Date: Fri 14-Nov-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: DOTTIE

Quick Words:

gypsy-poet-Gehly-wagon-horses

Full Text:

Heading South For The Winter

(with photo)

BY DOROTHY EVANS

Self-proclaimed "gypsy poet" Bruce Gehly set out a month ago, driving his team

of Shire horses and pulling his house behind him. It is a caravan-style wagon

that he built especially for the journey out of French maple and cedar siding.

Upon departing from his home in Ossipee, New Hampshire, Mr Gehly said he was

"heading south for the winter to some place warm."

Then, when the spirit moved him, he might "go west."

With no fixed schedule and depending upon the kindness of strangers to allow

him to camp in their fields or woods along the way, Mr Gehly found himself in

Sandy Hook on Monday, November 10.

"As long as the horses hold up and I'm enjoying it, I'll keep going," he said,

after pulling over briefly to give the two sturdy Shires, named Maxey and

Macey, a drink.

Until leaving on his journey of discovery, Mr Gehly, 39, had been a government

worker employed by the Small Business Administration's Disaster Division.

It seems that the work caused him to reassess his priorities, since after

saving his salary and building the wagon, he decided to quit his job and hit

the open road.

Now he is traveling by himself, hoping to see more of the country and meet "a

few friendly folks" along the way.

Mr Gehly is also hoping that by boosting the sale of his poetry books, he can

reclaim some of the cost of publishing them himself.

"Whether hiking, biking, sailing, hitching, riding the rails or traveling by

horse drawn gypsy caravan, we're all knights of the road," he writes in the

introduction to his 62-page book that has been illustrated with pencil

drawings by Janet Pasakarnis.

Anyone wishing to know more about Mr Gehly, or purchase a copy of his poetry

for $9.95, should write: Bruce Gehly, 505 Browns Ridge Road, Ossipee, New

Hampshire, 03864.