It was Aug. 9, 2006, when the man who calls himself Lee The Horselogger left East Glacier, Montana, by horse-drawn wagon.
Save for short breaks here and there, he hasn’t stopped traveling America’s highways in wagons or carts drawn by huge draft horses since, and was back in Wyoming this week on his way to Boston.
“I’ve been in Wyoming in January,” Horselogger said when Cowboy State Daily caught up with him while he was taking a break just outside of Hanna along Highway 30 early Thursday.
“Traveling during the winter isn’t that great,” he added.
But as he sees it, even being out on the road in a wagon in the clutches of Wyoming’s bitter cold beats what some might call a normal life.
“I don’t own a house, that’s a waste of money,” he said.
“Horselogger” isn’t the last name he was born with, but it’s the one he’s gone by for many years.
“I’d like to make the ‘The’ part legal,” he said. “So my legal name will be Lee The Horselogger.”
As far as the Horselogger part, he said that’s what a friend started calling him decades ago, and it stuck.
“I’m not sure how that got started or what exactly he meant, that was 40 years ago,” he said.
A Continuous Journey
Back in 2006, his journey took him “to see my high school sweetheart in the Bronx,” Horselogger said.
Somewhere back East and a meeting with that same lady has remained his destination during his subsequent treks across the United States mostly covering about 15 miles a day.
This time, he’s going for “Boston or bust,” according to a message painted on the back of the wagon that serves as his home.
The sign also reads: “Horse needs alf pellets,” meaning alfalfa pellets.
That might be cheaper than gasoline, but it’s not exactly inexpensive. His horse, a Suffolk punch gelding named Jesse, weights 2,250 pounds and consumes about $1,000 worth of feed a month, Horselogger said.
The Suffolk punch is a draft horse breed that originated in England, and was used to pull farm plows, he said.
Although, “pulling” isn’t really an accurate term for how draft horses move things. Instead, they’re actually pushing against their harnesses to provide locomotion.
This year, Horselogger and Jesse set out for Boston from Nevada. It’s technically his fifth crossing of the United States, but he doesn’t like to think of the crossings as different trips. They’re more like chapters of the same ongoing story. Think Forrest Gump running across the country, hitting a coast, then turning around and keep running.
“It’s one continuous journey,” he said, adding that he invites people to follow his journey on social media.
Respect For The Elderly
And although starting out from Nevada doesn’t amount to a full coast-to-coast journey, Horselogger said that doesn’t matter to him, and he explained so in a spicy manner.
“At this point in life, who gives a f***? What does it mean? A star next to my name? A star next to my horse’s name?” he said.
As to why he travels, well, Horselogger simply likes the unfettered lifestyle. He also enjoys meeting and visiting with people. There’s a network of friends he’s made along the way who help him with such things as making grocery runs or delivering sacks of grain for Jesse.
He likes to visit schools and share his experience with children, “but lately, schools have gotten weird” about security, he said.
“When I started doing this, I couldn’t get past a school (without being asked to stop and visit), now I can’t get into the schools,” he said.
He also makes it a point to stop at nursing homes and elder care centers.
“If there is a mission to this, it’s to inspire other people to visit nursing homes,” he said.
Society “warehouses” its elderly, leaving many lonely and forgotten, and Horselogger said that’s a terrible shame.
No Fan Of PETA
Horselogger grew up in Montana and spent lots of time in Alaska, working various jobs along the way, making enough money to maintain his independence.
His main occupation has been as a professional “horse driver,” running a draft horse, or teams of draft horses, for such things as carriage rides in big cities.
Not everybody is a fan of that. Some animal rights groups, such as People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), view horse carriages and the like as cruel.
“I call them ‘Perfectly Extremist Terroristic Assholes,’” Horselogger said. “I ran the last horse carriage rides in Chicago — until they came in and shut us down.”
He’s fond of Wyoming, its people and its wide-open spaces, Horselogger said. He also likes how the Cowboy State’s vast spaces allow for “long drives” in his wagon without distractions.
“I like visiting with people, but sometimes it’s nice to just get out on a long drive with no interruptions,” Horselogger said.
A man known as Lee The Horselogger was in Wyoming this week on a cross-country journey by horse-drawn wagon with an ultimate destination of Boston. He explained to Cowboy State Daily that he likes huge draft horses better than “little horses.” (Matt Idler for Cowboy State Daily) 
A man known as Lee The Horselogger was in Wyoming this week on a cross-country journey by horse-drawn wagon with an ultimate destination of Boston. He explained to Cowboy State Daily that he likes huge draft horses better than “little horses.” (Matt Idler for Cowboy State Daily) 
A man known as Lee The Horselogger was in Wyoming this week on a cross-country journey by horse-drawn wagon with an ultimate destination of Boston. He explained to Cowboy State Daily that he likes huge draft horses better than “little horses.” (Matt Idler for Cowboy State Daily) 
A man known as Lee The Horselogger was in Wyoming this week on a cross-country journey by horse-drawn wagon with an ultimate destination of Boston. He explained to Cowboy State Daily that he likes huge draft horses better than “little horses.” (Matt Idler for Cowboy State Daily)
Road Safety
He uses wagons with rubber tires and always travels “right on the road,” for which he has a permit. And he can travel interstate highways if necessary, but prefers back roads like Highway 30.
Behind Jesse, the wagon goes 3 mph, he said. His maximum daily distance is 20 miles, but he usually keeps it around 16 miles per day so as to not put too much strain on the horse.
Most of the time, drivers sharing the road with Horselogger and Jesse are respectful and pass his rig safely. That wasn’t the case one day in September while he and Jesse were still in Nevada.
A reckless driver came up behind them “in a red car” and slammed into the right side of the cart he was driving it. The cart was destroyed, but Horselogger and Jesse were unhurt.
He stayed with a friend for 23 days while building his current wagon, and then got back on the road.
He also recalled a humorous episode from a few years ago, when he needed to cross a long bridge along a busy highway in Delaware.
“I had a state trooper car in front of me and one behind me,” he said. “And I asked them, ‘Are you going to escort me across the bridge?’ And they said, ‘No, we’re shutting down the interstate while you cross.’
“They backed up traffic for miles in either direction while I crossed. And when I got to the toll booth on the other side, the toll collectors had paid my toll for me.”
Which was another valuable lesson he’s learned spending years driving his horse-drawn wagon across the country.
“If you want to break the law, get a cop to do it for you,” he said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
