LOVELL, Wyoming (STPNS) -- A Minnesota man hopped on his mule with a tent, air mattress and a few other supplies and headed west where he heard job prospects might be better.

Rod Mayday and his mule, Henry, trotted into Lovell this week after two months and at least 1,200 miles of riding. Jim Fannon of ?J Diamond Three? horse training in Cowley picked up the voyager outside of Lovell and offered him a place to stay and rest for a while.

?I was really broken when he picked me up,? Mayday said Tuesday. ?I hadn?t eaten much in 48 hours.? He had run out of canned beans and was eating apples off trees when Fannon picked him up from the side of the road this week.



He said the Fannons took him in and allowed him to do odd jobs in exchange for food, a place to stay and some money. They treated Henry?s saddle sores and gave him new horseshoes, too.

?They are awesome people,? Mayday said of the Fannons.

He plans on staying with the family in Cowley for a while, learning to rope and other horse-training skills from the folks at J Diamond Three. He?s also looking for a job in the area, possibly a ranch hand or a similar position. He would one day like to breed and train mules for a living.

?I?m not a specialist in anything except coon hunting,? Mayday said, adding it is tough to find a job without a driver?s license. ?But I?m willing to do anything.?

Mayday is still unsure if he will stay in the area (semi-permanently) or not. If he eventually continues on his trip, he would like to see more wildlife, especially bears and buffalo, though he doesn?t know how Henry will react.

?He freaked out when he saw a plastic buffalo in the black hills, but other than that, he did great,? he said. Henry passed by several herds of cattle along the way without flinching.

Mayday and Henry began their trip in Northern Minnesota near Boy Lake on July 15 and headed south to Spirit Lake, Iowa, to drop off some belongings at a friend?s. He hung a right and headed west, making stops in Worthington, Minn., Sioux Falls, SD, Pierre, SD, Gillette, Wyo., Sheridan, Wyo., and over the Big Horns to Lovell. He also rode around the Black Hills of South Dakota twice.

?I got lost a few times,? he admits. ?But it was pretty.?

Mayday said he and Henry were tired after taking 14A straight over the Big Horn Mountains, ?slippin? and slidin? all over the place.? He estimates Henry lost at least 150 lbs on the long haul and he dropped some weight himself.

Mayday thinks they averaged about 30 miles a day, though they traveled up to 70 miles some days.

He has enjoyed his trip thus far and is grateful to all the nice people he met along the way?a man in South Dakota that loaded Henry in a horse trailer and carted them both over the Missouri river, native Americans on a reservation that treated him to some vodka and bridge diving, and a man from Sheridan who let Mayday stay in his million-dollar house, complete with horse barn, while the man left town.

Of course, he is grateful to his current hosts, the Fannons.

?The family is a bunch of comedians and super nice people,? Mayday said.

Mayday will have to journey south if he decides to travel through the winter and would like to see Nevada.

?Maybe I?ll spend my winter in New Mexico,? he said. But he?s not sure.

As for his mule, Mayday has received numerous offers from people on the road to purchase Henry, some as much as $3,000, but he?s not selling.

?He?s really friendly and great with kids,? Mayday said.