travel (95)

The 2,500-Mile Across-USA Expedition of Bernie Harberts and His Mule Polly

August 30, 2016 at 6:20 pm

Hi Lloyd,

Last we spoke, I was telling you about the “Lost Sea Expedition”. It was just mule Polly and me traveling across the USA in our wagon. We were looking for stories behind the Lost Sea, the ancient seabed that once covered the Great Plains.

I filmed the journey without a film crew, support vehicle or sponsor. I charged my camera gear off the solar panel bolted to the wagon roof. Now, that footage has been turned in to the “Lost Sea Expedition” TV series.

First, a bit about the journey:

As I bumped across the USA in my wagon, I folks what they knew about the Lost Sea. Early on, a Lakota elder told me about “buffalo stones” – fossils from a marine creature called a baculite. From there, the story took off in all directions. I thought I was looking for a vanished sea. Instead, I unearthed an all-American web covering topics as far ranging as the Ogallala Aquifer, Creationism, Evolutionism, Prairie Fever ,and Depression-era horse breaking.

Who knew that diving in to the origins of a long vanished sea would turn in to a journey to the heart of America?

2,500-mile wagon route across America

Read More …

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From Canada to Mexico by Mule

August 24, 2016 at 10:30 am

Bernie Harberts was featured in our book Tiny Homes (pp. 188-89). He traveled from Canada to Mexico for 14 months in a 21-square-foot (floor area) wagon pulled by a mule. Here is a letter we just received from him.

Howdy Lloyd,

Many mule miles, no letters…

You featured mule Polly and her wagon in your Tiny Homes- Simple Shelter book.

That story continues.

What I never really said much about is that I filmed that 14-month voyage across America. That voyage is now the “Lost Sea Expedition” TV series. The site and official trailer are at: https://lostseaexpedition.com

I’ve attached some photos for you. I’d love to share the story and news with your blog readers.

Hell, I know you’re busy. You write you could use a clone. No worries. I’ll write the content for you. Just tell me what would work for you (short article, picture essay, blog post, etc).

Hope you and the hummers are well. You and I have Lived for we know the Jubilation of a thawed hummer flying from our hands!

Keep groovin’

Bernie Harberts

https://lostseaexpedition.com

A Man A Mule America

Both photos from Tiny Homes: Simple Shelter

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Back in the USSR

June 3, 2016 at 3:07 pm

Driving for 10 days on the wrong side of the road in Scotland was really stressful,  I think partly because I’ve been driving since age 14, over half a million miles of doing it one way. Ingrained habits…

I picked up a car in Edinburgh and was immediately terrified in the “roundabouts.” Cars pouring in from 4 directions, weaving in and out. “Give way to the cars on your right,” said Diana, and I used this as a mantra in the roundabouts. I ended up driving the last 2 days in a part of Scotland (near Irvine) that was peppered with roundabouts. Sheesh! I got better with experience, but it was still stressful..

The cabbie on the way to the airport navigated them smoothly, hardly slowed down.

It’s such a relief to be back the right (sic) side of the road.

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Back to Book Production

May 30, 2016 at 9:23 pm

On the road from Ullapool to Gairloch on the northwest coast of  Scotland
My trip to Scotland was an overwhelmingly wonderful experience. 30 days of people who were friendly, cheerful, and helpful—civilized society!

I shot maybe 1000 photographs, with three different cameras. I posted (mostly photos) on Instagram and this blog almost every day.
I could do a book on this trip, but the reality, the priority right now, is to get our new book, Small Homes, finished.

So I will be posting less for a while, and certainly not posting daily.

I had an epiphany, as they say, yesterday: I can reach a lot more people by turning out books than I can by posting things on my blog or via Instagram—at least with my present internet followers (about 500 people a day).

Plus the feedback from our books is phenomenal. Just about daily: people inspired, lives changed, abilities discovered.

I want to get this book finished and then try to get one new book published each year (instead of one book every 2-3 years, as now).

