By Marjory J. Sente 
Writing “Thoughts on Turning Seventy,” Cowboy Poet Bud Brown, in 1973, mused: 

“I couldn’t care less to find up there
That Heaven has no golf courses
As long as there’s a good supply of 
Well trained mules and horses . . .

I’d rather drive a six-mule hitch for an eternity…” 

Three years later, in 1976, as part of America’s Bicentennial Celebration, Francis Valentine “Bud” Brown drove his six mini-mule hitch for what probably seemed an eternity. Arizona’s wagon master, Brown, and his mule-drawn prairie schooner joined the pilgrimage on January 14, 1976, at Yuma for a six-month, 3,000-mile journey to Valley Forge for the nation’s July 4 200th anniversary activities.