Earlier today, Novato Police Department Sergeant Howard stopped to introduce himself and welcome the Mules to Novato. He said to let him know if we encounter any problems and gave us his business card.
Category: Mule’s Blog
Cotati, California
Lakeport, CA
Mr. Chen Guan Ming
Awhile ago, I heard the story about a Chinese farmer named Chen Guan Ming who has been traveling the world since 2001 peddling a one speed, heavy tricycle loaded with his gear and pulling his rickshaw with a rope to get up mountains, visiting 23 countries and over 87,000 miles. He sleeps outside in his rickshaw with his belongings and by news accounts has been redirected to remove himself from riding on a few public thoroughfares by police for safety. My interest in Mr. Chen grew greater when I heard that he had entered California. I wondered if our paths would cross. But before we get to that, here is some background about Mr. Chen.
The Olympic Rickshaw Rider cycling around the world
In 2008 at age 53, Chen decided to ride his three-wheel rickshaw 497-miles from his village to the Olympics in Beijing. He rode around 1,700 cities in China to celebrate the Beijing Olympics and was dubbed the “Olympic madman.” Filled with the Olympic spirit, in May 2010, he decided to embark on a truly epic journey. A two-year rickshaw ride from eastern China to London, England, the host of the 2012 Olympics. His long and tortuous route took him through some of the world’s most troubled regions and difficult terrain including flooded Thailand, the Himalayan foothills, war-torn Afghanistan and Pakistan. But despite the condition, and being turned away from Singapore and Myanmar, he finally made it through 16 countries that also included Vietnam, Turkey, Italy, France, where he took a ferry to England and arrived in London in July 2012.
Because nobody knew he was coming, nobody in London welcomed Chen. And with no English to explain his rickshaw odyssey to the locals, it didn’t look like anyone would recognize Chen’s feat. One man, John Beeston, spotted Chen slumped over the handlebars of his rickshaw. Using his limited knowledge of Mandarin Chinese, Beeston discovered Chen’s amazing story and set out to tell the world. Only a few days later, Chen had spoken to BBC and CNN, been awarded a ticket to the opening ceremony of the London games, and been honored at a dinner held by the Chinese Olympic team. Energized by the that journey to the London Olympics, he set his mind to ride to the 2016 Olympics in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.
In June 2013, he flew from London to Nova Scotia, traveled west across Canada, entering the United States in Washington in January 2015, riding through Oregon, and entered California in February. After KRCR News found him traveling through Red Bluff and ran astory, the 3 Mules began receiving more messages from followers about Mr. Chen traveling through California and we were informed about his Facebook page with posts on his whereabouts.
The Mules Close encounter with Mr. Chen
While Mr. Chen was in Northern California riding south to Los Angeles, and we (the Mules) turned around in San Diego to head back north, I kept tabs of his progress. I wondered when and where our paths would cross since we were both following Hwy 101 going in opposite directions. On March 21, I found out an hour after the fact that we were both in Santa Barbara riding/walking on the same road. However, the Mules missed seeing him by a mere 30-60 minutes as we had experienced a delay in our morning start. However, I still felt it was really cool that someone who I have been following and cheering virtually from afar was so close by, but we had no way to catch up to him at our 3mph speed.
Out of the Who Dee Doo
Fast forward to July 6, 2015. Woke up in the morning on the Sacramento River, packed up the Mules, and started walking on Hwy 32 going west towards Orland. We got to Orland around 2:30 and went to the city hall to deliver the Declaration of Emergency. We then walked through Orland to Hwy 99, where we decided to we would go south to Willows. Around 3:00, there was a nice green grassy spot along the side of the road for the mules to stop and eat. As I was sitting on my water bucket letting the mules graze, a gentleman named Omar approached and introduced himself. He looked us up on 3Mules.com and appreciated what we were doing. We said thank you and then we had a conversation that lasted for awhile. He asked us if we liked peaches and said he would bring us back some peaches from his tree. When he came back, we continued our conversation.
During one part of our conversation, he started out by saying “There was a Chinese gentleman that came here with his bicycle…”
I immediately said “Mr. Chen!”
“That’s right!” said Omar.
He then took out his Smartphone and showed us a picture that he took of Mr. Chen near the same exact spot that we were currently sitting.
Thus, we think this is something that comes out of the Who Dee Doo. Because if we hadn’t decided to change course and stop in that same exact place at the time we did and wait awhile, we would never have met Omar, who met Mr. Chen, a person we have great interest following on his inspiring, epic world journey to “promote the Olympic spirit, hope for world peace, and protecting mother earth.”
This is the energy, magic and mystery of this place that we seem to encounter frequently along our journey and where we find ourselves in this point in our lives.
Wheatland, CA
We stopped here last night. We were not here more than half an hour when a CHP officer showed up. He got out of his car and asked us what was up. We told him that we were stopping here to rest for the night. He said he was responding to a number of calls that we were walking in the middle of the road.
My answer to that was that we were not walking in the middle of the road. We were walking on the side of the road due to the fact that there was no shoulder to walk on, thus it forced us to walk on the edge of the road. We had a right to do so. We have every right to use the public thoroughfare as the automobile.
The officer went back to his car and talked to the office. He returned and said he was merely concerned that we don’t get hit. He handed me back my I.D. and was on his way.
