Everything covered up pretty good from the rain, including Rosie.
Tag: 3Mules.com
MZ Equestrian, Vista, CA
City of Ventura Police Encounter
No sooner had the Mules got into Ventura then we were approached by police officer informing us he had gotten a call that we were scaring the school children on the other side of the fence. And we couldn’t stop here for any amount of time because we were on private property. I said no we are on a public easement. He continued to insist we were on private property. A school teacher came over and informed the officer she had followed us for years and we were perfectly okay where we were. He decided to leave and did.
Do City/County Parks Need to Be Closed to a Lone Traveler?
Do City county parks need to be closed to a lone traveler? Moving under their own power and their own speed whether by bicycle walking carrying a backpack or walking with a pack animal. The mules say no. A person traveling alone entering a park after dusk when Park is closed with the sole purpose of pitching a small tent. Then staying the night then getting up in the morning and leaving to continue their journey is a threat to no one. Parks are meant to be used by people engaged in outside activity the three mule journey is certainly doing that. The mules can see no good common sense reason to prevent us or anybody else like us from resting for the night in a park.
The Mules have received a number of comments on this post on our 3 Mules Facebook page. There seems to be a concerted effort to identify us with a homeless encampment people living on sidewalks packed into a small area with no running water no sanitation because they can no longer afford decent housing. The mules live on the move travel alone. Never stay on public space for more than 24 hours most often than not less than 24 hours. We present none of the problems of a homeless encampment. Yet by reading these comments they’re all trying to infer that we do. Well the mules think it’s absolutely mystifying that we’re still walking through in and around this extremely dangerous megatropolis how we choose when we choose. For a weak cowardly little man and one mule it’s truly a spiritual endeavor. When the time comes for our eternal soul to leave the body that we are attached to we will have no regrets.
Extensive Non-motorized Trail System
The California High-Speed Rail Authority in 2008 said the high-speed rail line would cost $33 billion and begin service by 2020. So far, only about 119 miles of the planned 776-mile railroad have commenced construction, and the estimated costs have soared to as much as $128 billion.
An inspector general report in February 2025 found the project was unlikely to meet its 2033 passenger service goal and identified a $6.5 billion funding gap for the Central Valley segment between Merced and Bakersfield.
An extensive bike path trail system for pedestrians, equestrians, cyclists connecting all communities to all communities all over the state could have been built for a mere pittance of what’s been wasted on this ridiculous high speed train.
The non-motorized travelers must be separated from the deadly weaponized automobile. The deadly weaponized automobile is killing non-motorized travelers at an ever-increasing rate each year. The idea that the two can coexist safely sharing the same space is proven year after year to not be possible.
Time to use California money for something worthwhile and valuable. An extensive trail path system for the non-motorized mode of travel.
Staying in One Place vs Being in Motion
SCHEME (1) You construct a shelter. Once done and completed you stay there you stay in one place. Your shelter can be a million dollar mansion or something as simple and inexpensive as a tent. The shelters, a mansion or a tent, differ in size and cost. But the people who live in them are basically living the same. They both leave their tent or their house then go places for varying amounts of time. Upon completing a task which draws them out of their house /tent they return. Evidence shows that both, the people who live in houses and those who live in tents, like to collect stuff. The people in houses fill up their garages and when there’s no longer space in the house or the garage they buy space at a storage facility. The people in tents because they have limited financial resources place the stuff they collect outside of their tent. Where it builds up and becomes an eyesore and objectionable to passers by. Because they don’t have the financial resources for storage.
SCHEME (2) You don’t construct a shelter you don’t stay in one place you stay in motion moving with the seasons. The Mules fall under Scheme 2, using motion and energy to provide us what we need as we migrate with the season. Rather than building a shelter with the intention of staying in one place, The Mules bivouac for the night, most often less than 24 hours. Then we get up, pack up and stay in motion until the sun sets once again where we will bivouac for the coming night. The Mules tend not to collect stuff for it would create an unnecessary burden on our mules and ourselves and hamper our ability to stay in motion which is so essential to our survival and the nomadic way of life which we and many others practice.
