Yesterday as the Mules were walking in Sacramento, Lieutenant Freeman stopped to greet us and ask how we were doing. We met Lt. Freeman back in 2013 the first time we brought the energy of the nation, The 3 Mules Nation, into the confines of Sacramento.
The Mules had a good conversation with Lt. Freeman. The Mules talked about our ages old nomadic way of life and the positive effects of it being shown and practiced in Sacramento and all other cities throughout the state. Lt. Freeman agreed.
The 3 Mules Nation says thank you to the citizens of Sacramento, Lt. Freeman, and Sacramento Police Department for our safe and enjoyable passage through Sacramento, the capitol city of California.
While Little Girl and me were wondering which direction to go next, three Sacramento Police Officers came by, introduced themselves and expressed their curiosity as to what we were doing. So we said we were using our constitutional right to travel and move freely in anyone of all four directions, how we choose, when we choose. They said that’s cool.
On May 1, 2017 the Mules entered the Elk Grove in Sacramento county.
Site of 22 train car derailment
On the outskirts of town near Dillard Road, we came across the remnants of a 22 train car derailment that occurred during the heavy winter rains that flooded the area in February. We haven’t seen a derailment like this in a long time.
We found an quiet spot to rest with lots of green grass and shade to give Little Girl some rest. Here, the birds were singing and the geese were flying overhead releasing their energy of magic and power spurring the Mules into a new day of the same.
After we arrived in Sacramento, we spent the night along an abandoned railroad line. In the morning, I released Little Girl from her picket line so she could graze while I fixed my oatmeal for breakfast. Upon finishing breakfast, I went to get Little Girl about 200 feet away then packed her up. Off we went for another spontaneous unplanned day in the 3 Mule Nation.
Got to a Starbucks, secured Little Girl to a tree, went in, and charged my phone. Thank you Starbucks.
After phone got charged, we proceeded north to Del Paso and turned east. It was getting hot so we decided to stop and rest Little Girl under a tree. We were there for an hour when police showed up in two patrol cars, two officers asking many questions.
The first question we were asked was why were we here. They said somebody called saying there was a horse tied to a tree. Didn’t mention me. I was six feet away. One officer said he had had two horses and he knew that a horses should not be out in the heat. I just dropped my jaw, asked if I was being detained, received no answer, untied Little Girl and left. End of our resting time.
We proceeded along the boulevard for a mile went into a parking lot, got under a small tree and stopped.
Shortly afterwards, a reporter for the Sacramento Bee showed up, said he was curious as to what we were about and asked if he could interview us. We said sure, so he did for about 30 minutes asking questions and taking video. We explained our ages old nomadic way of life and the reason why we continue to live the way we do to preserve and exercise everybody’s right to travel by foot in the public thoroughfare and rest for the night. We saw the article and video that the Sacramento Bee posted online.
We were displeased of what the Bee published, focusing on the trivial and had no mention of our purpose of what we do all day every day. Following the Bee post, reporters from CBS13 and ABC10 have reached out and requested an interview with the Mules. We have not called them back as we found from past experience, local news stations cannot adequately report who The Mules are in the thirty seconds that they have to air a story, and most often the story is edited down to fluff. We find that the only three writers who have every captured the Mules true essence are Rick Paulas for The Kernel/The Daily Dot, Mark Luckach for The Atlantic, and Sarah Christie’s column for Mules and More.
Later that night, we found a place to rest for the evening/sleep.
The next day, as we were traveling through the Sacramento megatropolis, temperatures was in the 90s. It was time to obtain Little Girl a drink of water. We stopped at a business, asked if we could get water from the faucet on his building and person said no. He said that if we did try to get any water from the faucet, he would call the police.
This response to our request prompted the Mules to bring forth and into view Mule Proclamation 2645-B passed by the legislature of common sense and decency. This Proclamation states as follows: “Any corporation, business or private party who refuses any person traveling with or without an animal companion water for said personnel survival has committed an act of extreme inhumanity. A penalty of not less than 10 years in a not so nice place plus a $50,000.00 fine which will be placed in a multi-use state trail system fund, which will be assessed against the convicted.
The Mules will be in the Sacramento area showing how we live and the challenges we meet on a day to day basis and gathering people’s thoughts and energy as we walk along. In the past few days, Little Girl and I have enjoyed meeting and talking to many of the Three Mule Nation followers that live in the Sacramento Megatropolis.