I’m thinking of three possibilities for the book after this one:

• Trips I’ve taken over the past 40 years, with photos and text. Readers can ride shotgun with me.

• My favorite builders: about six or seven of them, describing not only their work, but their personalities. I just love all these guys.

• Barns: a scrapbook of my photos over the years and reference to the many (not well-known) books I’ve accumulated on barns; we have over 3 feet of barn books in our shelves.

So it’s back to book making for me. I’m really excited by this new one. I’m gonna get oan wi it.

Check out https://www.theshelterblog.com/ for daily postings on building, homesteading, gardening, carpentry. tiny homes, small homes, and the like.

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Mony a mickle maks a muckle

May 23, 2016 at 9:55 am

OK, so I am prone to over-enthusiasm, but  I can’t travel in this magical country any more without singing its praises.

Grass/sheep/green/water/rain/sun/air/wind/whisky/ocean/trains/ferries/views/masonry/lochs…

And the people. I still can’t believe their good-naturedness, helpfulness, humor. I’ve never experienced such good vibes. Why are they so happy? Everyone, I mean everyone, asks where we’ve been, where we’re going,  how do we like Scotland, do we need help in finding an address? Guys I’ve met in pubs have turned me on to non-tourist places. Smiles are contagious.

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O ye’ll take the high road, and I’ll take the low road…

May 17, 2016 at 10:21 am

Yesterday on our way south to Glasgow we (unexpectedly) found ourselves driving along the west side of Loch Lomond and I can understand why it’s so well known. A pristine body of water, with trees all around it, some kinda magic going on fer shure. We stopped at a lochside hotel and had one of the best renditions of fish and chips ever plus a bottle of Loch Lomond Silkie Stout. Fortified by the stout, I jumped in the water — about 8 strokes and out. Cold! maybe 48 degrees F. But I follow an MO of getting immersed in its waters wherever I am to connect with the land. It always works! Then on into Glasgow, following the Garmin GPR to a Travelodge hotel in Glasgow central.

Last night we had a fabulous Italian dinner with Lesley’s cousin and husband at Fratelli Sarti on Bath Street, preceded by a couple of shots of Laphroid single malt whisky (Colin and me, that is) at the Butterfly and Pig bar, fine establishment.

I started out with leftside driving pretty shakily, it took several days for my brain to make the switch. And the roundabouts! Jesus, stress-city. Finally, I’m getting into it. Give way to cars on the right. My navigator informs me that leftside driving originated with duels on horseback, where lances were held with the right hand.

I don’t know how I missed Scotland over all these years of European exploration (starting with a 3-month Lambretta motorscooter/youth hostel trip in 1957-58). I’m overwhelmed by both the beauty of this land and the good-naturedness of the Scots. I think it’s possible that people who live in beautiful surroundings are happy and friendly. Hundreds of encounters, totally good vibes. If people see you looking around in the cities, they ask if they can help. And I’m gonna miss the brogue a wee bit when I get home.

Animal shelter and pen in recreated 1700s township at the Highland Folk Museum in Newtonmore, Scotland

Building at Highland Folk Museum in Newtonmore, Scotland

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Notes From Edinburgh

May 9, 2016 at 12:45 pm

We got back yesterday from a week on the (small) Isle of Eigg. So much has happened that I’ve had little time to write and/or post photos about it. Tomorrow night (Tuesday, May 10), I’m doing a presentation at Kircaldy Galleries, titled “50 Years of Natural Building,” chronicling our building books from Shelter in 1973 up to the present. It’s been sold out for a few weeks.

I had a trial run Wednesday night in the community center on Eigg, about 30 people (half the population of the island). A ton of kindred spirits on the island.

I ended up shooting photos of the (very different) homes of 2 builders: Damien Helliwell and Karl Harding, which will go into the Small Homes book.

Eigg is one of a group of 4 islands referred to as The Small Isles, in the Inner Hebrides. It’s off the west coast of Scotland, reachable by a ferry from the fishing port of Mallaig.

We could live here, and I can’t say that for many places in the world.

