Last night the mules spent the night in Lake Elsinore on a vacant lot. While we were packing up this morning, the Lake Elsinore code enforcement officer approached us and said we could not be here. We said we would be gone in about an hour. He said right now get your stuff and leave. He then called the sheriff.
Sheriff came and said you’re trespassing. If you don’t leave immediately, you will be arrested. We said we were not trespassing. There were no fences preventing our entry and no signs to inform us that we could not be there through the night for the purpose of a night’s sleep. The officer did not pursue the issue any further. We cleaned up after ourselves and left. It took over an hour.
The Mules will be staying in the town of Lake Elsinore tonight seeking a public piece of ground for the purpose of a night’s sleep. We require very little area through the night and are on our way in the morning.
The Megatropolis and its forever spreading cities and towns must come to respect the Mules and the way of living they represent as we are all being driven like sheep into a smaller and smaller area in which to live and raise families. We must establish a place we can all go and practice The Art of Living freely and responsibly in our country. As the Mules practice their ages old nomadic way of life they also show the absolute necessity for such a place we can all go move freely and keep and regain our sanity.
The attitude held by most public officials of the cities we pass through such as Lake Elsinore is utter disrespect and disregard. The mules wonder why because the attitude and demeanor of the citizens of the cities and towns we pass through is always friendly and positive.
Last night the Mules stopped in Diamond Bar at one of its city parks to sleep for the night. We found an out of the way bare piece of ground next to the maintenance yard to spend the night, so we did for less than a 12 hour period. Upon awakening in the morning, I fixed my breakfast and proceeded to pack up Little Girl when three Los Angeles County sheriff deputies appeared answering a call that there was a horse in the park.
I responded that we had stopped here for the night and were now on our way.
They said fine, no problem, we just got a call and we were checking things out. They looked at our website and were very interested. We talked while I was packing up. They then wished us a safe journey and left. We then left ourselves.
Area of Occupancy
Pictured are examples showing the amount of space the Mules use for less than a twelve hour period during the night. Sleep and rest is essential for all living beings health and wellbeing.
We use the Fresno No Camping Ordinance as an example for the cities passing No Sleeping/No Camping ordinances. They are all using the same argument to justify their passage.
Section 10-1700: Purpose “Streets and public areas should be readily accessible to residents and public at large.” The Mules are a part of that public.
“Use of these areas for camping or storage of personal property interferes with the rights of others to use the areas for which they were intended.” The Mules don’t store anything. When people store their personal property, they lock it up, hide it with the expectation that it will still be there on their return be it one day, one week, one year.
The Mules unload their belongings off their mule, fix dinner, then go to sleep for less than a twelve hour period during the night, never leaving their belongings. This is not storing personal property. The Mules leave in the morning, leaving the space they occupied cleaner than it was when they arrived.
Do the Mules practice proper sanitary measures? Absolutely. We throw a nylon tarp over us so we can’t be seen. The result is the same as a park user going into a urinal and covered by four walls. The Mules urinate in a plastic bottle, crap in a bag, then carry our waste until a proper place for disposal is found.
Public Safety The Mules have been migrating north and south in this state for over five and a half years. We have never hurt a soul. The automobile however has killed and maimed thousands for that same period of time. For any municipality to infer the Mules are a public safety hazard is to turn basic common sense on its ear.
Per the National Safety Council, the number of motor-vehicle deaths in 2016 totaled 40,200, up 6% from 2015 and the first time the annual fatality total has exceeded 40,000 since 2007. Medially consulted motor-vehicle injuries in 2016 are estimated to be about 4.6 million, an increase of 7% from the 2016 rate. The estimated cost of motor-vehicle deaths, injuries and property damage in 2016 was $432.5 billion, an increase of 12% from 2015. The costs include wage and productivity losses, medical expenses, administrative expenses, employer costs and property damage.
Last night on January 6, 2018, we slept in Castaic. Upon awakening this morning, we packed up, got on the Old Road and headed south. The Old Road is a frontage road that parallels Interstate 5.
After walking for about an hour down the sidewalk, we were approached by a California Highway Patrol Officer (CHP) informing us that he had been getting calls that the Mules were walking in the middle of the road. No, we never walk in the middle of the road. We either walk on the sidewalk when it’s available, on the shoulder when it’s available, or in the lane of traffic when neither of the two are available. We have an absolute right to do so.
