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.
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.
On Thursday morning, we packed up and left San Emigdio Canyon where we had spent the previous day. That night the temperature at 6,085 feet elevation was below freezing (in the low 20s or high teens with wind chill) – much colder than it was below the mouth of the canyon where we had been camped. Our intended destination was San Diego. The El Camino Viejo a Los Ángeles (Old Road to Los Angeles) is the route to get there by foot from Wind Wolves Preserve.
We traveled up the canyon for 2 hours 45 minutes, then reached the highway at Pine Mountain Club and proceeded east. We reached Frazier Park (elevation 4,542 ft) about 4:30pm. We had walked 6 hours that day with temperatures in the high 30s and decided to stop for the night and exercise our God given and legal right as well as anybody else’s whether traveling by horseback, bicycle or merely walking to use public space when in transit from one place to the next for the purpose of rest.
I unpacked the kids, put them on picket lines, made them comfortable, pitched my tent, ate some oatmeal, and went to sleep.
Upon awakening in the morning, I walked up the bank to check the kids and found Lady to be in distress. I maintained a watch for one hour and decided to get her to a vet.
I called the lady who voluntarily serves as the 3Mules.com admin and informed her to the situation. Using the 3 Mules Facebook page, she contacted the many people who follow and offer their help and support to the Mules on their endless journey through the Megatropolis.
The help the Mules needed materialized in a very short time in the form of Scott Rogers, president of Backcountry Horsemen of California – Kern Sierra Unit, Gretchen and her boss Tom, who came with a horse trailer.
We loaded Lady and Little Girl into the trailer and went to Bakersfield Veterinary Large Animal Hospital where she was thoroughly checked and declared to be in excellent condition for her 38 years of age. (Vet thought that the freezing temperatures at high elevation may have caused her stress as her condition improved at 300 feet above sea level.)
Our camp at Scott’s ranch
The Mules are now at Scott Rogers ranch where they will stay a few days then return to Wind Wolves Preserve. The Mules can no longer expect Lady at her 38 years to serve the Mules as she has so admirably done for most of her life. She is nearing retirement. She has earned and deserves it.
The Mules say thank you to all those who have joined this new nation, a nation growing up within a nation, by giving their hope, faith and energy to this nation. Respect and reverence for this earth and all its inhabitants.
The Mules give thanks on this Thanksgiving Day for this beautiful place called earth, the home of the human race. We give thanks to creation for all the animal companions who we enjoy and share this magical dance of energy and motion played out on the earthly stage. We give thanks for all the people we have met along the way and follow the 3 Mules page and peer through the window and watch and support the Mules on their endless journey using their God given right to move freely on earth. The Mules are all of us and we must be and remain free if we are to stay human.
The Mules want to thank Sam Gonzales for inviting us to stop and rest on his property for the past three months.
We had come to the Coarsegold area by the direction of the energy that surrounds and guides us. Here is where my oldest mule Lady was born 37 years ago.
We decided we would head for Oakhurst, buy groceries, then find the place where I bought Lady and she was born.
As we were walking along Road 415, we saw a sign Tomatoes for Sale. We stopped. Sam was there. We asked to buy some tomatoes. He came back with some. He asked where the mules were going to spend the night. We said we weren’t sure. He said they could stay here and that there was plenty of grass for them to eat. There was. We accepted.
We’ve been here for 3 months. The Monk was having a physical problem due to age. Meeting Sam was a godsend. The Mules now continue this ages old nomadic journey practiced by many through the ages.
As we were walking along the public thoroughfare a few days ago on Road 415 in Coarsegold, we came upon this place with a sign out announcing home grown organic tomatoes for sale. So we crossed the road then saw Sam, farmer extraordinaire, out picking tomatoes.
We asked him if we could purchase some, so he gave us some. While we were eating one of the delicious tomatoes, we did some talking, exchanging thoughts, ideas, experiences, etc. Sam took a keen interest in the kids and was drawn in by their energy.
