Pictures taken April-July, 2008
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Below is a great article from the
Pontiac Daily Leader
Pontiac Daily Leader
By John Faddoul, Staff Reporter
CHENOA — The sign you see when
you pull up behind the covered-wagon
"barn on wheels" of Lee the
Horselogger sums it all up: "2006 -
MONTANA; 2007 - BOSTON; 2008 -
CALIFORNIA; 2011 - ALASKA. WHY?
JUST BECAUSE! YE HAW!"
People eating at or passing by
Chenoa Family Restaurant between
Thursday night and Monday morning
may have noticed the wagon, the sign-
bearing trailer it tows, three horses
and two dogs that mark Lee's
westward journey along U.S. 24. In
April 2007, he found similar hospitality
on his eastbound journey on the same
highway as last week, in the parking
area behind the restaurant.
The outfit and animals that were with
him in Chenoa 13 months ago—
Suffolk Punch draft horses Max and
Tom, Great Pyrennese dogs Kerr-Mutt
and Katy — are still with him. A third
horse, Fey, is now helping pull the
wagon, and two more will be added
before Lee crosses the Rockies, and,
more daunting for him, the Sierra
Nevada.
Lee, as he strongly prefers to be
called, is working on a book, "So Far
... So Far to Go: A Horselogger's
Journal." His co-author is Sally the
Writer, also not using a surname.
Lee was the subject of a Daily Leader
story in April 2007 about his
horsepowered journey from Montana
to New England, where he wanted to
meet with a childhood sweetheart. In
2008, he has been taking the same
route on U.S. 24 — westbound this
year — during April and May. He's
been featured in many other print and
TV stories during his months on the
road with his unconventional caravan.
"Because I want to see the redwoods,"
Lee, 47, answered Monday when
asked why he was heading to
California, as he enjoyed a bacon
cheeseburger and a salad for
breakfast at Chenoa Family
Restaurant, during an interview a
couple booths down from where the
same Daily Leader reporter
interviewed him in 2007, when he was
served by the same waitress as on
Monday, Rachael Sears. Last year,
she brought her two daughters to
meet Lee and his animals; now she
has a third daughter, 4-month-old
Noelle. Sears and her mother, Denise
Grant, also helped this year on Lee's
Chenoa stop, towing his water barrel
to the nearby Shell convenience mart
to fill it.
"I had no clue you were coming back
this way," Sears told Lee and the
reporter.
People who want to keep track of the
journey can do so at www.
leehorselogger.com. The volunteer
Web master for the site is Patty Goff,
of The Lone Tree Leader in Onarga.
Lee said it's been "an incredible" trip
and it's sometimes hard to see that,
"because you're involved in the trip ...
you don't quite realize how amazing it
has been."
Lee, who was diagnosed with
lymphoma in 2005, said he's feeling
more in balance again, and hoping he
can get get back to feeling, "Wow, I've
been across the country and I'm
almost halfway back across it again.
That's pretty amazing. And we didn't
have any major injuries or any major
problems along the way, so that's
even more amazing. But that's not why
you do the trips. Not for that 'wow.'
That's just 'wow' after you've done."
"Figure a few things out and share
them with other people. There you
go," he said.
Seeing the redwoods, he said, is
about connections. "I'm a horselogger.
I love trees. I love working around
trees. I love everything to do with
being in the woods."
"Just to see Alaska" is the reason for
planning to head there, via Montana.
At the Chenoa restaurant, eating his
lettuce salad and tomato before the
cheeseburger, Lee was glad to see
the reporter get out a voice recorder,
which led to his commenting on the
media he's encountered and the
country's public school system.
Lee said that most of the media he's
encountered has seen itself as part of
the intelligentsia, while being
underinformed — and inaccurate —
on many aspects of his journey, even
when copying information from his
Web site.
As for U.S. public education, Lee said,
"I have nothing kind to say for our
educational system."
"I've been around too many schools
and the schools aren't being run by
the parents, they're being run by,
quote, professionals, and I guess
maybe that's my problem —
Professionals are the last person I
want educating my child or myself. You
want to understand what this trip is
about, this trip is about getting away
from professionalism.
"I'm not a horse person. I drive horses
all day, make my living with them. I've
handled horses off and on for the last
forty years. But I'm not a professional
horse person. I'm not a professional
writer. But I'm working with somebody
and we're writing a book. Life doesn't
require professionals to do things, and
our society has become caught in this
trap of 'If Dr. Phil doesn't say it's good
then it can't be.' Who the hell is he to
say anything about what's relevant
and pertinent in your life?"
Lee said the book he's writing will help
him learn about himself, and he
doesn't really care if it's a commercial
success. Several agents are "sort of
interested" in it, he said.
Sally the Writer, he said, sees "this
look of puzzlement," so often, on
people who just can't understand his
trip, a look he's seen so often he
accepts it as being normal. He prefers
to think "outside the box."
"And then every so often you get the
ones who click, they understand what
it's all about, and those are the ones
you don't have to explain anything to,
when they ask you why you are doing
this. You just say 'Because' and they
understand. And those are the fun
ones to visit."
