Life is for Living - Lee the Horselogg

Vol. 109 - Issue 27, 7/5/2007

Life is for living, so live it

The man I met on the south side of Route 20 between Richfield Springs and West Winfield, as he traveled eastward following his life path, was red faced and looked to be possibly bordering on heat stroke due to the late afternoon summer heat. Parked on the side of the road, I got out of my car and waited for him to pull his wagon and horses closer, into the shade I had parked near, in consideration of his animals. However, he chose to park in the shade a quarter mile down the road, waiting for me to come to him. So I did the hoofing, not the horses. A few minutes later, I approached the wagon, as red faced as he, but smiled and waved, introducing myself. He looked annoyed and said nothing so I gave him my business card, along with another smile. I glanced behind him and saw his life packed up in the wagon, with his white dog looking just as weary beside him. He didn’t give me his name, but I figured he must be the man I had received numerous calls about throughout the day. People had periodically updated me with his location, and bits of his story. There weren’t too many people steering a covered wagon down Main Street. And I could tell he was not Amish. As he took my business card he handed me his and told me to get his story from the website, that he didn’t have time for an interview. I asked if he could just answer a couple of questions and he said no, he could not, that he had a schedule to keep. I had spent the last 40 minutes of a deadline day driving around looking for him, then waiting for him, only to get snubbed. I looked at his business card then up at him and said, “Well, Lee, can you at least give me a comment on how the trip has been so far?” “It’s been a blast.” I thought I detected sarcasm in his tone. “Can you confirm you will be staying at the Vet’s tonight?” “Yes.” “When will you be heading out in the morning?” Maybe he’d be more chipper in the morning. “I have no idea.” “Four or five? ”I don’t know.” “Eight?” “I have no idea.” I don’t think we even said goodbye. I pivoted in place and walked back to my car, got in and cranked the ignition, blasting my air conditioning to cool off. I too was overheated, both emotionally and physically. I sat on the side of the road recording what had just happened, more dejected with each word I scribbled. As I pulled away five minutes later, I realized that the man who used a tight schedule as a reason to deny me a story had not moved. A good 10-15 minutes in all had passed since I had first approached him. Enough time for a few good quotes. I drove away and continued to check the wagon, which remained immobile beneath the shade until I scaled the hill and he disappeared from my view. After checking his website, reading accounts of Lee the Horselogger, I questioned what had happened to the man I had met on the side of the road. The pictures looked the same, but the man in the picture was smiling. The words written about him on the website made him out to be down to earth, funny, profound, not the type to snub a reporter looking to tell his story. I read his story and learned we had a lot in common. We both had battled cancer in our lifetimes, we both believed in the power of healing through holistic means. We both learned similar life lessons and felt the world, nature was a better institution of education than a brick building. We both believe in pursuing your life dream before it’s too late. I remembered the days spent battling cancer, dealing with treatments and dealing with the pain and exhaustion. I don’t know if I could have managed a horse drawn wagon day after day, in sweltering heat. All I wanted to do was sleep when I was sick. But still. I was disappointed. Traveling from Montana to Boston is no easy trip in a car, I can’t imagine what it must be like in a wagon. So I’ll chalk his behavior up to heat exhaustion, weariness from traveling all day, and being talked out from stopping dozens of times along the way that day. That’s pretty much all I can say about Lee the Horselogger. If you want to read about his story, as he put it, “get it from the website,” www.leethehorselogger.com. Oh, one more thing. He and I may not have much in common, but we do believe that life is for living. So, live it.