Your Basic Busted Wheel Moment – Southern Pines, NC

Now before you say “Awww man!” like I do when Woody sticks his leg through Maggie’s cart and busts the wheels, remember this – mule and boat travel is fraught with delay.

Your basic “Awwwwww man!” moment – Fairbank, AZ

When you count on wind and hooves for locomotion, as I often do, travel times get skewed. A few years ago, old man Neptune took a bashing to my boat and I spent a year and half in New Zealand catching wild cows and building a new mast. A few years later, mule Woody kicked me in the guts and I spent a few days sipping ice tea through a straw and slathering myself in emu oil to draw out the pain.

So, having softened you up with those plans-gone-bung, I can deliver the news.

The “Lost Sea” expedition has been delayed by a few months.

Like the gale that has you hove to for a few days staring at your vessel’s tongue and groove ceiling, or the mule kick that has you studying the patttern on your rescuer’s couch, an unexpected delay has me looking closer at the details of my daily life.

So what happened?

Well, when I hit sixty miles per week on the road with Jack and Bill, it dawned on me that what I needed was a faster, younger team. A team that, while not crazy-headed, had more step-out-and-go in them.

Why?

Jack and Bill were simply too quiet. Experience has taught me that when you show up in the wind-swept plains of our great nation, you better have a mule team that you have to hold back, not urge on. The distances are great, the fodder’s thin and you better get from one feed source to the next in short order.

A place to keep moving – High Lonesome, Nutt, NM

So I made the gut-busting decision to delay my trip until I found a new team.

Jack and Bill have found a new home. And by the look of things (check out the latest MuleCam shots – even though I sold them, I drove them just last week), they’re doing great.

But finding a new team is harder than finding, for example, a new car. Shoulders have to be toughened up. Muscles have to be conditioned. Voices have to be learned.

So, to allow enough to train up a proper team, I’ve decided to postpone the departure of the “Lost Sea” expedition until January or February of the coming year.

The good news is this.

Now there’ll be time to focus on finishing my books “Too Proud to Ride a Cow” and “Woody and Maggie Walk Across America”. There are talks to give, Woody and Maggie to ride.

And most important, friends to visit.

So, if you’re in the Southern Pines area, drop by. It’s the house with the big yellow wagon in front of it. And hopefully, petty soon, a team of eager mules.

Bernie
RiverEarth.com