Pontiac Daily Leader
Pontiac Daily Leader
By John Faddoul, Staff Reporter
CHENOA — The sign you see when
you pull up behind the covered-wagon
"barn on wheels" of Lee the
Horselogger sums it all up: "2006 -
MONTANA; 2007 - BOSTON; 2008 -
CALIFORNIA; 2011 - ALASKA. WHY?
JUST BECAUSE! YE HAW!"
People eating at or passing by
Chenoa Family Restaurant between
Thursday night and Monday morning
may have noticed the wagon, the sign-
bearing trailer it tows, three horses
and two dogs that mark Lee's
westward journey along U.S. 24. In
April 2007, he found similar hospitality
on his eastbound journey on the same
highway as last week, in the parking
area behind the restaurant.
The outfit and animals that were with
him in Chenoa 13 months ago—
Suffolk Punch draft horses Max and
Tom, Great Pyrennese dogs Kerr-Mutt
and Katy — are still with him. A third
horse, Fey, is now helping pull the
wagon, and two more will be added
before Lee crosses the Rockies, and,
more daunting for him, the Sierra
Nevada.
Lee, as he strongly prefers to be
called, is working on a book, "So Far
... So Far to Go: A Horselogger's
Journal." His co-author is Sally the
Writer, also not using a surname.
Lee was the subject of a Daily Leader
story in April 2007 about his
horsepowered journey from Montana
to New England, where he wanted to
meet with a childhood sweetheart. In
2008, he has been taking the same
route on U.S. 24 — westbound this
year — during April and May. He's
been featured in many other print and
TV stories during his months on the
road with his unconventional caravan.
"Because I want to see the redwoods,"
Lee, 47, answered Monday when
asked why he was heading to
California, as he enjoyed a bacon
cheeseburger and a salad for
breakfast at Chenoa Family
Restaurant, during an interview a
couple booths down from where the
same Daily Leader reporter
interviewed him in 2007, when he was
served by the same waitress as on
Monday, Rachael Sears. Last year,
she brought her two daughters to
meet Lee and his animals; now she
has a third daughter, 4-month-old
Noelle. Sears and her mother, Denise
Grant, also helped this year on Lee's
Chenoa stop, towing his water barrel
to the nearby Shell convenience mart
to fill it.
"I had no clue you were coming back
this way," Sears told Lee and the
reporter.
People who want to keep track of the
journey can do so at www.
leehorselogger.com. The volunteer
Web master for the site is Patty Goff,
of The Lone Tree Leader in Onarga.
Lee said it's been "an incredible" trip
and it's sometimes hard to see that,
"because you're involved in the trip ...
you don't quite realize how amazing it
has been."
Lee, who was diagnosed with
lymphoma in 2005, said he's feeling
more in balance again, and hoping he
can get get back to feeling, "Wow, I've
been across the country and I'm
almost halfway back across it again.
That's pretty amazing. And we didn't
have any major injuries or any major
problems along the way, so that's
even more amazing. But that's not why
you do the trips. Not for that 'wow.'
That's just 'wow' after you've done."
"Figure a few things out and share
them with other people. There you
go," he said.
Seeing the redwoods, he said, is
about connections. "I'm a horselogger.
I love trees. I love working around
trees. I love everything to do with
being in the woods."
"Just to see Alaska" is the reason for
planning to head there, via Montana.
At the Chenoa restaurant, eating his
lettuce salad and tomato before the
cheeseburger, Lee was glad to see
the reporter get out a voice recorder,
which led to his commenting on the
media he's encountered and the
country's public school system.
Lee said that most of the media he's
encountered has seen itself as part of
the intelligentsia, while being
underinformed — and inaccurate —
on many aspects of his journey, even
when copying information from his
Web site.
As for U.S. public education, Lee said,
"I have nothing kind to say for our
educational system."
"I've been around too many schools
and the schools aren't being run by
the parents, they're being run by,
quote, professionals, and I guess
maybe that's my problem —
Professionals are the last person I
want educating my child or myself. You
want to understand what this trip is
about, this trip is about getting away
from professionalism.
"I'm not a horse person. I drive horses
all day, make my living with them. I've
handled horses off and on for the last
forty years. But I'm not a professional
horse person. I'm not a professional
writer. But I'm working with somebody
and we're writing a book. Life doesn't
require professionals to do things, and
our society has become caught in this
trap of 'If Dr. Phil doesn't say it's good
then it can't be.' Who the hell is he to
say anything about what's relevant
and pertinent in your life?"
Lee said the book he's writing will help
him learn about himself, and he
doesn't really care if it's a commercial
success. Several agents are "sort of
interested" in it, he said.
Sally the Writer, he said, sees "this
look of puzzlement," so often, on
people who just can't understand his
trip, a look he's seen so often he
accepts it as being normal. He prefers
to think "outside the box."
"And then every so often you get the
ones who click, they understand what
it's all about, and those are the ones
you don't have to explain anything to,
when they ask you why you are doing
this. You just say 'Because' and they
understand. And those are the fun
ones to visit."
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| Photos are thumbnails; Click on each one to see a larger picture. |
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