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Me, Bernie Harberts, on an adventure with my mule Polly. (Floydada, TX)

Hi. I’m Bernie Harberts, author and film maker. I’ve sailed alone around the world, traveled across America by mule (twice), pedaled a ten dollar bike around Tasmania and walked across Newfoundland with a mule. Most recently, I sailed a wood ketch from the Falkland Islands to South Georgia Island, off Antarctica. From there, we sailed 3 weeks across the iceberg laced Southern Ocean to South Africa.

These trips have all been documented on RiverEarth.com.

When I’m not adventuring by boat, mule or foot, home is an oak cabin in western Carolina. Sometimes home is far out to sea. This is my old sailboat Sea Bird. I bought her for the price of a used pickup and worked, wrote and sailed my way around the world aboard here. Here, we’re becalmed in the South Atlantic doldrums. I rowed out in my dinghy to make that photo. No, I didn’t anchor (too deep). I just took down the sails and hoped the weather stayed calm. When I’m not afloat, in a saddle or rolling in a wagon, home is this cabin in Western North Carolina. Life is good when your lawn is a hay field. The rows are fresh-cut hay.

Carolina Roots

I grew up in North Carolina and went to NC State University. After a few years in the corporate world, I decided I’d rather commute with a mule than a Volvo.

On a saddle mule named Woody, I rode 13 months across America, capturing glimpses few have slowed to document. I wrote 2 accounts of that voyage which you can find in this site’s General Store.

I have also logged thousands of miles by mule and wagon. UNC-TV and Our State Magazine joined my mule Polly and me for one of these trips. That episode, Mule Rider, won an Emmy award for the South East region.

Taking the Spirit of Carolina Adventure Nationwide

Most recently, I’ve extended that spirit of North Carolina to America’s back roads. Traveling with a single mule and a tiny wagon I built in a friend’s garage, I spent 14 months traveling from Canada to Mexico across the Great Plains. Just as I did in North Carolina, I explored things that are particular to an area. This time around, it was horse breakers, Lakota elders, sod hut dwellers, ghost towns and a vanished sea that caught my eye.

I filmed the whole voyage myself – a first ever for a cross-country wagon voyage. Back home I edited that footage in to the Lost Sea Expedition documentary. The 4-part series was chosen to premier on Rocky Mountain PBS (Colorado). Plenty more about the series is at LostSeaExpedition.com Let’s go! My cabin is situated close to some great wagon riding country. Here some buddies and I are heading out on a wagon ramble. The wagon in the front is the one I explored New Foundland with. Behind me, in his old field wagon, is Ronald Hudson. I bought my mule Polly from him. He’s become one of my all-time best wagon riding buddies..

Though I spend lots of time in remote places, often far away from people, it’s always great hearing from folks, especially ones that send hand written letters. Here’s how to get in touch.