So much to tell, so little time. Some photos

Isle of Eigg from Ferry

The Sgurr of Eigg

Ancient stone masonry

Stove in Karl’s round house

Shepherd’s bothy (hut)

Note:I’m not going to be so specific about where things are out here. I’ve seen too many small towns wrecked (or forever changed) by getting too much attention.

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1st Day in Edinburgh

April 29, 2016 at 9:18 pm


I shot about 150 photos in this wonderful city yesterday. This is at the Edinburgh Botanical Gardens, where we spent about 2 hours with our friend/guide Diana Sykes, marveling at the botanical wonders of the natural world, tended by master gardeners with skill and love.

And the people! It’s like stepping into an alternate universe. People are so friendly and jolly, helpful and sincere. Good vibes everywhere.

Today we took the train from Glasgow, and are now in the fishing village of Mallaig. I just had the best fish and chips in my life, along with a dark beer from Skye Island. Tomorrow we take the ferry to the small island of Eigg, where we’ll spend a week in a small cabin.

I’ll try to post more when I can.

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Friday Morning Fish Fry*

April 22, 2016 at 7:58 pm

*So titled after San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen’s Friday columns, called “Friday Fish Fry;” Herb was master of 3-dot stories…

Water It’s raining this morning,

Praise the Universe.

We’re up to 28″ this year, more or less normal. Our well is working again. We’ve installed a 5000-gallon storage tank which collects water off neighbors’ roof. The California hills are an almost chartreuse green. Creeks are running.

Scotland Ho! We’re off

There is a festival of architecture in Scotland now, sponsored by the Fife Contemporary Arts Center. It’s called “Shelters,” and features an entire room exhibiting our work, with photo and page blowups, and our building books. It’s open now at the Kircaldy Galleries (about 12 miles north of Edinburgh), on the east coast of Scotland) and runs through June 5, 2016.

I’ll be doing a slide show presentation on May 10th, at Kircaldy Galleries, titled “50 Years of Natural Building,” chronicling our building books from Shelter in 1973 up to the present.

We’re leaving Tuesday via Virgin Atlantic. On Saturday, we’re taking a ferry to the tiny island of Eigg.

“Eigg (/ɛɡ/; Scottish Gaelic: Eige, [ˈekʲə] ( listen)) is one of the Small Isles, in the Scottish Inner Hebrides. It lies to the south of the Skye and to the north of the Ardnamurchan peninsula. Eigg is 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) long from north to south, and 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) east to west. With an area of 12 square miles (31 km2), it is the second largest of the Small Isles after Rùm.

Notably, Eigg generates virtually 100% of its electricity using renewable energy.…” -Wikipedia

Our hosts have arranged for us to spend a week in “Sweeney’s Bothy,” a tiny home looking down to the sea. Am I excited!

There are about 80 people on the island, there are kayak and mountain bike rentals, sheep, there are a couple of restaurants, the Whale’s Head Community Pub, and I am sure, plenty of kindred spirits. Yes!

I’ll be Instagraming and blogging, so stay tuned and ride shotgun with us during the month of May.

Social Media I’m doing less blogging and more Instagraming these days. Less writing, more photos. I like the immediacy of Instagram, still learning the techniques (don’t like the square format), trying to figure out how to use hash tags and get more followers…Check out our new Tumblr presentation of large beautiful photos: https://shelterpub.tumblr.com and https://shelterpub.tumblr.com/archive, set up by Sean Hellfritsch and now managed by Brittany Cole Bush…Check out The Shelter Blog, https://www.theshelterblog.com/, managed by Evan Kahn, and improving daily, with an ever-increasing flow of original material…we continue working on the digital side of our communications…while producing real life hold-in-yr-hands books…

Small Homes, the book We are 3/4 through with layout…about 154 pages so far and counting…Rick will be doing Photoshop work while I’m gone and then we’ll hit it again in June…this is shaping up to be a great book, I kid you not. You can see some sneak previews at: https://www.theshelterblog.com/?s=sneak+preview 

A gude beginning maks a gude ending. (Scottish proverb)

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