Let me begin by saying that Thick, Franklin, Theodore and I are all alive and well! The ponies are in a lovely wee pasture, the Mustard Seed is parked on a bit of lawn near them, Thick is sticking close and I have enough time and brain cells to write a blog post! Last night we had a storm, enough wind that I had to jump out of bed, chase my privy bucket across the yard in the dark and lash it down for the night. Enough rain to feel confident that the canvas is waterproof (and it sounds so lovely!) Enough lightning to see that Thick had taken shelter under the wagon (he rejoined me later).

The original plan was to embark upon this adventure on Thursday morning, the 9th of April. Wednesday afternoon I had the wagon about 2/3 packed and I took the ponies out with the covered wagon for a 5 mile shake down cruise. The boys were awesome: didn’t flinch when a school bus came at us on a narrow road, when a semi hit his air brakes right behind us and then passed us close, when dogs ran out to say hello. Franklin has a few issues about the color white, especially when it’s painted on the road in unexpected places – but Theodore is an absolute rock, he holds steady and Franklin quickly realizes that there’s no reason to fuss. I did discover that Thick was able to squirm out of his harness (eek!) but overall I felt ready to roll out in the morning. As we were half a mile from “home” a neighbor came out and flagged me down, asked me if I was “that woman” and how he’d heard about what I was doing and just wanted to meet me and say hello. I admitted that I was indeed her, and suddenly found myself choking up, about to cry – because after over a decade of feeling like (and being treated like) an absolute nobody, suddenly I’d found my purpose again. If there’s such a thing as “humble pride” that’s an approximation of what I was feeling. Discovering that my wings had been there all along, waiting to help me rise to the occasion.

I got back to Twilight Farms (home) and unharnessed the ponies, Kristin and Duane ran a quick check to verify that the wagon would, indeed, fit into the trailer with room for the ponies, I got the boys tucked in for the night and returned to the house to finish packing for an early morning departure – and was suddenly doubled over with gut pain. Diverticulitis is my body’s stress response and while I thought I’d been handling everything rather well, apparently not. I started on Budesonide, formulated a plan B, then explained to Kristin what was going on. I was in no shape to finish packing, much less drive a full day on the morrow. Kristin took one look at me, took a look at her schedule and said “we can go next Monday or Wednesday – what do you think?” I was past thinking, but intensely grateful – time for the rest and fasting cure.

The silver lining was that I now had time to figure out how to get a small backlog of videos edited and posted/scheduled on my upcoming YouTube channel, figure out “show notes” (the videos are 100% real, unedited humans saying their uncensored truth – but I’ve succumbed to Claude AI for the descriptions, tags, etc – because I am only one human with some very real limitations) get myself a little bit more organized, finalize the edits on my upcoming memoir, regain the ability to eat solid food and get some good rest. Also, waited out one more giant storm that I hadn’t seen coming. By Monday the ponies were spicy and I was ready to roll. The plan was for a 10 mile day, the first 9 miles on the smooth surface of the Holmes County Trail, no real need for the Cavallo boots, but Kristin suggested that I put them on the ponies for the photo op, for the publicity – and of course she was right.

The ponies looked tiny in the trailer, the wagon looked huge, the rain had passed, the roads were curvy, by noon we were in the Walmart parking lot, Paul from Farm and Dairy magazine showed up to take pictures for the article he’d interviewed me for on Sunday (I’d warned him that on Monday I’d be very focused on the ponies!) and suddenly there I was, sitting in the driver’s seat of the Mustard Seed, Thick right beside me, Franklin and Theodore literally champing at their bits, saying my final good-byes and knowing there was no way I could thank Kristin Mulhall enough for her belief in me and for everything she’d done to help me get to this point (also a huge shout out to Duane Yoder, who did such an amazing job getting the ponies ready for the road!)

The Holmes trail was lovely, tree-lined and peaceful, walkers smiling and waving as we passed by, trotting along, hooves clopping, 1.6 miles passed like a dream, and then we came to a sign, a woman in an orange and yellow vest standing next to the sign, an unexpected and unwelcome sign:

At that point of the day the ponies were still very much in “two hands on the reins” mode and I wasn’t really in a position to pull out my cell phone and search for an alternate route. After understanding the problem (large machines tearing up portions of the trail ahead and repaving them) I persuaded the young woman in the orange vest to pull out her cell phone and route us the shortest way to the next passable portion of the trail. Right, then left, then left – and suddenly I was exceedingly glad that Kristin had suggested the Cavallo hoof boots, because the detour was on rough gravel, up and down hills, absolutely not what I’d anticipated for our first day, but Franklin and Theodore pulled with good will and eventually we returned to the Holmes Trail via a narrow bridge – and were met with many large machines, men in orange vests completely ignoring us, absolutely no way through in any direction and no turning back. I finally yelled loud enough to be heard, “could one of you Gentlemen Please give me a bit of advice?” A tall man with short grey hair came over and I explained our situation, his daughter is a horse girl and he wanted some pictures, then asked if the ponies had shoes on. By this point I’m wondering if his eyeballs work, but I point out the boots and he says that up ahead there’s a stretch of fresh hot tar, but with the boots and rubber tires we should be able to go through. He got the big machines to move out of our direct path and on we went towards Killbuck. The section of hot tar was only about 100′ long and we traversed it quickly – no damage done.