Anybody riding a bicycle, riding a horse, pulling a horse-drawn wagon, riding in a wheelchair, or walking has the right to use the public thoroughfare. These are public roads. The roads are not exclusive for the high speed machine called an automobile. The freeways are. Nobody has the right to be on the freeway except the high speed machine. The other roads – city, county, state – are all open to all other venues, be it a bicycle, an equestrian, a squirrel or a frog.
California Vehicle Code requires high speed motorists to slow down or stop to proceed in safety when meeting these other venues. The high speed motorist refuses to do so. Instead they come at us at full speed, never taking their foot off the gas pedal, picking up their cell phone, calling the CHP and claiming that we’re walking in the middle of the road. The CHP responds, comes out, and tells us if they catch us walking in the middle of the road or get calls to that affect, we would be arrested and the mule would be impounded. Totally illegal. Completely illegal.
As we proceeded walking south about two hours later we were approached by another CHP officer claiming he saw us walking in the middle of the road. WHAT AN OUTRAGEOUS assertion. Pictured is where we were walking. We have every right to walk on the public thoroughfare, we have every right to walk on the shoulder of the public thoroughfare, we have every right to walk in the lane of traffic if there is no place else to walk, such as bridges, such as areas cordoned off for construction. We have the same right to passage as the high speed automobile.
After that contact with the CHP we continued south and stopped at Starbucks to charge our smartphone and get a cup of coffee. We were in there for about an hour. I had secured Little Girl to a pole in the parking lot. I could see through the window that police officers were pulling up to where Little Girl was tied. I then went outside to talk to the officers and told them that the mule belonged to me. They said okay that’s fine. They said that they had gotten calls that someone was concerned about the mule and that they needed to respond, and that was that.
We got back on the road, proceeded south, stopped at Walmart to buy a canister of oatmeal, got back on the road until we found a place to sleep for the night.
When somebody leaves their house, gets in their car, gets on the public thoroughfare with the intent of going to a store to buy food or supplies for themselves and their family, they fully expect that when they leave the public thoroughfare to enter the parking lot, they will be able to park their car, walk into the store, buy their groceries and supplies, walk into a coffee shop and enjoy their cup of coffee, return to their car, put their groceries and supplies in their car, and leave to go home.
To have people constantly call the police simply because a person arrives by horse or mule and not in an automobile is outrageous. To have officers or security guards stop and interrogate a person simply because they arrived by mule because the person didn’t arrive in a high speed automobile is ridiculous.
This is not 1817 where you load up your six-shooter and go out to shoot some deer for dinner. This is 2018 where one must proceed on the public thoroughfare, enter a parking lot and go into a grocery store or a big box store, which controls the food and supplies. That’s where you get it. If you don’t get it there, you’re not going to get it.
I have known my mule Little Girl since she was born in 1990 and she has been by my side and full-time care since I bought her in 1993. While she may not technically fit the official federal designation of a service animal, she is my service animal and is an integral part of our nomadic way of life that’s been here for hundreds of thousands of years. She is in service to this place. Any common sense mind would come to the conclusion that she is without a doubt a service animal.
The Mules know that much of our contact with law enforcement agencies, CHP, local police, county sheriff, and animal control is instigated by trolls. These trolls will call enforcement agencies complaining there is a homeless man walking in the middle of the road with a horse. There is a man leading an injured horse past my house. There is a horse tied in the Starbucks parking lot with no water. It looks emaciated, etc., etc.
Their intention of course is to keep the Mules under a constant state of harassment, wear us down and keep the Mules from doing this most important job of using their constitutional right as well as everybody else’s to move freely and spontaneously in this country. The Mules have never been charged or cited for anything other than our God given right to stop and sleep at night, such as our arrest on National parks land in Thousand Oaks, CA. The Mules will never be worn down as we have access to endless amounts of energy harbored in the nation, the 3 Mules nation, from which we come. When one Monk falls another Monk appears brought forth by the force of energy accumulated and acquired throughout our history dating back hundreds of thousands of years living with respect and reverence for this sparkling jewel suspended in the mist of time we call Earth.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2017 EVENTS AS THEY OCCURRED
Yesterday we awoke in San Juan Bautista where we spent the night here in the outskirts. I got up, check Little Girl, went back to my pack boxes and fixed breakfast. Then I went and caught Little Girl and took her down the street to get some water. Then brought her back up, tied her to the fence and ate my breakfast.
