Long Driver
Building a Covered Wagon in Southern Pines, NC
Note: Originally published January 25, 2006
Recently, I’ve been reorganizing the RiverEarth.com website. It’s twenty years old and has over 800 posts. Over time, links break, which means when you search for them, you get those annoying 404 errors. This is one of those articles whose link needed repair. Yeah, it’s a blast from the past.
At the time I wrote it, I was living in Southern Pines, preparing for what would become the Lost Sea Expedition. But like many… Continue reading
Mule Polly and the Covered Wagon Head to Lake Mattamuskeet for PBS NC
Mule Polly and I are ready to start our PBS NC wagon ramble! Here are a few pics of moving my gear from here in western North Carolina to Lake Mattamuskeet, on the coast of North Carolina.
How to Grease the Wheels on Your Covered Wagon
Remember those scenes on TV where the pioneers are rolling across the prairie with their covered wagons? Or sitting around the fire drinking coffee and whiskey and strumming a guitar? I don’t ever recall seeing a pioneer doing wagon maintenance like greasing a wagon wheel and saying, “Damn, I just turned that wagon wheel nut the wrong way. Of COURSE, the left wheels are lefty loosey..!” Here’s your and my chance to fill that glaring gap in our TV knowledge… Continue reading
The Creston Dinosaur: Bernie Harberts on the Atlas Obscura Podcast
In 2008, my mule Polly and I traveled from Canada to the Mexican border in a homemade mule wagon. I interviewed folks along the way, and one of the favorite characters I met wasn’t a person. It was a giant green cement dinosaur outside Creston, South Dakota.
Flash forward to now. Recently Atlas Obscura, the website dedicated to obscure Americana, contacted me about doing a story about the Creston dinosaur. I… Continue reading
Mailing a Letter From the New Mexico Desert
Polly’s tied up in the wind to a road sign that says “Pinon Creek Rd,” a road that leads from dust to more wind.
That’s how the letter started.
Traveling from Canada to Mexico with my wagon for the Lost Sea Expedition TV series, I kept in touch with friends largely through letters, occasionally a phone call. Toward the end of my voyage, crossing the parched… Continue reading
Cache La Poudre River to Fort Collins: A Colorado Mule Ramble
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.
One Man. One Mule. Newfoundland Tourism Takes Notice.
Tourism Newfoundland paid mule Polly and me a surprise visit as we drove our covered wagon across Newfoundland hunting for photos on a record about Newfoundland music I found in a Goodwill. Here’s the beautiful — and amusing — video they produced. Big thanks to Matt Tucker and Target Marketing & Communications for making it happen. Makes me want to visit Newfoundland with mule Polly. Hey, wait. We’re already here. Click the video and enjoy.
Read more posts from this… Continue reading
Polly at the Window: Mule, Molasses Bread and Newfoundland Hospitality
Mule Polly has it sussed. While I’m inside sampling some of Newfoundland’s finest home cooked meals, say a skillet of caplin fried in fatback on an oil range, someone will say, “Look! There’s a horse looking in the window.” At which point I look up from my plate of fried fish and say, “yeah, that’s just mule Polly. I think she’d like some molasses bread.”
Chalk it up as a peril of Newfie hospitality.
Adrift Between Missions
The Last Thing I Hear In My Wagon World
The walls of my wagon world are canvas thin. Lit by an oil soaked wick raised with a tiny lantern gear. Nights, when darkness falls, I put a match to the wick and write in my journal by lamp light. The… Continue reading
Mule Polly Visits the Caldwell County Library: A Newfoundland Journey
Hey Bucky, ever wondered what it’s like to travel across Newfoundland by mule. No? Do you even know where Newfoundland is? Well, how about kicking off the year with an adventurous travel program. Learn a thing or two about caplin, screech and jiggers. No idea what I’m talking about? Yeah, you need to come.
Last year mule Polly and I traveled… Continue reading
The Covered Wagon Didn’t Survive. Mule Polly Did. Newfoundland Crash.
This wasn’t the way I planned to end my voyage across Newfoundland by mule and wagon. Saturday afternoon, October 6 2012, a four-door vehicle drove head-on into the back of my wagon. There were no skid marks or signs of collision avoidance at the scene. The impact was strong enough to separate the wagon in two. Mule Polly, the driver of the vehicle and I are okay.
Mule Polly’s Secret Mission: Hunting a Vinyl Record Across Newfoundland
Gentle readers. I have deceived you. Okay, “deceive” is a mite hard. Let’s say I haven’t been completely forthright about mule Polly and my mission here in Newfoundland. While it may seem we’ve been stumbling aimlessly around The Rock, we’ve actually been on a record quest. Record as in vinyl, not world.
Kids and a Missing Mule in Newfoundland
One recent morning I woke to find Polly gone. Yep, while I was under the influence of some knock-out-grade REM sleep, she slipped her picket and took a self-guided tour of Barr’d Harbour, Newfoundland.
Who caught her? A young girl.
Seems Polly fell under the spell of the young gal’s potato chips. Followed her into the family’s yard where the two of them inspected the rabbit hutch. Then joined the girl and her mom for a bit of socializing on… Continue reading
How a Mule Sleeps at Night in Newfoundland
Polly and I have been traveling across Newfoundland for a month now. Plenty of time to get a feeling for the land. The beach launched fishing boats. The bottled seal meat. The lobster traps that Polly likes to chew on. She does it for the fiber, not the salt.
Top Three Questions I Get
I get lots of questions about my trip. The top three are where I live, how did… Continue reading
