By Lacie Morrison
lmorrison@mineralwellsindex.com
PALO PINTO - An unusual sight rolled through Palo Pinto Wednesday morning as a mule-drawn wagon headed down U.S. Highway 180 West and Farm-to-Market Road 4 North on its way to Frederick, Okla.
Attired in jeans, a long-sleeve shirt, straw hat and a broad smile, Palo Pinto County resident Rex Mansell is heading north to his hometown across the Red River using an alternative fuel source - the four-legged variety.
“I'll probably have a completely different outlook on how our ancestors traveled,” he said in a brief stop near the Palo Pinto County Courthouse.
With a well-mapped route and several people participating along the way, Mansell estimated it would take 10 days to travel the 185 miles from his home at the Rolling M Ranch, located west of Palo Pinto, to his hometown of Frederick. They will travel through communities like Bryson, Loving, Archer City and Electra, among others.
He timed his arrival at Frederick to coincide with the Abernathy Celebration. Mansell explained that the celebration stemmed from a visit by former president Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt visited the community to wolf hunt with John R. Abernathy, a well-known wolf hunter who caught wolves with his bare hands.
“He had two boys that befriended Teddy and they rode horseback in 1910 at six and 10 years old to New York [to see the president],” Mansell said. After their visit, Mansell said the youngster “drove a bush car from New York to Tillman County.”
The celebration is hosted at the Crossroads Ranch west of Frederick, with a 200-head cattle drive, chuck wagon dinner and evening entertainment.
“I'm 74 years old and I used to ride a whole lot,” Mansell recalled. After his knees began to hurt him, he purchased a team of mules. “I like my mules. It's laidback, quiet. You can think after they settle down.”
The idea to drive his mule team to Oklahoma “struck” him and he decided to schedule it around the celebration. Two months of planning later found Mansell, his wife of 56 years, Jean, and a few friends ready to roll out Wednesday morning with the mule team, a truck pulling a horse trailer and an RV.
People with camcorders and cameras lined the highway Wednesday morning when Mansell drove up. He made a brief detour by the Palo Pinto school to give the schoolchildren a chance to see the wagon.
“This is so cool, everyone coming out,” Jean Mansell said. People from their church in Lone Camp had come to see them off.
“This is something you don't see every day,” Rex Mansell remarked.
When asked what she thought of her husband taking a covered wagon to Oklahoma, Jean Mansell said, “I think he's crazy but now that it's here, I'm really, really excited. He has been working on this for months.”
Their son, Randy Mansell, rode with his father in the wagon Wednesday.
“It's cool,” he said of the trip. “He's been planning this a long time. It's something he always wanted to do. … He doesn't fall short of achieving his goal very often.”
When asked about his own experience riding the seven miles from the ranch to Palo Pinto, Mansell said, “It's a lot of fun. It's different than I thought it'd be.
“It's a chance where I get to sit down and talk with my dad for the whole day.”
Hoping to average 20 miles each day, Rex Mansell and his group headed out of Palo Pinto Wednesday morning for their first stop - the intersection of FM 4 and State Highway 254.