Upon finishing my breakfast, I gathered up my stuff, saddled Little Girl and packed up. We left approximately 9:30am. We got on the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail and headed for Salinas.
We walked about 16 miles and got to the outskirts of Salinas and stopped at the Walmart. I tied Little Girl to the tree at the parking lot, went into Walmart, bought two cans of black beans, three cans of diced tomatoes, one can of chick peas, and one can of green beans, went outside, and untied Little Girl. We then walked around in back of Walmart, tied Little Girl to a tree, unpacked her for she was in need of a rest after walking 16 miles.
We been there about an hour when two Salinas Police Department officers in a car showed up and presented a friendly demeanor. I was on my smartphone doing stuff. They kept peppering me with questions. It was obvious they were interrupting me and wouldn’t let me proceed with my business. A little while later, another officer, pulled up in a car behind them, got out of his car, walked up to the other officer’s car, said something to them, and then they all left. I stayed there about another 30-45 minutes, at this point I decided to repack Little Girl and leave.
I then proceeded to Best Buy to return a product that I had bought that wasn’t performing as it was promoted to. We got to the Best Buy parking lot, walking back towards the store, stopped under a tree where there was a bunch of dandelion weeds growing. I was letting Little Girl eat them when two Salinas Police officers pulled up and started asking me the usual questions in a friendly demeanor but I was not interested in talking to them. I had plenty to do and wanted to get Little Girl secured in the parking lot and go into Best Buy to return the product.
When I started to move away, the two officers got out of their car, and put me in detainment by stating that I cannot go anywhere. I asked them why, and they said because you wouldn’t talk to us. When the conversation started, it was a friendly conversation, they admitted that, I wasn’t being detained, I wasn’t doing anything wrong, but because I wouldn’t talk to them anymore, they decided that they would put me in detainment. From that point, they informed me that I was trespassing. I told them that I was at Best Buy to return a product that I bought previously. They refused to let me to go into Best Buy, called the shopping center security, who turned up shortly, told me I was trespassing and demanded I leave.The Salinas Police officer said if I didn’t leave immediately, I would be arrested, taken to jail, and Little Girl would be taken. So, I left.
I walked over to the next parking lot that was connected to the other stores, they shortly turned up once again, and repeated the same process over again. From that point, I left. I then found myself on the street.
We are posting copies of our receipts to prove our purpose for entering the Walmart and Best Buy shopping centers. An automobile has the right to go into a parking lot, park their car and walk into a store. But somehow a man with a mule or a horse, does not have the right to go into a parking lot, tie up their horse and go into the store. We are doing the same exact same thing, except instead of using an automobile, we are using an animal for transportation. We have the same rights in this country as anybody in an automobile that uses that machine for transportation in this state in this country to use our horse for transportation. To deny us the use of a parking lot is discrimination plain and clear. It is illegal.
When a person wants food in 2017, they have to go to a grocery store to get it. The days of going out with your bow and arrow and hunting deer and game are over. Making these parking lots subject to no trespassing laws and allowing a security company to arbitrarily say in effect “I like you, the guy in red hat, but I don’t like the guy in the blue hat. Therefore, I am going to deny the guy in the blue hat the right to park his car, park his horse, and not allow him to enter the store to buy food for himself and his family.” We will be in Salinas until Monday because we want to talk to the shopping center management to get an understanding why they had us evicted from the Best Buy parking lot for doing nothing other than tying Little Girl to a tree in the safest place we can find, to go into Best Buy and return a product we had bought previously that wasn’t functioning as promoted. We were arbitrarily evicted by the security company that works for the shopping center ownership.
People that support us, please don’t call the police. The best method is to call the shopping center who owns the parking lot and their security company that evicted us. For the police could not have done it without the consent of the security company that works for the shopping center ownership. Call them and ask them the same thing that we’re going to ask them Monday morning. Why the discriminatory policy to allow an automobile to do business and refusing a person on a horse from entry. It is unconstitutional to deny a person on a horse that is their livelihood from being able to function on a day to day basis that allows us to survive.