Most counties in California in which the Mules travel through on a daily basis have passed no lodging laws. California Penal Code 647(e) is a no lodging law, but it does not state the particular behaviors that the law is meant to prevent. Only using the word to “lodge” which is far too vague and unclear to enforce.
If the Mules and all others who practice this nomadic way of life on foot, bicycle, or pack mule, etc., are to be prosecuted using PC 647(e), those prosecuting us must prove that we are doing what this law was written, then passed, to prevent. Such as drug and alcohol abuse, violence, erecting tents and blocking sidewalks, etc. None of these behaviors are the mules guilty of. Obviously 647 (e) is not enforceable against the Mules.
The Mules
In search of a Stall Jack
Pictured is my anvil I use to shape the horse shoe to fit mule feet. A horse shoe when bought does fit a horse pretty well without a lot of pounding. However, for mule feet, a lot of pounding is required to shape the shoe to fit the feet.
As the picture of anvil shows from constant use, it has been severely bent and is no longer effective to use. I can either get this one fixed by a welder or get what is called a “Stall Jack”.
Does anybody have one they no longer need? Due to my 75+ years of age, I have no longer the strength and force using a hammer. I thought I might get more leverage with a stall jack. Last image is of a stall jack.
NOTE: Shoes are made specifically to fit mules. However, they are hard to find and more expensive making them impractical for us as we shoe on average about every three weeks.
Ventana Wilderness – Rancho Salsipuedes
UPDATE 9/19/2020: In 2015 the Mules were traveling through Ventana Wilderness in Monterey County where we had the pleasure of staying at Rancho Salsipuedes owned by Timothy Bottoms. We enjoyed our stay at the Rancho and learning of its unique history, which is documented in our original blog post below.
Rancho Salsipuedes is a rare place. About 12 miles inland in Big Sur, it is one of the LAST standing California Homesteads that is not owned by the government or by a corporation. It has been in the hands of The Bottoms family since 1975. It has been untouched by overdevelopment, remaining in all of its glory. It has been looked after with true, pure, authentic love for the natural world.
We have come to find out about the Dolan wildfire that started August 18, 2020 and one month later continues to burn with only 46% perimeter containment. This wildfire ravaged thru and over the Rancho Salsipuedes, which we are very sorry to hear about.
In 2015, We left our palomino mule, Who Dee Doo, at Rancho Salsipuedes and glad to see in the photo below that he made it through the fire okay.
The Bottom’s family friend, Caitlin Ackerman, has organized a GoFundMe fundraiser to help the remaining horses and rebuild Rancho Salsipuedes. Please click on this link to read more about this special place and donate if you can. Warning, there are graphic images of the animals domestic and wildlife that didn’t survive.
Here is our original blog post that we wrote October 20, 2015:
October 20, 2015 – Rancho Salsipuedes:
Three Mules and one monk were walking south through Fort Hunter Liggett on a road bordering the Los Padres National Forest when a gentleman by the name of Timothy Bottoms stopped his Jeep, got out, introduced himself and asked if the kids needed water or hay for he had brought some. The monk responded, “No. We are okay. Thank you.”
He then invited us to his ranch to take a break. We said yes that would be nice. So we walked to his ranch, which is surrounded by the Ventana Wilderness, and took a break.
Tim asked if we needed anything in the way of supplies, gear, etc. The monk responded with a yes. Our pack boxes were over 25 years old and worn to the bone. Tim said he would be glad to help so he did by supplying us with four new pack boxes.
Who Dee Do, our third mule will be staying at Tim’s ranch. He never became easy for me to shoe. He had to be sedated and that was not a practical scheme for us walking through the Megatropolis.
Who Dee Do will be living with Tim’s horses and mules, a great place for Who Dee Do to live.
The Mules say thank you to Timothy Bottoms for his kindness and support he has shown the mules, the identifiers of this ages old nomadic way of life living with respect and reverence for this beautiful place called Earth, the home of human beings. ~The Mules
About Rancho Salsipuedes: “Nestled in the verdant, peaceful valley, stands the thick adobe walls of the Mission San Antonio de Padua’s Portreros Mulos built by the caretaker friar and several neophytes…it established ranch support for the mission mules.
