Bud and Patricia Kenny

MECHANIC FALLS – All this fuss.

by: Daniel Hartill

“We’re just walking down the road with a mule,” said Bud Kenny. “I expected people to notice, but I didn’t expect it to be this big, this passionate.”

In Cincinnati, a crying woman hugged him in the middle of a downtown crosswalk, holding up midday traffic. In Columbus, Ohio, Gov. Bob Taft invited Bud and his wife, Patricia, into his mansion, insisting that they tie Della the mule to a tree on the manicured front lawn.

People stuff money in their hands or just pull off the road to see the slogans on their one-of-a-kind red cart: “Poetry in Motion” and “World Walking Tour.”

Folks simply respond to their freedom.

Before they’re through, Bud and Patricia plan to walk around the world, eventually making it through Britain, across Europe, along the Mediterranean, through Russia, into China and Nepal and back home.

“It’ll take 20 years,” said Bud, who looks fit, but weathered. “We’re 55. When we’re done, we’ll either be dead or the healthiest 75-year-olds in the world.”

The three – Bud, Patricia and Della the mule – left Hot Springs, Ark., in June of 2001. Since then, they have been on the road.

Most days, they walk between eight and 12 miles.

Bud designed and constructed their cart, which sits on car tires and is outfitted with a solar panel and a generator, enough to power a laptop computer, a printer and lights.

The Kennys spend their nights under a tent, camping on roadsides, in farm fields and in vacant lots. They make their way by selling copies of his book of poetry, “From this Side of  the Road,” and picking up odd jobs when they run out of money.

They also make a few dollars by performing their poetry from a makeshift stage that folds from the back of their mule-powered vehicle.

“We’ll fix a fence or a barn,” he said. “We’ll do what we have to do.”

Last winter, Bud did carpentry inside a New York house while Patricia waited tables. They weren’t tempted to stay put, though. There’s so much more to see.

“People ask us why we’re doing this,” Bud said. “We want to see the world. That’s all.

“We’re not raising money for cancer,” he said. “We’re not walking for Jesus. He did plenty of  walking for himself.”

And it’s fun, said the couple, who seem to genuinely enjoy telling stories about their adventures on the road.

“We did this to meet people,” Patricia said.

For instance, they met the Ohio governor when they stopped outside his mansion. They were just looking around.

“I thought he was the gardener,” Bud said. “He was in shorts and it was Sunday.”

When they were in a small New York town, they met a barroom full of people when they agreed to settle a bet, bringing Della all the way inside. Patrons fed her peanuts from the bar and the couple were treated to free steak dinners from the manager.

Patricia said Della has weathered the trip especially well.

“She’s a junk food junkie,” she said. Among her favorites are cappuccinos and pizza. “She’s the most spoiled mule in the world.”

Outside a laundry in Mechanic Falls Thursday, a woman fed the mule slices of bread from her mouth, earning sloppy kisses from Della in return.

It’s the kind of simple interaction people give the Kenny’s, who plan to spend this winter in the Belfast area.

They plan to follow Route 11 to Augusta before turning toward the coast and looking for work for the winter, perhaps at a stable or farm. They need to find a place where they can keep Della with them.

They’ll take as much as a year and half off from the road, said Bud. He plans to write a book about their journey’s first leg, “Footloose in America– Dixie to New England.”

Inevitably, they’ll return again to the road.

At first people cannot understand, said Bud. Eventually, most get it.

Patricia believes lots of people dream about such a journey. They talk about it and imagine themselves doing the same.

Then, they consider their mortgages, the bills for college education and their car payments.

“They know that in reality that they’re never going to do it,” Patricia said. “Through us, they can.”

dhart@sunjournal.com