The Mules living in this sacred place of one human being with his or her animal companions, traveled by many throughout the ages, are claiming our rightful use of public space be it city, county, state or federal land.
The Mules will no longer wade through piles of garbage, broken glass, cans, batteries, dirty clothes, chemicals, etc., etc., looking for a place to cook our dinner then lay down amongst garbage and filth to sleep the night. Nor will we try to hide from law enforcement so we don’t get cited as happened in Castro Valley, Alameda County, spending two and a half days in jail, $10,000.00 bail for nothing more than stopping to rest for the night on state land (public space) for there was no place else to go.
Sleeping on the sidewalk with a mule wouldn’t work. Sleeping with a mule in the street also wouldn’t work.
By default, city, county, state, and federal governments must make public space available to all those traveling in this country under their own power be they equestrians, cyclists, pedestrians. The Mules will no longer be forced to sleep or cook our meals amongst garbage and filth. We no longer have to and we won’t.
On the evening of September 17, we stopped here in Santa Clara Central Park in the city of Santa Clara, California. We spent half of the day walking south down the El Camino. When we approached the end of the day, I pulled out my smart phone and looked for a park which we could spend the night. Santa Clara Central Park was not far away so we proceeded to that park. We reached there at dark. We searched around and found a place (pictured) which was unmanicured, it was a rough area, it was a good place for a mule and a monk to stop, laydown on the ground and spend the night, so we did that.
Around 3 o’clock in the morning, two City of Santa Clara police officers came by and shined their lights upon us. We woke up and they wanted to know what we were doing in the park. We said we were sleeping. We came here because there was no place else for us to go. We could not sleep in the sidewalk that wouldn’t be practical. We could not go out into the street and sleep there either. So that left are the city park for us to safely lay down go to sleep.
The officer replied that was against the city ordinance of Santa Clara to be in the park after dark and that we were trespassing.
We once again replied that we had to go somewhere and go to sleep because there is no place else, the city park by default must assume the responsibility for providing anybody walking and traveling in transit from one point to the next, whether riding a horse, riding a bicycle or walking under their own power, with a place to stop and rest for the night. We did not require any fancy facilities. We did not require any benches, barbecues, none of that, just simply a bare piece of ground which we found to rest our heads and rest and sleep for the night.
The officer reasserted himself and repeated the claim the assertion that we were illegally in the park and we could not stay here.
And so we made the point once again there was no place else to sleep. Darkness was upon us and the alternative was the sidewalk or the city street or climbing in somebody’s backyard. None of the three would be acceptable and so by default to repeat ourselves, all city governments – state, county or city, must take responsibility and allow their parks to be used by anybody traveling by horse, bicycle, or foot, under their own power, to sleep at night when in transit from one point to the next, to stop and rest for the night.
The officer also stated that there was a city ordinance that did not allow any horse within 100 feet of any buildings in the city.
We responded that we have a constitutional right in this country to move in any one of all four directions when we choose and how we chose. It is in the constitution that is guaranteed to all citizens. These city ordinances prevent that and they’re illegal and they cannot stand against the Constitution of the United States.
The officers eventually decided they would relent and use their discretion and allow us to stay for the night, leave in the morning after we clean up after ourselves as we always do and proceed along our way.
After packing up in the morning, we left the park and made our way through the city streets south. Not too long after walking south on the city streets headed for San Diego, a plain clothes police officer from the Santa Clara Police Department stopped his pick up truck, got out, showed us his badge, and said he was curious as to what we were doing.
We told him about where we spent the night and our experience previously with the two officers from the Santa Clara Police Department.
We informed him that we do claim the right to use city, county, state parks when necessary to go to sleep for the night. We explained the reasons why we can’t sleep on the sidewalk, we can’t sleep in the street, we can’t climb over the fence and spend the night in somebody’s backyard.
That leaves city, county, and state parks. That’s what’s left for anybody traveling on a horse in transit from one place to the next across this country under their own power whether by horse, bicycle or foot. That is what’s left to sleep at night. It is certainly their constitutional right travel freely in this country – one in all four directions and inherent in that right is the absolute right go to sleep.