Sacramento State Capitol California Highway Patrol
Thank you to California Highway Patrol Capitol Officer Jones for ensuring a smooth and welcoming visit for the 3 Mules. When the Mules arrived at the Capitol, CHP bike patrol officer escorted the Mules to a fenced, shaded area with water for Lady, Little Girl and Who-dee-doo. CHP mounted patrol unit officers Dillon and Maxwell kept an eye on the kids while Mule delivered the DOE to Governor Jerry Brown’s Office.
Turlock, CA
Livingston, California
On May 24, Ruben Chavez, police chief of Livingston, CA, e-mailed the Mules: “The mules are welcome to stay in Livingston for water, food, etc. We currently have two rescued horses we use for mounted patrol. We would love to have you stay with us. We also have charros who ride through town daily. We are equine friendly, so please call me if you have any questions.”
We responded to the email and called Chief Chavez and accepted his offer to stop and rest for a couple nights in Livingston.
Wind Wolves Preserve
After spending 11 nights/12 days as guests on The Wildlands Conservancy’s Wind Wolves Preserve, the 3 Mules are back on the road.
Back on April 9th, we were going on 33 North towards Bakersfield, in which we first looked south and were enticed by the mountains in Wind Wolves Preserve. It’s a big area at 93,000 acres, the West Coast’s largest nonprofit preserve, in which you don’t see any buildings or any roads, so naturally we thought it would be nice area to go into as we continued on our way to Bakersfield not really expecting to ever go there.
On April 14 as we were along 99 heading on our way to Sacramento and south of McFarland, Who-dee-doo decided that he was going to roll onto his back. He rolled right on top of the pack saddle, which was on him, and broke it in half. At that point, I was stranded and couldn’t go anywhere since I need a packsaddle to put my pack boxes with supplies on it. We posted on our 3 Mules Facebook page to see if anybody could bring a packsaddle to help us out.
Backcountry Horsemen of Kern Sierra Unit responded and brought us a packsaddle and got us back on our feet. The gentleman that brought it said that they were putting on a ride at Wind Wolves that upcoming Saturday and invited us to go there and be a guest for that ride. We accepted and thought it would be a great chance to see Wind Wolves, which we never expected that we’d get. We packed up and headed back to Wind Wolves, which was about 60 miles from where we were. On April 19, the 3 mules meeting up and riding with the Backcountry Horsemen in Wind Wolves Preserve. The Backcountry Horsemen of Kern-Sierra unit also gifted us a membership to their chapter. For that, the Mules are truly honored.
At Wind Wolves Preserve, we were treated very nicely by Dan York, Vice President of Wildlands Conservancy, Landon Peppel (Wind Wolves Preserve manage), Matt Thorp, (Wind Wolves Preserve ranger), Courtney, Melissa, Sarah and the other staff at Wind Wolves. We stayed here for 11 nights/12 days where the Mules explored the canyons and grazed every day. This is a very peaceful place where we were woken up every morning by the sound of birds and lulled to sleep the sound of crickets and frogs.
At Wind Wolves, in addition to the mules re-fueling, the mules got re-shoed and fitted with the new Easyboots that were delivered to us. Thank you all that helped donate an EasyBoot so that we could get back on the road. Who-dee-doo allowed the EasyBoots to be put on his hoofs, but he still does not allow us to shoe him on his blind side.
The Wildlands Conservancy mission is to “preserve the beauty and biodiversity of the earth and to provide programs so that children may know the wonder and joy of nature.” The Wildlands Conservancy owns and operates California’s largest nonprofit nature preserve system that includes”12 magnificent landscapes spanning over 145,000 acres of diverse mountain, valley, desert, river and ocean front properties. The Wildlands Conservancy purchases and restores landscapes and builds national park quality visitor facilities that are open to the public at no cost.
The Backcountry Horsemen mission is “to improve and promote the use, care and development of California backcountry trails, campsites, streams and meadows; to advocate good trail manners; to promote the conservation and utilization of our backcountry resources in concert with livestock transportation; to keep the backcountry trails and forage areas open to horsemen on all public lands; to support or oppose new proposals, plans and restrictions as related to the interest of horsemen and those persons interested in recreational stock use and enjoying the backcountry; to promote the interest of people who, due to health or physical factors, need transportation other than by foot on backcountry trails; to assist in keeping the public informed of the vital need for a clean backcountry; to promote a working relationship with and keep the work and interests of the Corporation before our local, state and federal officials; and to promote public awareness and interest in the historical aspect of horsemen and stock in the backcountry and to help educate backcountry users on ways to use the trail and forage in a manner that conserves the backcountry resources.”
Once again, thank you to the Backcountry Horsemen of Kern Sierra Unit and The Wildlands Conservancy for providing the opportunity for the 3 Mules visit and stay on The Wind Wolves Preserves, a place we never imagined of ever visiting but wanted to.
Halliburton – Bakersfield
On the night of 4/29/15 at 6:30pm, we were cited by Kern County Sheriff for criminal trespassing on Halliburton Corporation land. A Halliburton security guard asked us to leave. We said that we would, so we packed up and were walking off Halliburton land when a Kern County law enforcement officer appeared walking towards us and asked us if we would talk to him. We said no and continued walking off of Halliburton land when we were then forcibly stopped by the enforcement officer and eventually charged with criminal trespassing by Halliburton.
This is obviously an American corporation that has no regard or respect for what the Mules represent and live for respect and reverence for this planet and all its inhabitants. We had walked 20-miles. The mules were deserving a good nights rest. They had been carrying the energy of balance all day for people to feel and experience as only they could. There was no good reason for the mules to be treated like this by Halliburton Corporation.
Here are photos of the citation and the open, empty lot that we were told to leave.
