Mornings in the mule wagon, I open my eyes and see this.

The view from my front wagon window
Ekalaka, MT

Then then there’s a bump on the door, and if it’s not fastened, I see this.

The Lost Sea Wagon’s so short and the days so hot, I don’t sleep with a blanket so when Polly nudges the door open, she has a clear shot at my exposed toes. There’s just no getting away from her so I get… Continue reading →

Clifford Hanley won’t put up with bad water, hot hats or squeaky hand pumps.

Clifford Hanley
Medicine Rocks, MT

A Baker, MT resident, I met him recently at the hand-pumped well at the entrance to Medicine Rocks State Park. Clifford was a direct man -he’d ventilated his cowboy hat by slicing holes in it with a knife.

Medicine Rocks State Park
Medicine Rocks, MT

Clifford at the pump

So isn’t it odd that in 2007, a man in suspenders and… Continue reading →

The big news on the Northern Plains this year is rain. After a twenty-year dry spell, the heavens have opened, releasing record amounts of rain, and mosquitoes, to the Land of Twelve Inches of Rain.

The ranch land’s greener than most old-timers remember. When I overhear them talking in the Post Offices and corner stores, the first thing I hear is, “Have you ever seen the top of (enter butte name here – Bullion, Sentinel, Square, South…) covered in grass?”… Continue reading →

So last week mule Polly and I rolled into Beach, ND with a wagon full of relics. Man there was everything clanking around in the old wagon from arrow-pierced bottles to a short film of two dung beatles rolling their namesake across a road.

Welcome to Beach, ND (Mike Archdale photo)
Beach, ND

Only one thing was missing from my collection of Great Plains stuff – relics from the Lost Sea – like fish fossils, sharks’ teeth, or even a… Continue reading →

After forty-something days on the trail, mule Polly and I have yet to break the 250-mile mark – which is just the way we like it. Here’s why it’s taking so long.

“So where are you now?”

Folks have been asking me that a lot lately, as though, if I could point to a map and say, “Right here.”, they’d be satisfied. The answer promises to underwhelm. Remember, the Lost Sea disappeared over millions of years. In keeping with the theme of receding waters, Polly and I are living at the speed of ebb tide – or about five miles per day. This journey’s about rolling under the big sky and knocking… Continue reading →

So you think driving your ’92 Ford F-150 to the drive-in theater is old school? Well get with the times, grab six bucks and let’s head down to the Sunset Drive-in in Plentywood, Montana. Yep, we’re taking mule Polly and the Lost Sea Wagon.

This week mule Polly and I took a break from fossil hunting to get into the grain hauling business. Slide in here beside me on the Lost Sea wagon and let’s head for Lake Alma.

I’m into answers. On this mule journey, I’m learning more about the Lost Sea, the sea that, millions of years ago, stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Sea. I want to know why the baculite fossil has that funny tube at the top (It helped the critter regulate its buoyancy as it navigated the Lost Sea). I want to know why the Lost Sea Wagon squeaks so badly that, when it drops into a gopher hole, it… Continue reading →

Mule Polly and I are heading to Canada to begin the Lost Sea Expedition. Yes, we’re going by truck and trailer. Some would say that’s cheating. I say it’s the only way we’ll make the 2,200 miles from North Carolina to Canada before winter. Here’s what the land looks like.

Pilot Mountain
Winston Salem, NC

The first night’s encampment
Outside Portsmouth, Ohio

Lost Sea Sunset One
Bill Smith’s farm
Outside Portsmouth, Ohio

As of this posting, we’re 50 miles… Continue reading →