Sleep is the necessary function to keep living. If you don’t sleep you die. For any city, county, state, municipality government to outlaw the act of sleep is unconstitutional. It denies us the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is totally illegal. We won’t obey them. We can’t obey them. To repeat ourselves, if you don’t sleep you die. Committing suicide is not on our agenda.
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The City of Santa Clara has its quiver full of arrows ready to shoot anybody that stops in their city to sleep. To their credit, the two officers that found us sleeping in the city park decided not to cite us nor make us leave where we were, allowing us to stay the rest of the night. In the morning, we packed up, cleaned up after ourselves and were back on the road.
City of Santa Clara Municipal Codes:
6.15.040 Keeping of horses – Restrictions. No horse shall be kept or maintained within the city except in an enclosure the outer limits of which shall be at least forty (40) feet from any inhabited or habitable dwelling. (Ord. 1879 § 1, 3-29-11).
6.05.075 Animals on City property. No person having the control or care of any animal shall permit such animal to enter or remain on City property and/or in City-owned or City-managed buildings other than a building used for the purpose of care, detention, space control or treatment of animals, or areas designated as “dog parks” or “off-leash areas,” or a building used for training classes, shows or exhibitions. This section does not apply to persons who have a visual or auditory disability and who use dogs for guidance or to accommodate a disability, to service dogs in formal training programs, or dogs used in law enforcement by a governmental agency, or persons expressly authorized by the City Manager, upon finding that the animal will not be disruptive to the operations of the City, or a hazard to persons or property. (Ord. 1879 § 1, 3-29-11).
12.05.060 Hours of operation of public parks. (a) The public parks in the City shall be open daily to the public between the hours of 6:00 A.M. to one-half hour after sunset (dusk), except:
(1) Where there is posted conspicuously a sign limiting the hours when such facility is open to the public; and
(2) Until 10:00 P.M. if and when the facility is lighted.
(b) Any such public park or portion thereof may be declared closed to the public by the Director of Parks and Recreation at any time and for any interval of time, either temporarily or at regular or stated intervals, as is deemed necessary in carrying out the duties and responsibilities of the various divisions of the Parks and Recreation Department as set forth in Chapter 2.100 SCCC. The Director of Parks and Recreation is hereby authorized to promulgate rules and regulations to effectuate the purposes of this section.
(c) Every person other than City personnel conducting City business therein, who occupies or is present in any public park in the City during the hours in which the park is not open to the public, shall be deemed guilty of an infraction, punishable by a fine of not more that two hundred fifty dollars ($250.00). (Ord. 1953 § 1, 4-5-16; Ord. 1371 § 1, 1-10-78. Formerly § 25-8.1).
12.50.010 Unpermitted camping and lodging prohibited. (a) No person shall camp or lodge on a public street (including in a vehicle parked on a public street), on publicly owned property, and other prohibited public places; provided, that nothing herein shall be construed to prohibit camping in public campgrounds pursuant to a permit or license authorized under Federal, State or local statute or ordinance.
(b) “Camping” means residing in or using any public street, publicly owned property, public park, or other prohibited public place for living accommodation, lodging, or sleeping purposes, as exemplified by remaining for prolonged or repeated periods of time not associated with ordinary use of the street, property, or public place, with one’s possessions or while storing one’s possessions (including, but not limited to, clothing, sleeping bags, bed rolls, blankets, sheets, hammocks, or other sleeping implements, luggage, backpacks, kitchen utensils, cookware, and food or beverages), cooking or consuming meals, or lodging in a parked vehicle. These activities constitute camping when it reasonably appears, in light of all the circumstances, that a person is using the street, property, or place as a living, lodging, or sleeping accommodation regardless of his or her intent, or the nature of any other activities in which he or she might also be engaged.
(c) “Prohibited public places” means any public place not designated as a public campground pursuant to Federal, State, or local statute or ordinance and shall include the following:
(1) Public streets, sidewalks, alleyways, passageways, and rights-of-way;
(2) Publicly owned property;
(3) Public parks;
(4) Public parking lots, whether publicly owned or privately owned;
(5) Public landscaped areas, whether publicly owned or privately owned and maintained pursuant to a public landscape easement;
(6) Private property that is readily accessible to the general public, or is otherwise open to common or general use or view;
(7) Vacant lots;
(8) Drainage culverts and basins. (Ord. 1834 § 1, 4-15-08).
