her to one of Ronald’s wagons and drive her to a local church, the Faith Tabernacle of Praise. There, we’d give wagon rides to tricker treaters.

We had a little trouble catching Sandy (click on video for the, er, colorful commentary)

Hitched and ready to go. We finally caught Sandy and got her hitched. She’s a great mule. Julia and I used her to snatch the locust logs we used to build our garage. That’s Ronald in the wagon and Timmo standing shotgun. Timmo did not join us for our ride.

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Listen to Ronald’s mule driving advice as we drive through the Faith Tabernacle of Praise cemetery

Ronald taking a test drive around the church to figure out where to take his passengers. Sandy was sorta peppy, or, as Ronald says, “I needed to get the war edge of her.” When he says, “war”, he means “wire.” What he was trying to say was that she needed to let off a little steam.

The first ride: the line of eager young and not so young folks ready to take a wagon ride

A young admirer gets a helping hand to visit with Sandy

My job was to grin and hold Sandy so she didn’t walk off as passengers loaded the wagon

It was unclear what I was witnessing here

Ronald, Sandy and I heading home after a satisfying afternoon of giving rides to astronauts, goblins, Sponge Bob, two fairies, a witch, a tin man, and a piece of candy corn.

What’s Next for Mule Sandy and Me

As I mentioned at the top of this post, mule Sandy and I are preparing for a mule ramble. Tomorrow (Sunday) I’ll bring her home to my wife Julia’s and my place. Then I’ll spend the next few weeks getting her used to the wagon she’ll pull in the trip. It’s unclear what wagon I’ll be using but I’ve got some great choices, including an old timey, wood-wheeled wagon that belongs to Ronald. I’ll keep you posted how things go.

Thanks, Ronald, for generously trusting me with Sandy’s care.

For more on the last time visited Julia and me, check out this post called Finally a Mailbox.

Mule Sandy and I skidding a locust log Julia and I used to build our garage. More in the post called Finally a Mailbox

Buy a Copy of My New Book Two Mules to Triumph

If you enjoy stories about horses, mules, travel, or adventure, you’ll love my new book Two Mules to Triumph: A Long Ride to the Heart of America.

*Two Mules to Triumph* is about my 2,300-mile saddle voyage from North Carolina to Idaho with my mules Brick and Cracker. (Hard cover / 306 pages)

Two Mules to Triumph is getting great reviews:

“A beautiful, emotive book that sings with the uniqueness of America. The book is great!” -Rinker Buck, The Oregon Trail
“Fantastic!” Atlas Obscura – #1 Apple Travel podcast
“If you’re a fan of the Great American Road Trip… you’ll love this eccentric, idiosyncratic and wholly original slow roll across America.” – Peter Zheutlin, author of Rescue Road
“A truly engaging non-fiction story…a real page-turner!” – Meredith Hodges, renowned mule trainer and author of the Jasper the Mule series

About Two Mules to Triumph

Two Mules to Triumph is the true story of my seven-month-long journey through America with my two imperfect mules, Brick and Cracker. Brick is afraid of plastic bags. Cracker gets erections in public. And me? I’m not over-endowed in the planning department. Here’s the opening paragraph of Two Mules to Triumph:

I couldn’t ride my mule Cracker away from the barn. Every time I got his head turned and pointed toward the driveway, his jaw went hard, he spun, and he ran back in the direction we’d come. My wife Julia was leaning against the corral, watching. “Damn it, Cracker, let’s go!” I said, thumped his sides with my heels and aimed him across the backyard. He galloped ahead, veered sideways and smashed Julia against the corral. I looked down and saw Cracker’s hairy mule chest crushing Julia against the fence.
“Get that mule off me!” she gasped.

“Caution: This is NOT an instructional manual”:
This is the first photo and caption in *Two Mules to Triumph* and gives you a taste of what’s to come.

Two Mules to Triumph is a humorous, fast-moving story that will appeal to readers who enjoyed the animal stories in The Ride of Her Life (Elizabeth Letts) and the Wild West mule adventures of The Oregon Trail. In addition to being a great travel yarn, it’ll fascinate anyone interested in the technical aspects of long distance saddle travel. Two Mules to Triumph contains 137 photos, maps, and sketches, plus fifteen pages of gear photos and a comprehensive packing list for anyone wanting to take a saddle voyage, from a weekend outing to a Long Ride.

Two Mules to Triumph is a message of encouragement that things don’t have to be perfect to set off on your dreams. It is a testament to the beauty of imperfect journeys.

Get a Copy of Two Mules to Triumph

Shop now at: Amazon / Barnes&Nobl e / Kobo / Download on Kindle

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