Miles or Steps? Measure of a Journey.
I, Bernie Harberts, did not use generative AI to write or illustrate this article. Spell check and grammar check, yes. AI, no.
Folks often ask me, “how many miles can you and the mules travel in a day?”.
I tell them 25 and they’re not impressed.
25 miles. Big deal. I can knock off 25 miles in my pickup in half an hour while drinking coffee and splitting a pack of M&Ms with my wife Julia. In 25 miles, the candy will be gone but there’ll still be java left.
It irked me that a day’s worth of mule travel produced such an underwhelming result. So I bought a pedometer.
Mule Miles Math
A pedometer. You know, that thing you strap on your wrist or leg and it counts how many steps you take in a day.
A few days after I bought it, I strapped it to Cracker’s breast plate and set off up the road.
At day’s end I had a look. Based on my map and phone, we’d traveled 25 miles that day. The pedometer backed me up. So far, so good.
But how many steps was that? I clicked on the pedometer settings until I found the steps mode and what I found sorta blew me away. Cracker had made over 58,000 steps that day. Holy Crap! Fifty eight thousand steps. 58,759 to be exact.
58,000 steps seemed like way too many steps. To double check I did some quick math.
One mile is 5,280 feet. That’s 1,760 yards. Cracker’s stride is just under 3 feet – one yard – long. So he was making about 2,000 steps per mile.
2,000 steps X 25 miles = 50,000 steps. It all checked out.
Sheesh! Now that’s impressive. Way better than saying we’d just covered 25 miles.
But that’s not what really got my attention.
More from Two Mules to Triumph.
Let's Keep in Touch
Sign up for The River, the RiverEarth newsletter, for occasional doses of rambling and homestead life. Plus you'll get a free copy of my 155-page illustrated ebook 19 Million Mule Steps.
Explore More of RiverEarth
2 Responses to Miles or Steps? Measure of a Journey.
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
I’ve heard of three-toed sloths, but three-toed mules have got to be a vanishingly rare species… Steer well clear of graduate students and doctoral candidates looking for a good subject – you might never see your long-eared pals again! 😉
C
Hey Bernie,
It sounds like you’re having a good time and meeting some nice folks. If you could find a tanned sheep skin and use it for a saddle blanket it would probably solve your problem with galls – it always did the trick for me. Take care and safe travels, Bob