Ironic that the City of Santa Clara has a plaque honoring a man with a horse, but current municipal codes don’t allow horses anywhere within the city limits anymore.
While Little Girl and I were walking into Ukiah, two Mendocino Sheriff introduced themselves, asked the usual questions and we gave the usual answers, and they said have a good day and we continued our journey.
Yesterday sometime around dusk where we stopped to spend the night on what turned out to be land administered by the National Park Service, two rangers appeared informing us we were illegally camping and we could not spend the night here.
The Mules informed the rangers we were traveling across country and anybody doing so either by horseback, bicycle or foot has the right to stop and rest for the night on public space. We were not dragging in rugs, bedsprings, mattresses nor would be changing our oil or doing maintenance on our motorhome. Simply be here for the night, clean up after ourselves, be gone come morning.
The ranger got on his communication device, talked to headquarters, a decision was made to let the Mules spend the night.
The above event of yesterday is the National Park Service acknowledging and understanding the value and importance of a National Park Nomadic Lifestyle Pass. This Pass will be issued to all citizens who wish to travel throughout this country non-motorized either by horse, bicycle or foot.
Showing in a real way, one step at a time, a human being living outside responsibly with respect and reverence for the Natural World. Certainly condusive to the mission and purpose of our National Parks.
Due to the fact that I had my smartphone stolen the other night while sleeping on the side of Public Thoroughfare 273 a bit south of Clear Creek, the communication between myself and the 3 Mules Facebook administrator was hindered by not having use of my phone. An accounting of yesterday’s occurrences in Redding and WinCo were not completely accurate. We offer a revised accounting of yesterday’s events.
Upon awakening at 5:30am along Public Thoroughfare 273, I discovered that my smartphone had been stolen. I then proceeded to pack up Little Girl and head to Redding City Hall about 7 miles away to deliver the Declaration of Emergency. I grazed Little Girl for about an hour on the clover at City Hall when a Redding police officer approached us, introduced himself and told us he had mules and how much he enjoyed them. We had a nice conversation about that subject on the city hall steps. Afterwards, we proceeded to WinCo.
At approximately 2:30pm, we arrived at WinCo. I tied Little Girl in the shadiest spot I could find in the WinCo parking lot, then entered the store to buy oats, a can of pineapple, black beans, diced tomatoes, a small carton of yogurt, a bagel, and carrots for Little Girl. I paid for the items, placed them in grocery cart and went back to where Little Girl was tied. I then opened up my can of pineapple and yogurt which I bought for lunch.
Shortly thereafter the WinCo security guard approached us and said that he had been watching us and we had been there long enough and had to leave immediately. We said we certainly would be leaving but not immediately.
We had been walking in the heat since 6:30am. It was 110F. Myself and Little Girl walk using our own power. We are not machines. We do not move at the same rapid effortless pace as the automobile and its occupants.
The security guard said he had called animal control and the police and they were on their way. I requested him to get the store manager. He refused. I went into the store sought out the store manager. The manager came out shortly thereafter and informed me we were fine and that there was no problem. I went back to where Little Girl was tied, continued to eat my lunch then packed up the supplies, we then left. We never had any contact with animal control or the Redding Police Department.
The experience the Mules had in Redding at the WinCo grocery store (a good store, great variety, good prices, good food) is in our mind a perfect example of the challenge the Mules face as we live in stark contrast to this age of machines and to the way and pace of living which is being imposed on all of us.
When the WinCo security guard came over to the Mules and said we had been there too long and we would have to leave immediately, he was not being mean, he was simply doing what he was trained to do – keep everything everybody moving at a pace that is set by machines.
The Mules live in respect and reverence for the Natural World and all its inhabitants and in a pace which is in stark contrast to that of the machines. The Mules cannot, will not, ever conform to the will or pace of living which the machines are now demanding. There is an epic struggle in motion between these two now most powerful forces – the Natural World and the Man-made World – as to which will win and dominate the earth.
The Mules have thrown as always throughout history all their chips to the Natural World. The Mules know that the amount of hope and faith freely given to this epic struggle will materialize into the answers needed to win this struggle.
While we were approaching Donner Memorial Park entrance, Truckee Police officer stopped to talk to us as he had heard of us before and was curious about our journey. We had a nice conversation and he wished us well.