The Mules are pleased to say that for every negative encounter the Mules may experience as we walk north, south, east, west, when we choose, how we choose, we have ten times more positive experiences with people that we meet while walking and living responsibly outside all day every day.
Officer Elness couldn’t resist just had to get some Mule energy right from the source. And, while walking along the public thoroughfare in Manteca, Stephanie and Carlee from animal control stopped to greet the Mules.
Upon arriving here last night within the city limits of Ripon, we the Mules were informed by the Ripon City Police that the Ripon City Council had recently passed a no camping law forbidding anybody traveling by foot, bicycle or horseback from stopping anywhere within city limits of Ripon on public space to sleep for the night.
Ripon City Hall
The above being understood, we the Mules have taken it upon ourselves to deliver this day 4/24/2017 Mule Proclamation number 2645-A to the Ripon City Council.
PROCLAMATION #2645-A states:
Anybody traveling by foot, bicycle, horseback, crutches or wheelchair using their own physical resources to do said within the constitutional boundaries of the United States is doing so under the constitutional guarantees to move freely in anyone of all four directions, how you choose, when you choose. Stopping to sleep for the night is a necessary component for our right to move freely. For if the necessary function of sleep is denied, all other human activity and living experience is also being denied. To put it short and sweet without sleep, you die.
The Mules have come to the inevitable conclusion we cannot obey this law for to do so will be our death.
For any municipality and its city officials within the constitutional boundaries of the United States to spring forward and declare this most necessary function to life itself sleeping to be illegal and subject to heavy fines and jail time is a slap in the face in blatant disregard to all those who have given life and limb throughout this country’s history to protect and preserve humanity’s God given right to move freely.
The Mules will not give up this right. We’ve been here for hundreds of thousands of years. We haven’t given it up then nor will we now. The Mules invite the mayors and city council members of the many towns which the Mules will be traveling through to send their explanations and justifications as to why they have passed the no camping law in their town. The Three Mule Nation will be interested to hear the rational for enactment of such laws to be used against people traveling via non-motorized vehicles by foot, bicycle, horse. The Mules will gladly post their response in its entirety on our website 3Mules.com, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages.
On Thursday, October 13, 2016 around 1:15AM, while I was asleep behind the Selma Plaza Shopping Center in Selma, CA, the shopping center’s security guard drove up in his truck and woke me up. He said he had seen me with my two mules earlier in the evening at the shopping center. He wanted to let me know that he had just seen a man on a bicycle leading Little Girl, my 28-year old white mule, away on Highland Avenue.
Before I went to sleep, I had secured Lady and Little Girl on a picket line to the fence with a secure knot that can’t come undone by itself. I looked where Little Girl had been picketed and she was gone. I flagged down a police officer and told him what happened. I couldn’t risk leaving Lady alone and waited in place.
Around 2AM, Selma police returned and said that they located Little Girl. One officer stayed with Lady and my belongings, while the other officer took me to get Little Girl.
The Mules want to thank the Selma Plaza Shopping Center night security guard who woke me up to alert me that Little Girl was taken as it resulted in her quick recovery. I neglected to get his name and hope he sees this and writes us. I also want to thank the four Selma Police officers on duty last night – Officers Alvarez, Officer Johnson, Officer Hissong and Officer Musso, who responded and located Little Girl. Without the security guard as witness and fast action of all the officer involved, it would have been very difficult to locate Little Girl if we had awoken hours later without any witness information or any idea which direction to look if she got hidden. We also want to thank Selma Police dispatcher who we spoke to on the phone who gave us updates while we were waiting. We are forever grateful more than our words can express.
We do not want to go into details about the person who took her, so please do not ask for more info. We are just thankful that Little Girl, who has been with me and Lady for the past 25-years, was located and unharmed. This is the first time in in our 30+ year journey that this has ever happened.
This morning, we walked to Selma Police Department to thank the four officers but they had finished their night shift. These are photos of other Selma officers who came out to meet Little Girl and Lady. After we thanked the Selma Police Department for their help, we left Selma and continued on our migratory journey south.
This morning as we were walking along Road 415 going to Coarsegold, a highway patrol officer stopped and told us he was responding to calls that we were walking on the roadway.
