Call it the first TV series ever filmed from a mule wagon. The Lost Sea Expedition TV series is about a voyage I (Bernie Harberts) took across America with my mule. Just me and mule Polly in our home made rolling home. The series was filmed with only the gear I carried in my wagon – no film crew, support team or sponsor. I slowed down to explore a sped up world as only a man alone can do.
Out there in my tiny wagon, I filmed what I lived: tumbleweed gales, snow storms, the highs of Badlands Blue and the low of Prairie Fever. I lived among the people I interviewed – ranchers, Lakota elders, scientists, creationists and and every day folks.
The goal of my voyage was to capture the wandering life, explore a little known part of America and bring the experience home to you. I wanted to set out in a tiny vehicle to interview a giant land. The Lost Sea Expedition does that. When it is complete you’ll be able to “walk” across the United States with me in 4 half-hour TV segments. Instead of sound bite glimpses of this county, like you get on some social media and the news, you’ll feel like you spent a year absorbing America first hand.
Oh, and you won’t have to put up with the rattlesnakes, tumbleweed blizzards, charging bulls and dry lightening.
My wagon was tiny, just 21-square feet inside. That’s as much skin as covers the average human. Creepy, I know! But it’s what I had at the time so I used it. In the end, it was precisely this tiny vehicle, this frailty, that gave the experience such extraordinary depth.
Because when you go small, you become vulnerable. The full range of the human experience opens to you. You can’t shield yourself from the world with a giant home or vehicle any more. It’s a sliding scale. The smaller and simpler you go, the more you’ll feel the cold, sadness and pain. But the pleasant side of life is amplified, too – the warmth, comfort and companionship, when it comes. I’ll take the wide range of experience over the narrow any day. Even if that means walking 8 hours per day beside my mule!
Turning the footage shot in the field in to a TV series has been a huge project. The Lost Sea Expedition is currently in production. It is being produced for public television which means I have to come up with all the money to make this happen. I would love to hear from all fans of tiny homes and tiny travel vehicle who’d like to see a program like this make it to public television.
What’s next? This fall, mule Polly and I take back to the road. Come late September, we’ll be in Benson, North Carolina for Mule Days. Then we plan a ramble up the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Yeah, that Lost Sea wagon will look great on a ferry!
For more about the “Lost Sea Expedition” TV series and the voyage behind it, visit lostseaexpedition.com
I lived on the road in my 30′ ( no slides or pull outs as some call them ) motor home for 10 yrs and loved it. Hosted in campgrounds, led birding tours in State Parks and with solar on the roof lived most of the time off the grid. Lots of folks out there doing the same. Gotta love it, Bob D
Howdy Bob. Gotta love how solar works the same on a 30′ motor home the same way as it works on a 12′ mule wagon. Great to know you’re out there doing this! Bernie Harberts
Sounds like a great journey! How did you have enough feed for your mule? Did she graze, have feed drops or? Was she outside in all the bad weather? Fascinating!!!
Hi Nancy, Glad you enjoyed this post. Love your question as these are some of the things shown in the “Lost Sea Expedition” documentary. I did the trip w/o a chase vehicle or support team. Just relied on roadside browse and what I could find for grain for feed for Polly. Oh, and the amazing kindness of strangers! My mule Polly kept her weight the entire trip. She was outside in pretty much all weathers. Some times with a blanket or barn but mostly just weathered things. Made for amazing footage of how equines cope in a wide range of weather.