For most of the last 4.5 years, Randilyn Allred has been traveling the U.S. with her entourage that includes two adult dogs, a cow, smaller creatures and Acero, the donkey who pulls the cart.
Allred, 39, started her travels in early September 2020 in Mountain View in south-central Missouri. She’s traveled to the East Coast and visited other states, including Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, North and South Carolina. She said she also traveled to Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi.
Originally from Blue Springs, Missouri, Allred said her current destination is New Mexico.
She said she teaches bush craft, primitive skills and sustainable living as she travels. She is also a leather craftsman and has made jewelry. She shares her crafting skills and tries to pick up new ones as she travels, she said.
Allred said she shares some of what she sees on her journey through Facebook pages, including Rambling Rambilyn with a wild hair. A solar power pack helps keep her phone charged.
Her followers sometimes offer help or guidance, including supply drops as needed. People like seeing good things happen,
See TRAVEL, Page 5.
she said.
“It kind of brings people together sometimes in certain areas when I go through, so it’s kind of nice to see that happen. And a lot of people enjoy it.”
Her pages also help explain her journey. She said her kids have graduated. Her son moved out of the house to work so she started traveling after selling a small piece of land. A relationship also ended about that time.
“I didn’t really feel like I had anything to hang onto. My girls were living with their dad three hours away, so it was kind of one of those things,” she said.
Allred said she tries to travel seven to 15 miles a day. Weather has impacted her travel plans, from ice and snow to hurricanes and tornadoes.
She said during one stay in a roadside park, her ewe birthed a lamb. This was during a snow and ice storm. She said she was stuck in that park for four days.
She has since sold her sheep to a friend and hopes to get more heat tolerant dairy sheep in New Mexico.
Allred said she also recently got rid of a covered wagon with which she’d been traveling. She started using the tarp-covered cart and staying in a tent again.
She said she’s grateful for the donations she receives along the route.
“A lot of local people during this time of year will give me beef or produce and stuff like that. Spring and summertime, a lot of people have excess,” Allred said.
She travels as light as she can for Acero, who is still working into his role as a pulling donkey. So she’s limited in what she can accept.
Her entourage includes Mr. Bojangles, the Zebu cow. He shuffles his feet when he walks, and when he runs he looks like a tap dancer, she said.
“He’s cute and I like him,” she said when answering why a cow is traveling with her. “One of my friends gave him to me.”
She has two adult dogs, a smaller breed dog named Blessin’ and a standard poodle named Pandora. There are puppies in the cart, a cat and four baby geese, she said.
She was walking barefoot on Wednesday, which she said she does at times. Her shoes broke about 15 miles back, she said Wednesday. She will buy new shoes when she finds a comfortable pair.
Allred said she hopes Kansans warm up to her. People were standoffish at first except for a man with his grandchild who visited with her in a park in Cherokee. Travelers and locals sometimes stop to offer help. She hopes the journey will get better as she moves through the state.
She said she has enjoyed her travels, “for the most part.” She is thinking about settling into a home at some point. “I just haven’t figured out exactly where I want to do that,” Allred said.
