With his trademark humor, Joe Adams turns travails like a twisted knee, an overturned wagon, and tornado warnings with 70 mph wind gusts into entertaining tales as he recalls his 40-day, 400-mile covered wagon trek from North Dakota to Montana.

Last year, the Paul, Idaho, resident and four friends drove their four mule-powered wagons along the same trail General George Armstrong Custer followed 135 years ago. They left Fort Abraham Lincoln on the Missouri River in North Dakota on May 17 and arrived at Little Big Horn in Montana for a re-enactment of Custer’s historic defeat on June 25-26, 1876.

“We loved everything about it: the challenge, following a historic trail, being outside, working with the animals, being with friends with the same interests,” Joe says. “The trip was about five years in the making: mapping the route and getting permission from landowners to camp along the way.”

The trek is among more than two dozen memorable odysseys he has undertaken with friends since 1995. “We’ve traveled along the Oregon, California, and Mormon trails and seen the back roads of Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Oregon, California, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, West Virginia, and Wyoming from a covered wagon,” says Joe, 75, a mechanic, who owned a tractor salvaging and refurbishing business in Paul before retiring in 1999.

“Wagons have rolled over, and we’ve had broken breaches, tongues, axles, and wheels on our trips. Yeah, isn’t it great experiencing the good ole pioneer days? We’ve learned to always carry spare wheels,” he says, laughing.

Joe usually goes on his odysseys with Lloyd Warr, 77, a buddy from high school, who retired in 1999 from supervising a local welding shop. Their handyman skills are often needed on their treks to make repairs, which they take in stride.

“A wagon trip slows down the pace of life and lets you appreciate it more,” Lloyd says. “We usually take the dirt back roads because it’s easier on the mules’ shoes than the asphalt roads.”

Joe’s wife, Glenda, jokes, “If we went any slower some days, we’d be going backwards.”

Joe relies on his 20-year-old draft mules Jenny and B.J. and 4-year-old Dee, while Lloyd takes his quarter horse mules, Bucks and Bandy, 20, or Bill, 5, and Ben, 6.

“After a few days on the trail, a mule has more stamina and eats less than a horse,” Joe says. “They really do love the heat and to work. They get bored standing around, so after a day off, they step right on out and walk fast.”

Lloyd says, “Mules cost a lot less to shoe, too, because their feet are smaller. It costs about $250 to shoe a draft horse and about $75 to shoe a mule.”

A mule’s intelligence impresses Joe. “I could turn a mule loose 15 or 20 miles from my house, and he’d find his way home, right to my doorstep. Mules know where they’re going. They’re smart, so you have to train them to do something right the first time, or else they’ll always want to do it the wrong way.”

Joe and Lloyd started their wagon trips after a 1994 pack trip into the Selways. “We usually went for a week or two,” Lloyd recalls. After they returned from that trip, stiff and sore, they began thinking “there has to be a more comfortable way.”

Then they discovered the luxury of traveling by covered wagons and took their first trip - traveling 670 miles from Paul to Bishop, California. They liked it so much, they did it again the next year, but on their second trip along the same route, a spring snowstorm surprised them. “When we left Wells, Nevada, it was raining,” Joe recalls. “By the time we got to Lamoille, it was snowing, and there was a foot on the ground in short order.”

Glenda says she is always grateful that she, unlike the pioneer wagon travelers, has a comfortable, warm, dry mattress to settle down on at night. “I’m happy just going on the trips for the first few days and the last few days.”

Joe says he likes smaller wagon trains with about five to ten wagons because the logistics of travel are easier to manage. “We always carry a commissary wagon with a half-ton of hay and two days of drinking water for the mules,” Joe says.

Joe not only likes working with the mules but also building the wagons they pull. He installs modern conveniences like a mattress, refrigerator, stove, cupboards, kitchen table, stove and a window.

“I have eight wagons, with three of them sold.” He is refurbishing two Weber buckboards, both stamped with 1845. “I found one in Missouri, and then I found another one.”

This year, Joe and Lloyd are planning several trips, including one of their favorites in southern Utah in October for 10 days.

The winter does not prevent Joe and Glenda from taking covered wagon rides. “We take everything down to Bouse, Arizona, where we spend the winter,” Joe says. “We’ve done some great trips out in the desert.”