To drive a team of mules across the 2,100-mile Oregon Trail might appear like an impossible task, But for Rinker and Nick Buck, it was just a natural thing to do. Two of 11 children growing up in Morris County, New Jersey, they started driving horses at an early age.

"We could drive a team when we are 7 to 8 years old," Rinker Buck said. They even went to school on a horse and buggy.

"I was the only kid in grammar school that had his own transportation," Nick Buck said.

The Buck brothers were at the Maine Coast Shop in Damariscotta on Sunday to show their horsemanship as well as promote Rinker’s book, “The Oregon Trail,” a New American Journey, Simon Schuster, June 2015.

On Sunday they took passengers on a wagon driven by a team of horses owned by Linda Verney of Alna. The brothers, however, used mules for their passage.

"Without the mule we would not have the modern America that we have today," Rinker Buck said.

In spite of what is shown in cowboy movies, the mule, first brought to America in Revolutionary times, was the workhorse for transportation especially in the pioneer days of the West.

Buck did intensive research into the history of the Oregon Trail before attempting the trip that lead to his recently published book.

He was first inspired while traveling to Kansas where he saw the road sign for the trail head for the Oregon Trail. He discovered that the last previous documented passage had been in1909.

"It was a lot different story than was written in the history books," Buck said.

His first impulse was to call his brother, Nick, a carpenter and horse owner in Newcastle to see if you would join him. Nick said “yes” without hesitation.

"We decided to buy a wagon and a team and off we went," Buck said.

Buck said that the journey brought them physically close since the wagon seat was a mere 38 inches wide, which meant that they had to ride shoulder to shoulder for many hours each day. The course took them along various roads until they got to the middle of Wyoming where the original rutted trail began.

“After Nebraska that is when the real West began. It was a two track across the desert,” Nick Buck said.

He said shortly after the trip began he realized it was a matter of endurance.

According to Rinker, for 79 of those days the brothers camped mostly with Rinker in the wagon and Nick on the ground. One night they suffered from a bug attack that kept at least Nick awake all night.

The brothers agreed that there were no severe hardships aside from once losing a wheel and being stopped by floodwaters along the Platte River.

Nick Buck said that they were treated with great hospitality along the route with people who were curious about their journey.

Nicole Olivier, coordinator for the book signing, said that the books available for signing had run out by noon on Sunday, but a new shipment was on the way. In the meantime the author signed labels that would be attached to the books as they arrived.