Still seeking tent

Little Girl with Paula and Larry of Riverdale Stables, Bakersfield, CA

The Mules want to thank Paula and Larry for allowing me and Little Girl to stay on their property until February 28th when we will see the urologist in regards to the swollen prostate which has pretty much kept us from practicing our nomadic lifestyle of walking all day, every day.

Our tent with broken poles beyond repair

During the storm, Paula and Larry lent us their strong and sturdy REI tent since our tent poles broke. They said we could keep the tent, however it is way too big to carry on Little Girl all day. A tent half this size would fare us well. 6 foot x 5 foot x 40-inches high or something very close is what works best for us. The poles need to be able to fit in the pack boxes.

We have found that tents under $50 sold on the internet are of such poor quality and strength and not usable under our circumstances…tent material is usually paper thin with fiberglass toothpick-like poles or poor quality zippers that break with only a few uses. We are looking for a high quality tent 6 foot by 5 foot by 40-inches and haven’t found one yet on the internet. If you find one that fits what we are looking for, please let us know. Send link so that we can read the dimensions to ensure that the collapsed poles will fit in the pack boxes. Or, if you have a tent these dimensions that you are no longer using, please send us a photo with dimensions and length of collapsed poles.

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In search of tent (5’x6′)

The poles of our tent broke. The perfect sized tent for us is a one-person tent that is 5 feet wide by 6 feet long approximately 42-inches high.

Does anybody have a dome tent these dimensions with fly cover that they are no longer using?

Looking for tent before the next big storm hits this Thursday.

If you have a tent this size or know where we can find one this size in Bakersfield, send us a message. Thank you.

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Lady’s new retirement home

Little Girl and Lady

Lady’s days of wandering across the earth carrying a pack load on her back have now come to an end. She will now spend her remaining days in this dimension, which she so admirably served for the past 37 years, in retirement. Though Lady will no longer be serving the 3 Mule Nation as she has, we are sure she will be serving this nation in ways yet unforeseen. Little Girl and myself will forever be aware of her presence.

Lady with Melinda, Eric, Bonnie and Porvidio

As Lady gave her unrelenting energy to the 3 Mules Nation that energy returns to Lady embodied in these great people – Melinda, Eric, Bonnie and Porvidio, who came forth from the mist to serve and care for Lady.

She will now be going to another place where we know she will experience the best of care by Sharon.

3 Mules Nation will be watching Lady and anticipating with excitement to see how Lady’s energy and magic will find yet another way to contribute to the wealth of the nation, the 3 Mules Nation.

~The Mules

Here are some photos that Sharon shared with us of Lady settling down in her new home and being welcomed by her horse and neighbor’s pony.

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Meeting Eli – an honest friend

We are all travelers in the wilderness of this world, and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend.~Robert Louis Stevenson 

In April 2016, I was coming back from Los Angeles with the Mules, coming down San Emigdio Canyon at Wind Wolves Preserve in Bakersfield. I had hung my cartridge belt on the saddle horn. My cartridge belt carried my cell phone, camera, various devices and wallet. When I stopped to rest for the night and was unpacking the kids, I discovered that it was missing. It had come loose and fallen off.

I remembered where and when I stopped to take off my cartridge belt and hung it around the saddle horn, but I had no idea at which point it fell off. Did it get caught up in a tree branch or bush along the trail and fall off? For the next week, I walked back and forth along a 3-mile wide open stretch searching in San Emigdio Canyon along the creek trail and swept the tall grasses in the pasture to no avail and couldn’t find it. I notified the administrative office at Wind Wolves Preserve in case any hiker turned it in. I thought that I would never see it again.

Almost eleven months later, this past Monday evening, I received the following message from Eli Smith: “John, I was hiking at Wind Wolves Preserve and found something that belongs to you. Why don’t you message me and we can coordinate getting it back to you!”

Unbelievable!

This evening, Eli and his friends drove from Los Angeles to Bakersfield and very graciously returned everything to me. The Mules want to thank Eli for his honesty and taking the time to search for me and reconnect me with my belongings.

We appreciate all the good people we encounter in our ages old nomadic way of life. Each day we are reminded that we’re here: the outside, the web of life, the beautiful earth, a place like no other. We have come to this place, a place of golden sparkling light, a place for anybody and everybody. Give your faith, hope and energy to this place at which time you connect to it and receive the magic and endless possibility of infinity. As you walk in this place with these mules you spread the awareness that this beautiful earth, like no other, can only be protected by the way we live one day at a time.

Monk, Little Girl and Eli Smith
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Lady has retired – just Little Girl and the Monk now

Little Girl

Lady is too old now to haul a load all day so we left her with some great folks. It’s just Little Girl and the monk now. We’ll have another blog post or several coming soon sharing stories of our 31 years traveling with Lady. 

The photo above is Little Girl standing alone infused and enveloped by the energy of 3 Mules Nation, a nation of people following, watching, giving their hope, faith and energy to that nation. A Nation born from a history of hundreds of thousands of years. Human beings wandering and living with their animal companions with respect and reverence for each other and the planet earth from which their nation and themselves were born. A 3 Mules Nation of people (human beings) unwilling to accept and conform to the new paradigm of gadgetry and glitz (endless discovery) at the cost of that most sacred relationship immersed in the magic and wonder of human beings wandering their home earth. 

~The Mules

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