TITLE: AUTHOR: Bernie DATE: 9:47 PM STATUS: Publish ----- BODY:
"Woody and Maggie Walk Across America" is a children's geography book that features something unusual about each state visited by Woody, Maggie and I during our cross-country trek.


"Woody and Maggie" Front Cover

The format is simple. The book features a map of each state we visited and I tell young readers what I found unusual about that state. Then Woody and Maggie share their views.

Let's take Arizona. Here's the map.


I recall Arizona for the famed saguaro cactus.


Woody and Maggie remember it for naked green giants that can't get their boots back on. Okay, you'll have to come to the party to learn about cactus footwear. Hint: the saguaro cactus really makes a "boot".


And so it goes, state by state, from North Carolina to California. Yes, the book even answers questions such as how I went shopping, found water, and where I slept at night.

So come out this Saturday and visit Woody, Maggie and me.

Refreshments will be served. Woody and Maggie will be on hand. The tipi will be pitched. Folks interested in viewing the Lost Sea Wagon can take a tour. Yes, personalized copies of "Woody and Maggie" will be available.

I sure look forward to seeing you. Here's how we can catch up.

When: Saturday, September 30, 2006 / 2:00 - 4:00 PM
Where: Foxtrack Training Center /625 Valley View Drive / Southern Pines, NC 28388
Contact: Bernie Harberts / 910 695 0989 / bernie@riverearth.com
Directions: From Southern Pines:
Follow May Street 1 mile north out of town. Turn left on Valley View Road. Foxtrack Training Center is the first farm on the right.
Click here for the map

If you can't join us this weekend, remember you can order your copy of "Woody and Maggie" from the RiverEarth.com General Store. Woody and I will even sign your copy.

Have a great week.

Bernie
-------- TITLE: AUTHOR: Bernie DATE: 9:20 PM STATUS: Publish ----- BODY:
I recently wrote an article called "How Big is Your Escape Pod?". The jist of it was that our dream vehicles, from houses to boats, have become so large they're too big to offer the escape we'd initially sought.

Of course, that didn't apply to my mule wagon. Right? I'd built it the perfect size for long-distance travel.


The Lost Sea mule wagon (before Bernie finished the signage)
Whale Bone Junction - Stonewall, NC

I'd engineered it to weigh as little as possible by using foam core construction, the same technique I'd seen used on light-weight offshore racing yachts.


The foam-sandwich ceiling going into place.
Southern Pines, NC

Still, I wondered... How much did that wagon weigh? 500 pounds? 1000? Gasp! 1200? So, coming from a good Teutonic background, I towed it to the Aberdeen Landfill, where they have drive-on scales, and the guy in the scale shack informed me my wagon weighed 2360 pounds.

2360 pounds!

Yep. Over a ton - empty.

There on the spot I decided to build a new wagon.

This time I paid closer attention to what the original pioneers' wagons measured. I took a tape measure to my mule skinner buddy Tash Hudson's wagons. The beds on his traditional wagons measured 36" to 48" wide, fully 2 feet narrower than my original wagon. Another friend, Sue Maska, who spent 5 years traveling the country with her husband in their horse-drawn wagon, gave me tips on a practical interior layout. Their wagon was only 3 feet wide.

Then I fired up my welder and got to work. Using 1 1/2" X 1/8" angle iron, I welded up a steel frame that weighed 100 pounds.


Take II: The new 100-lb frame.
Southern Pines, NC

To that, I attached lightweight walls fashioned from 3/4" foam insulation sandwiched between two sheets of 1/8" plywood.



Walls, or bulkheads as I like to call them.
Southern Pines, NC

The new wagon measures just over 2' 6" wide by 8' long. A 3' covered area where I sit while driving, what I call the front porch, brings the overall length to 11'. Headroom inside, instead of 6', was reduced to 4' 10"



Roof beams in place
Southern Pines, NC

In a bit over one month, the major construction was finished.



Whew. Taking a construction break.
Southern Pines, NC

Then the ribbing began. Seems my friends confused my work of equine locomotive art for something quite else.


Wagon?



Or tombstone...?

To be continued...
-------- TITLE: AUTHOR: Bernie DATE: 10:48 PM STATUS: Publish ----- BODY:
Harley Harlson of Lynnwood, Washington, spent years designing, then building, the eight-foot sailboat Sea Biscuit in which he planned to sail around the world - non-stop.


Sea Biscuit
(Harley Harlson photo)

The last time I spoke with him via phone, August 18, I heard distinct working sounds in the background. "Ah ha!" I thought. "He's getting ready to leave!"

To track progress, Harley had outfitted a satellite locator device on board his craft. Its job was to send position reports while he was underway. On August 19, I received the following email message that began:

"A position report has just been received from the vessel called Sea Biscuit. Here is a map showing the history of position reports from 2006-08-12 23:47:51 until 2006-08-19 23:47:51."

The map looked like this.


Sea Biscuit's first position report

"Great, Harley's underway," I thought and scanned the update for his position and speed:

Latitude - 49 12 deg 53.00 min N
Longitude - 125 deg 22' 02.00 min W
Speed - 0 knots
Journey State - Unknown

From the look of the map and co-ordinates, Harley was dead in the water in the Pacific Ocean just off the south Canadian coast. The last two items were of mild concern, though - 0 knots in State Uknown. That wasn't a great way to begin a journey.

But then again, one could never tell. Maybe Harley just caught a three-foot fish in his eight-foot boat. Whenever I hooked a fish while sailing my boat Sea Bird around the world, I usually hove to, that's sailor-speak for "parked the boat". Then, with the boat dead in the water, I went about inviting the critter aboard for supper.

That might explain Sea Biscuit's 0 knot boatspeed.


Dorado caught aboard Bernie's sailboat Sea Bird - note Bernie's hat for scale
(Middle of the South Atlantic Ocean between Brazil, South America and Angola, Africa)

With the matter of Harley's progress settled, at least in my imagination, I went about my chores.

A few days passed and I didn't get any more updates. The Journey State remained Unknown.

Then I heard.

Harley, it appeared, had launched Sea Biscuit in the small village of Tofino, British Columbia, about 300 miles north-west of his home in Lynnwood, Washington.

Almost immediately the trouble began. The door hinges that attached the rudder to the keel began letting water into the hull. Sea Biscuit also appeared to need more ballast to make her more stable.

Harley decided that since it was getting late in the season, he would postpone his departure. This would allow him to return to Lynnwood where it's expected he will modify Sea Biscuit before re-attempting his journey around the world.

We wish Harley the best of luck in his continued preparations. As one who's had to postpone trip departures, I understand the need to regroup before setting out anew.

Good luck, Harley, and keep us posted!

Bernie Harberts
RiverEarth.com
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