HART — Bob Dalrymple’s reasons for wanting to leave Michigan are typical enough — the winters are too cold, the economy’s suffering and he’s eager for adventure.

However, his mode of transportation is likely to raise a few eyebrows.

Fed up with the high price of gasoline and costly auto insurance, Dalrymple, 58, ditched his Ford F-250 pickup for something far simpler: Two horse-drawn wagons. He says they’ll take him and his girlfriend, Kathy Neal, to Colorado, where his son and daughter live.

“I figure you can sit there and exist or you can go on an adventure,” said Dalrymple, who survives on Social Security Disability Insurance after injuring his back in a truck-driving accident several years ago. “We decided an adventure didn’t sound so bad.”

Cross-Country Covered Wagon Trip 28 Gallery: Cross-Country Covered Wagon Trip

He added: “I sold my stuff and I’m going, and I’m not coming back.”

The adventure promises to include moments that are less than leisurely. Dalrymple estimates they will average 15 to 25 miles a day, and the trip of more than 1,100 miles could take a couple months, taking them into November and mid-December. And that’s if they travel every day.

But the two adventurers insist they’re up for it.

“It’s neat, all the people we’ll see, all the places we’ll go,” Neal said.

Dalrymple said he started planning for the move in April. After spending his life in Michigan, much of it in the Oceana County community of Hart, he figured it was time for a change. With few responsibilities tying him down, he figured why not move closer to his son and daughter, who live in the Colorado communities of Firestone and Loveland.

With gas and auto insurance consuming his budget, an unorthodox thought entered his mind: Why not take a horse? Stranger, perhaps. But the idea grew on him.

He had the horses. Building the wagons is what would take the most work. He turned to a scrapyard, where he found the materials that would do the trick: A 60-year-old hay wagon, an old pontoon boat and a Winnebago camper.

Eighteen feet in length, the camper includes a refrigerator, a stove, a queen-size bed and a sink. Pulled by three horses, the driver and passenger sit in two bucket seats taken from a 1970s Chevy Malibu.

Dalrymple hand-crafted the body of the second wagon, used to store hay and horse feed, and attached wheels to axles from an abandoned minivan. Covering the body is a white canvas top where friends and family have scrawled messages urging the couple to enjoy their adventure. It resembles a 19th century Prairie Schooner, the covered wagons people used to cross the Great Plains on the way West. Both wagons are equipped with blinking lights and brakes.

“I call it an Amish RV,” he said, adding that several Amish friends in the Fremont area helped him get the required gear for his horses. “This is all built out of junk.”

While he spent months building the wagons and preparing for the trip, the itinerary for the expedition is wide open.

“We’re winging it,” Dalrymple said.

He said doesn’t anticipate many problems once he gets on the road. Most people who see his wagons have offered a friendly wave. Only a few expressed frustration.

“Those are people who are in a hurry to get nowhere,” he said. “We’re not in a hurry to get anywhere.”

With cash running tight, the couple have looked for support wherever they can find it.

In an effort to reduce his phone bill, Dalrymple offered to place a Verizon Wireless advertisement on his wagon. Neal told a chain salon that she would only get her hair cut at the company’s other locations for some financial assistance.

“They didn’t say yes, but they didn’t say no,” he said.

They’re also are counting on a bit of hospitality along the way.

“My thing is, if you feed me, I’ll do your dishes for you,” Neal said. “Hospitality — you’ve got to spread it both ways.”

Email Brian McVicar at bmcvicar@muskegonchronicle.com