Sam said stay a couple of days and give the kids a rest. We said OK, thank you. His lot has lots of green grass for the kids to graze and a pond filled with natural spring water.
We’ve enjoyed talking with Sam about his real down to the bone farming knowledge and food preservation techniques. Meeting Sam as we did was like stumbling onto a gold coin. An extremely rare and valued occurrence. ~The Mules
Back on June 6th, we posted the following question: “Can anybody out there make us a green-colored, 1000 denier nylon tarp measuring 75″ X 105″ (8’9″ X 6’3″) with 1/4-inch grommets on all four corners and on the middle of each side? Color preference is green, tan, brown or grey, not black as that would absorb and retain too much heat. This is not a tarp that we can simply purchase at a hardware store. If so, please message us with total cost (material, labor and shipping to California), time to deliver, and contact info.”
Thank you to those who took time to research and send us information on places that we could contact. We followed up on each lead sent to us. Most places quoted 4-6 week time frame to make or could only make the tarp in black color, which we did not want.
On Tuesday, June 21, Raj Sharma, owner and president of Tent City Canvas House in Fresno, contacted us that he read our story, looked at the 3 Mules website, understood our request and specific need, and wanted to make and donate the tarp as described for the Mules. We said thank you and accepted his kind offer.
We were 25-miles away in Reedley. Mr. Sharma said that this is Tent City’s busy season as they make tents all over the country and around the globe since 1958, but he would make it a priority to get this done for us to pickup on Friday morning, our estimated our arrival to Fresno.
On Friday morning, the Mules arrived at Tent City. Everyone was very nice. The tarp was made exactly to our specifications. The Mules are very appreciative to Mr. Sharma and his staff at Tent City for their effort and support as this tarp is a necessary item in our day-to-day nomadic way of life.
Yesterday late afternoon, we arrived in Sanger, California and stopped to rest between two buildings. Earlier in the morning while we were in Reedley, Linda posted that she could bring hay if we needed it. When we found our spot to rest for the night, we wrote Linda back asking if her offer to bring hay to us was still available. She said yes. So the kids had nice hay for dinner and breakfast thanks to Linda, Matthew and Jacob.
As we were packing up to leave in the morning, Javier and Efrain from Apache Smog and Tire in the building next to us, came over and asked what we were doing and what we were all about. We talked a bit and they looked up our website. Javier said that Academy Feed Store is 3-miles down the road and asked if we needed anything. We said that we needed two horseshoe files. He said to go to the feed store, and if the store had what we needed, tell the store to give him a call and he would pay for it. We walked to the feed store, which had what we needed and they called Javier. Thank you Javier for your kind support toward the mules.
While securing the kids in a shopping center parking lot so that we could go buy bread, an animal control officer told us that we were not allowed to be walking through the City of Sanger. We said that we had the right to walk in any public thoroughfare in this country. I went in the store to buy a loaf of bread and when I came out the animal control officer was still there. The officer said he had looked at our website. We talked briefly and went our separate ways.
We went to deliver the Declaration of Emergency (DOE) to Sanger City Hall, then continued our way towards Fresno.
Yesterday after leaving the Old Ridge Route Road, we were going along the highway and Dawn appeared (materialized) out of the mist. She stopped her car and said she was a farrier, asked if we needed anything. We said yes we did. She said, “What?” We said nails, rasp, horse shoes. She said you got it. We said thank you.
Dawn appearing as she did is a perfect example of how the Mules and the energy that is created by the way we live materializes into what we need as we go along one step at a time all day every day.
So the Mules say thank you Dawn for your kindness and support and may the energy of the Mules travel with you.
Saturday, April 30, 2016, we left Griffith Park where we stayed for the night. While grazing the kids, we met Brian. He rode 12-miles with us on his really big horse to the United States Court of Appeals Ninth District courthouse in Pasadena.
Thank you Brian and friend for giving your hope faith energy to this most important case of one human being (all of us) traveling with his or her animal companions across this country and the absolute right to stop and rest (sleep for the night) on public space.