We said, “Yes, at times, we do walk on the roadway because there is no place else to walk. All city, county, state roads are public thoroughfares. They are open to all comers – person on crutches, driving a wheelchair, pedestrian, bicycle, equestrian and extra terrestrial (ET) on a vacation. These thoroughfares are not for the exclusive use of the High Speed Motorist (HSM) and its most favored and valued friend the Automobile. When the HSM sees a pedestrian, equestrian bicycle or an ET moving on the roadway exercising their absolute legal right to be doing so, the HSM must reduce its speed or stop if necessary so all involved can pass safely. There is nothing in the law stating the HSM has a legal right to be going at the speed limit regardless of the circumstance.”
The officer responded, “Be careful.” He went on his way and we continued our way.
“Run for the bushes, jump in a ditch, you all be damned. I slow up for nothing or nobody.” This is the pervasive attitude held by many HSM.
This HSM attitude is the main cause of death on the public thoroughfare in this country. The public thoroughfare is a place where people meet, trade goods and knowledge, experiences and generally enjoy moving freely from one place to the next. It was never intended to become a High Speed Dragstrip for machines running everybody else into the ditches in fear of becoming a bloody mess.
The Public Thoroughfare is the tenuous tread by which The Mules exercise their right to move freely in one of all four directions when they choose and how they choose. We will never give up our legal and mystical use of it. Nor should anybody else.
On Friday, June 24, 2016, the Mules arrived in Clovis, CA. We got onto a nice multi-use trail in the afternoon and were heading north. Upon walking for awhile, we met a TV news crew from KMPH and they asked if they could ask questions and take film for their FOX26 KMPH 10:00 news broadcast. We said sure.
The Mules at Trader Joe’s parking lot
We went to Trader Joe’s to buy some cranberry juice, then went back to the trail.
It was getting late so we decided to stop off to the side of the trail and rest for the night. A lady named Janeen brought the Mules some hay when we were at Trader Joe’s so they (the kids) were set. [Thank you Janeen for unexpectedly appearing out of nowhere and bringing the kids hay and carrots for their dinner.]
After fixing and eating my dinner, I was sitting on the water bucket on the Fresno-Clovis Trail, relaxing and enjoying being off my feet. At about 9:30pm, two officers with flashlights from the Clovis Police Department came upon us wanting to know what we were doing. We said that we have stopped here to rest for the night. The officer said the city council of Clovis says no camping in the city limits of Clovis. We said we were not camping, we have stopped here on this public right of way to rest for the night.
The officer said they were responding to calls from citizens about us being here. We said we were exercising our legal right to use a public thoroughfare and any attempt by the use of codes, regulations or laws to deny us that right shall be considered blatantly illegal.
The officer returned to his cruiser, came back in a reasonable amount of time, used discretion, in regards to the no camping law and said we could stay for the night if we would agree to leave in the morning. We said yes we would, which was stated intention.
So the kids and myself slept peacefully through the night, arose in the morning, ate breakfast, packed up and were on our way for another day living in balance with the Natural World all day, every day
Note: The Public thoroughfare in a free country must be open to all comers. The Mules are one of those comers. Our use of this thoroughfare is not the same as those who live, eat, play, and sleep inside houses then come out of those houses for some fresh air and exercise.
The Mules wander freely throughout the day then stop and use the public space to rest for the night. Any law that prevents the Mules from resting and sleeping, a most necessary function to sustain life, must be considered by any common sense mind, to be illegal.
With the above being said and understood, the Mules will not and cannot obey these no camping laws. For to do so will be the end of us. This place of any one human being wandering with his or her animal companions, has access to many dimensions. This dimension on this earth is the one we love the most. The Mules will not be removed from it. Long live human beings and their connection to Earth. There is no future without it.
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.
On January 16, 2016, we received a post on our Facebook page that stated: “Quite fascinating but I’m wondering…all your walking and all your messages… does it really make a difference?”
We replied, “We were told to come to the megatropolis to bring this ages old way of life to its center and keep it here and to do this rather than stand watch and do nothing. To do nothing will be harmful to our movement. Through time and space we have no regrets.”
However, we know that pictures can speak a thousand words so we have compiled these collages to show what one human being with his animal companions have accomplished in 2015.
