Alaska bound
Shannon LeClair – Times Reporter
Alaska or bust is the motto two Wyoming natives are living by for the next few months. Mike and Sheila Haveman left Ranchester, WY, on April 18, in their horse-drawn chuckwagon and are heading to Skagway, Alaska.
“We’ve done wagon rides around Wyoming and Montana and we have never seen Alaska and we thought what a wonderful way to go about and see it,” said Sheila. The trip had been in the works for about 10 years and this year they finally decided to go, especially now that their youngest son has just graduated.
“If we’re going to get it done before we get all them grandkids, cause we have four boys, we better do it now,” said Sheila.
They travel about 100 miles a week, roughly 20 to 25 miles a day and they manage five to six miles an hour. Their travelling companions include their two mini Australian shepherds, Blue and Amber, and the horses are Jane and Suzie. The wagon is equipped with a generator, a heater, an XM radio, and a queen size bed, and has the look and feel of a small camper.
“Mike has a bench up front that he sits in and reins the horses from inside,” said Sheila.
They even have an electric fence, which they put up around the horses when they stop for the night, whether it’s by the river or a ranch.
“They usually just find a place where they can turn off, put their fence up and let the horses graze. They just spend the night. The fence has little posts with spikes on the end to go into the ground, when it’s grounded then you could get a little shock,” said Ernie Prosser who first noticed the wagon when it went past his home near Carseland. When he went to talk to them he found out the brakes on the wagon needed repairs and so he helped them find the Strathmore Agricultural Grounds and took Mike to Calgary for new parts.
Crossing the border wasn’t an issue for the couple either, though they did have to wait a few extra days because of a holiday.
“We had the horse papers and our dog papers and stuff. But we didn’t really have any trouble, they were good with us, checked all our paperwork and sent us on our way,” said Sheila.
Originally the trip was just an adventure for the couple, but a veteran back in Ranchester told them they should have a cause. So they are raising money through their website for the veterans. The Haveman’s left Strathmore on June 8, which was the start of their eighth week on the road.
“We’ve gone 750 miles from home so far, in seven weeks. We got a bunch of people who want to make it to the Calgary Stampede next year, and so we’re trying to get a trail set up for the veterans to follow up,” said Mike. So far they have been in two snowstorms, one in Montana and the other in Taber, but otherwise all has been good so far on their trek.
“It’s been quite an adventure so far and we have met a lot of super nice people,” said Sheila. The wagon is covered in flashing lights and slow signs, and for safety reasons they do not travel at night. They hope to make it to Skagway by early to mid October.