Stories from Bernie's current trip - a mule voyage from Canada to Mexico
Hill City, South Dakota
November 14, 2007
It’s official!
“Too Proud to Ride a Cow”, the account of what I learned about
America, and Americans, on my last coast-to-coast mule journey, is available for pre-order. You’ll have a chance to preview “Too Proud” in a second but first let me tell you what makes this book release so neat.
It’s the first time in publishing history that a book’s being released, and shipped, direct from a mule wagon – as long as you put in your order before the official release date of November 8, 2007.
Here’s your copy
Hill City, SD
Here’s the deal.
“Too Proud” will be released November 3. Since so many of you enjoyed getting a copy of the “Woody and Maggie” children’s book book straight from the mule wagon (thousands have been sold now), I figured we’d do the same with “Too Proud”.
That’s right. Pre-order your copy of “Too Proud” between now and November 3 and Polly and I will ship you a First Edition copy straight from the Lost Sea wagon. Of course I’ll sign it, and just to certify it came off my wagon, stamp it with a special stamp.
Signed just for you aboard the Lost Sea wagon
Think of your purchase as a literary dose of magic that comes straight from the hands of adventure, something lacking in all those books that start their lives being plucked off a warehouse shelf by robotic fingers.
Because it’ll come off Polly’s wagon, the copy of “Too Proud” that ends up in your hands will be steeped in all the adventures you’ve followed on RiverEarth.com, from the ones I’ve told you about, like Polly running away in Wyoming, to the ones I’ve been too embarrassed to mention, like where Polly bolted and jumped a nine-strand wire fence – with the wagon still hooked behind her.
A genuine “Oh Crap!” moment I failed to mention
Location: Top Secret
Okay, ready for a look at “Too Proud”? Click here then hang on…
In 2003 I completed a solo circumnavigation of the globe in my 34 1/2-foot steel cutter Sea Bird. The voyage began and finished in Oriental, NC. I filmed the longest offshore passage extensively and from that footage, 3-time Emmy-award winning producer Bob Collins and I created “65 Days At Sea”.
Originally released in jewel case packaging, “65 Days At Sea” has been upgraded to 6-panel DigiPak and is now available in the General Store.
“65 Days At Sea”
What’s it like to spend over two months on the ocean?
Reviews of “65 Days At Sea”
Cruising World magazine: “Joyful… The ebullient (Harberts) is a real hoot and a seasoned mariner.”
Latitudes and Attitudes magazine: “This is great stuff!”
Good Old Boat magazine: “If you’re wondering what it’s like out there, (then join) this self styled madman.”
In 1998 I set off with my steel ketch Sea Bird from the Oriental Town Dock on what I expected would be a two-year circumnavigation of the world. Well, it took that long just to get down to New Zealand – where I spent another year and half rebuilding my boat.
Kiwi rebuild
Whagarei, New Zealand
The voyage continued.
By Cape Town, South Africa, I decided to document this simple life aboard – to show folks what it’s like to sail for weeks and months… utterly alone.
And so the idea was born. On my final 6500 non-stop passage from Cape Town, South Africa to St. Johns, US Virgin Islands, I would film what eventually became “65 Days At Sea”.
In the rigging
(Will and Deni McIntyre Photo)
Here was the problem, though. I didn’t have a Hollywood-sized film budget at my disposal. Heck, my sailing budget was five hundred dollars per month. How as I going to get those heart-stopping “Pirates of the Caribbean” shots?
Simple.
I filmed while I was clinging halfway up the mast – one handed. The other hand handled the camera.
There was a trick to it, though, and it went like this.
To get up the mast, I first had to put on my rubber shrimp boots. Sea Bird didn’t have steps screwed to her mast so getting into the rig wasn’t as easy as climbing a ladder. Those white shrimp boots gave me just enough traction that, with a handful of halyards, I could haul myself hand-over-hand up the into the rigging. When I reached the spreaders, I’d reached my filming platform.
Now I could do some filming.
This wasn’t easy because all the while the boat was pitching back and forth, flinging me through great aerial arcs above the sea.
The final results proved breathtaking.
“65 Days At Sea”
The inside view
Click here for the two-minute preview in the General Store. The “65 Days” DVD is at the bottom of the page.
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