After secularization in 1834, the property came under the private ownership of Vicente Avile, who purchased the drought stricken Rancho for the stately sum of $13, all he had in his pocket. The Rancho remained in the family estate for over one hundred years.
The Avila Ranch, a 160-acre homestead, became known as Salsipuedes (“get out if you can”), which was later sold to Timothy Bottoms in 1975 as a family refuge.”
On the ranch is an old stone cabin and oven built sometime in late 1800s/early 1900s.
The trails surrounding the property are very difficult to travel and impassable with overgrown brush and fallen trees. During the time we were waiting for our pack boxes to arrive, we spent our time clearing these trails.
The Mules Don’t War
The Mules won’t and don’t war. Why? There is no good reason to do so. The act of war produces nothing we need or want to associate with. It will not better our lives. War worsens our lives. War, an endless cycle of death, destruction and human misery. First, a victor, then a loser, around and around you go, learning nothing, accomplishing nothing for yourself or the generations to come. A life of service to the Megatropolis providing it with the highest possible degree of human suffering and misery so it can satisfy its never ending insatiable appetite for that misery.
One bright beautiful sunny morning, as can only exist on earth, the Mules many thousands of years ago, were moving into a large canyon as a tribal group known by all who knew us as The Mules. Suddenly, we heard the sharp clinking of metal and the sound of horses coming from behind. The horses of war were in pursuit. We started to run fast and hard with our mules to the end of the canyon up and out onto the ridge. We looked back. They weren’t coming for their horses could not commandeer the rugged climb. We chose for our escape a well known canyon for its difficult ascent. Once down, we would be safe from the pursuing force of war. Almost down, we could see a large cloud of dust at the mouth of the canyon. We turned and looked to the ridge which we had left. The forces of war had come up from another canyon.
We were trapped for the first and last time. The Megatropolis had grown too large now. Its organization and control of humanity was well on its way. We got off our mules, placed our hands on their necks and stood and quietly waited for what was surely to come.
First we watched our children slain one at a time before our eyes. Then we watched our wives, companions meet the same fate. And then we who remained were mocked and insulted as cowards for allowing them to do what they had just done. Then my tribal members were also slain one at a time until only I was left standing quietly waiting for my sure demise, I saw this soul captured by war and destruction start to weep about 100 feet of where I stood.
Suddenly a stillness with the strength of a storm encompassed all that could be seen and experienced. Then another captured soul began to weep. Now all these men of war were on their knees weeping and shaking with fear and regret for what they have done to the Mules and of course to themselves. We stood in silence until we understood it was time for us to leave for the suffering was not ours to bare. The burden was to be bared by the men of war. I got on my mule, turned to the north and once again continued this endless journey alone but never alone of one human being sacredly walking on earth through the web of life in one of any of all four directions with his or her animal companions one step of a time all day every day.
The story of the Mules’ past and their ancestors explains very well why the Mules will never war again. The ancestors learned the consequences of war and pass this story on through the use of thousands of years of harbored energy. Each lifetime we live here on earth, our chosen place of eternal residence, we end that life by dying either from accident, stealth or natural causes, only to re-materialize, live again, wander and roam over this beautiful creation known as earth. The Megatroplis seeking to control all energy on earth has never controlled the Mules and never will. We the Mules give our energy to this place in which we reside and this place protects us as we walk on our endless journey through time and space.
The Mules
El Cajon, CA
This afternoon March 16, I have been stopped by seven or eight City of El Cajon Police on El Cajon Boulevard. Right now as I speak for no reason other than walking down the sidewalk they forcibly stop me and detain me. It’s totally illegal other asking me all kinds of questions and threatening psychological evaluation. It is none of their business. I’m legally walking down the street and I won’t answer the question. We’ve been stopped twice already by La Mesa Police Department. We’re not going to answer questions continually all day long from every police department in this county or in the state.
After an hour, the Mules were released from police detainment which was illegal to start with. We were told that we could go thru town but not to stop anywhere. If we did, I would be arrested and Little Girl and my belongings would be impounded. And of course, due to the lateness of the day and them detaining us for an hour, that probably will not happen. We will stop and find a place to rest wherever that may be.