Via the mysteries of Facebook (love/hate) and somebody sharing a link to the story Barbara Harding had written, the Free Range Rodeo was invited to stop over just past Killbuck, Ohio by Laura McCartney. (Same first name as Laura Ingalls Wilder – happy synchronicity.) Laura had recently finished reading a book about Mesannie Wilkins (see: Why (the Long Ride) above) and has “big horses” and minis (rides one, drives the other) and a huge adventurous spirit. She helped me find the best route for the ponies to get to her house and then rode out to meet us on her good mare Annie, a gaited cremelo rescue horse. The ponies and I were trotting along on Rte 520 when suddenly, around the curve and over a hill, we saw them. I think Annie heard us before she saw us, but soon the ponies were cheerfully following Annie’s tail with renewed pep in their step!

Our first day was 12.3 miles, 7.1 on pavement, 5.2 on gravel, making me incredibly grateful for the Cavallo CLB hoof boots and a warm welcome to a safe haven at the end of the day. Laura held the ponies while I unhitched and unharnessed, Thick was glad to get out of his harness and meet some new friends, the Mustard Seed was parked on a flat bit of lawn within sight of the pasture and Laura had thoughtfully asked about my dietary restrictions and fed me a delicious dinner. They even had a tennis ball and Laura’s husband Seth was happy to give Thick a bit of exercise after a long day sitting beside me on the wagon seat being a very good dog. (We had one car stop to say hello who completely ignored the ponies and the wagon, but they had a Corgi and wanted him to see Thick on the wagon!)

Now it is Friday and I’m about to get into why we’re still here. The Mustard Seed has some serious issues with turning. The Nun (my Toyota Sienna) has a better turning radius. When we turn too sharply (even a 90 degree turn) the wheels bump into a roller on the wagon (put there for that purpose) and it makes a dreadful sound which bothers the ponies and there’s no more room to keep turning. Ponies don’t do 7 point turns in tight situation (at least my ponies don’t) and while I thought I could figure out how to work with it, this is obviously a safety issue. We need a longer front axle so we can make tighter turns. I checked with several local places and their suggestion was to take it back to Mel at Pequea Carriage. Narvon, PA is a 7 hour drive from here. That just didn’t feel at all reasonable. So I called Mel, who said he’d make a new one and ship it out on Friday – which is today. Seth is willing and able to swap out the axle if it gets here by Tuesday afternoon. I’m hoping the mail works fast, because we need to be driving out of here on Wednesday morning, with or without the axle.

Meanwhile, because there’s always a silver lining, Laura (who is also a backpacker and very good at spatial organization) helped me do a “hiker shakedown” on the Mustard Seed. We took everything but the bed out and organized and stowed much more effectively and sensibly. She took me to get a much needed hair cut. We drove back to Twilight Farms and retrieved the Nun (Kristin and Duane had remembered to tuck the spare wagon hoop in the back!) and stopped at a chocolate stop. That evening her friend Jamie (who had joined us for lunch and heard how much I love horseradish cheese) showed up with several local cheeses and an Ohio delicacy called “Trail Bologna” for an impromptu tasting. I’ve been able to get caught up on a bunch of “paperwork” (which is now mostly on line) and, again, catch up on some much needed rest.

Another bonus of being here is that I’ve got at least half a dozen interviews scheduled for my upcoming YouTube channel. I had fully intended to have that up and running by now – and there are a dozen videos up already, but I’ve run into a snag with the name. I start each interview by saying “Hello, Neighbor” to the person I’m interviewing. I don’t want to change that. I like it. However, it turns out that “Hello Neighbor” is a truly creepy horror cartoon video game and show. When a person goes to YouTube and types in “hello neighbor” that’s what shows up. Ugh. My bad for not doing my due diligence ahead of time. Unfortunately, I can’t change the name of my channel for another 8 days. I’m planning to change it to “Who Is My Neighbor?” because then when content unrelated to the interviews shows up it’s the story of the Good Samaritan, which feels a lot more appropriate. Meanwhile, I’m continuing to do the interviews and post one per day (to the very best of my ability – ambitious goal, I know) and as soon as I’ve got the name nailed down and it’s coming up properly in searches, I’ll let you know. I’ve got one final Zoom call with Barker Books on Thursday – so hopefully some good news on the Memoir front soon as well.

Before I put up the video of the very start of this adventure (and Franklin’s issues with white paint on the road and Theodore’s steadying influence) a few more notes.

1) I’ve added a page to the top – Why (the Covered Wagon) that you might be interested in reading for backstory.

2) I’ve figured out how to do remote Who Is My Neighbor? interviews on Riverside – so if you aren’t on my wagon route but you’d like to volunteer to join me for an interview and answer the 25 questions, please get in touch and we’ll schedule a time. I’d really rather you didn’t have your answers all written out ahead of time, please?

3) My main purpose in being out here this time is to connect with people, meet my “neighbors” and interview them for the “Who Is My Neighbor?” project, keep the ponies and Thick and myself happy and healthy, and enjoy the journey. I’m experiementing with letting invitations guide my route. I’ve got an invite in Sheridan, IN, another one in Buffalo Prairie, IL, one down in Vergennes, IL and another in Nebraska. I’m also considering visiting the Little House on the Prairie museum in Independence, KS. If you’re anywhere along that route and would welcome a visit, I’d love to hear from you. We’re trying to avoid cities, the ponies appreciate grass to graze (they both tether, so while a fence is nice, it’s not necessary) and Thick has a real passion for tennis balls.

4) I’m trying to post at least something most days on Instagram and Facebook. A photo or short video with a caption. I’ve been told that Facebook is “the place” for networking, but I’m still trying to figure that out. The blog is my long form outlet, my heart, the joys and struggles – behind the scenes. People following my blog, commenting on the blog, sharing the blog – massively encouraging! If you have any suggestions or questions, I’d love to hear them. Am I posting too many photos on here? (some are redundant with fb/insta)