THE KIDS: In January 2015, we started out with two mules, Lady, 37, who has been with us for 32 years, and Little Girl, 27, who has been with us for 24 years. While traveling through Norco in March, a lady offered us her mule who was blind in one eye. We renamed him Who-Dee-Doo as he came to us out of the Who-Dee-Doo. He was a really friendly, easy going mule and liked people, but he refused to be shoed. In September and October, we stayed at a ranch in the Ventana Wilderness and helped clear miles of overgrown trails. In return, we were gifted nice new custom pack boxes with 3MULE.COM lettering on the side to replace the cracked and worn Ralide West pack boxes that we had used for over 20 years. As we were leaving the ranch, we decided that was best for Who Dee Doo to remain here as it would be a good home for him with other horses to keep him company. Lady, Little Girl and I continued our travels to Wind Wolves Preserve in Bakersfield where 11-year old, gentle and well-trained Babe joined our team and has already seen more different places these past couple months than some people in their lifetime.
MULE TRACKER: The Mules started 2015 by attending the New Year’s Day Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena and made our way down to Carlsbad before heading back north through the Central Valley up as far north as Chico/Mendocino National Forest/Covelo before heading back down south to Imperial Beach and turning around in time to arrive back to Pasadena for the 2016 New Year’s Day Rose Parade.
THE PEOPLE: 2015 was brought about by the accumulating energy of all the people we meet as we walk from place to place, all the people who offer their kind and generous support, all the people who take the trouble to stop and tell us they follow the 3 Mules page, all the people who understand and value this place of one human being walking with his or her animal companions using that basic freedom that we all cherish moving freely as we choose with the free flowing currents of natural energy that flow over and around this beautiful earth, our home.
CITY HALLS: The Mules delivered the Declaration of Emergency to 100 city halls in 25 counties in the state of California in 2015.
RESPONSE FROM OFFICIALS: In 2015, after delivering the DOE, the Mules began receiving more responses from officials for the first time as we never received responses back in 2014. We received a certificate of recognition from the mayor of Norco, as well as response to our DOE from the cities of San Francisco, Corona and the Golden Gate Bridge District, and other towns. We appreciate the acknowledgement received from these towns for our message.
MULES IN THE NEWS: As we walked through California in 2015, we were interviewed by local reporters in various towns and cities. As well, the Mules gained an international following after we were interviewed by Germany’s Deutche Welle WorldLink radio and University of Sydney’s Bull Magazine. In June 2015, the 3 Mules were featured on the cover of the June edition of Mules and More Magazine and have been featured in a recurring monthly column since then. Currently, we have followers in 45 countries around the world.
STUDENTS: In January 2015, the Mules received these treasured drawings from Finn and Pearl as we passed through San Clemente. In March, we spoke to students at Anacapa School, Santa Barbara, and in September to students at Alisal High School, Salinas. We appreciate being able to share our life and the importance of protecting this earth with our future leaders.
POLICE ENCOUNTERS: We are stopped frequently and questioned by law enforcement. Oftentimes, we are woken up in the middle of the night by police. Freedom has been reduced with laws and municipal codes created that prevent freedom of travel by foot on public roads and that disallow sleeping outdoors in public space to rest for the night. We must protect our right to use public space that is shrinking and disappearing rapidly. The public space is our freedom. Public space must be used and enhanced for us not to lose it. We started a blotter in 2015 but have not kept up with the number of times we’ve been questioned and/or awoken in the middle of the night.
COURT CASES: Read more about in the Court Cases section.
PUBLIC LIBRARIES: The Mules appreciate the availability of public libraries with friendly staff. We didn’t get photos of all the libraries. Most libraries are located next to or near the city hall, which makes it a convenient place to stop. Public libraries gives a place to charge our devices, use the computer and internet, research information, and print our documents and letters.
ROADSIDE MEMORIALS These are just a few of the many roadside memorials that we passed during our travels in 2015. The Mules stop and always sadly reflect of the lives unnecessarily lost at the countless roadside memorials we pass as we walk all day, every day. These crosses on the sides of the roads were there before the Mules and will continue to appear until the High Speed Motorist (HSM) is reigned in to obey the law. Getting rid of the Mules will not stop the carnage by the HSM. Carnage will continue. This Roadside Memorial album will be a visual reminder for drivers to obey the law and to pay attention when driving.
