<p>Bob Skelding, of Grand Rapids, Mich., drives his "horse drawn RV" down Court Avenue on Friday in downton Pendleton. Skeldign is 1500 miles in to a 5000-mile round trip through the 11 western states.</p>

Its just a trip around the block, Bob Skelding said between puffs of cigarette smoke. Its a big block.

Those are the words Skelding, 53, used to describe his counterclockwise, year-long trip around the 11 western states in a horse-drawn buggy. He passed through Pendleton on Friday.

Skeldings mode of transportation was an unusual sight even in a town as accustomed to horses as the Round-Up City.

The first thing you want to know is where hes going, said Heidi Bonbright, who approached Skelding to ask.

These types of interactions are Skeldings favorite part of his 5,000-mile trip, which he started on April 30 from his home in La Granita, Colo. Hes since traveled 1,500 miles.

One of the bad things about our society is that we dont talk to other human beings like we used to, he said. Life is running on a clock, and it really neednt be.

Skelding, a divorcee with two adult children, said watches should only be used to get to work on time; the happiest are those who put family and friends before work and possessions.

I worked last year, said Skelding, a consultant in the nuclear power industry. This year Im just having fun.

Using his horse-drawn home as a conversation starter, Skelding takes the time to have conversations with the people he meets along his western trail.

He purchased the wagon from fellow wayfarer Bernie Harberts and installed a bed, shower, refrigerator, stove and coffee pot in 2009. Harberts is traveling around Newfoundland on a one mule-drawn wagon.

Skelding needed a new wagon after his last one was hit by a tanker truck en route from New Hampshire to Mississippi. The accident left the wagon destroyed, killed two of his horses and gave Skelding multiple injuries, including a ruptured spleen and several broken bones on the upper left side of his body. But he hit the road four months later to embark on a trip from Bentonville, Ind., to Muir, Mich., to visit his grandfather.

Skelding travels with three draft horses: a gray Percheron named Doc and two sorrel Belgians named Bob and Bill. Bill doesnt bear Skeldings namesake; the former owners had already named the draft horse. Each horse gets a one-day break after pulling the wagon for two days. But all three draft horses are needed for Travel up hills or mountains.

At night Skelding parks the wagon on public land or has people invite him and his equestrian friends to stay on their property; last night the team was a guest of wheat farmers in Athena.

The next leg of Skeldings trip will take him down Highway 395 on his way to Joshua Tree, Calif., where he will turn west to spend the winter in the Arizona desert.

For more information, visit www.wagonteamster.com.

Contact Chris Rizer at crizer@eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0836.