Half-time

Just like the Super Bowl half time is all about the sponsors so I wanted to take a few to thank all of ours who have help make this journey possible.

TAGG the GPS Pet Tracker

TAGG has saved our fuzzybutts on more than one occasion.  The best example of this was when I walked highway 20 from Corvallis to Newport OR solo.  I took one of the trackers in case of an emergency and on the very first day I ran into a bit of a crisis. We had made water drops along the 50 mile stretch and my supply was down to less than half a liter.  As I neared the first drop I saw a man in a John Deere mower cutting the grass on the highway shoulder.

I sprinted up to him and asked if he found 2 jugs of water in the area he recently cut and he said he had and that one of them may have escaped the blade of the mower.  It didn’t.  The temp in wilamette valley was already soaring up to the 90s and the next drop was down the road another 10 miles so i was in a bit of a pickle.

Ginger was able to tag me and then find a nearby store using Yelp.  TAGG – not only great for your dog but Yer Big Dog too!  I’ve gotten to know the trackers intimately and the folks behind them and I can’t say enough about them. The fuzzybutts will be wearing them even after this walk.  

 When you purchase the trackers at their website and sign up for the service, enter the promo code 2Dogs they’re generously offering a 10% discount and donate $25 to the Puppy Up Foundation. Also you can track Indy and me as we walk the west coast at www.2dogsagainstcancer.com It’s been a little confusing because we’re staying with more host families and sometimes we’re tagged after we’ve been picked up and off the road.

We’d also like to thank our other walk sponsors: Hollywood Feed for providing the dog food for the walk.   P2 Collars and Toki Poki for the awesome corded collars and leashes.  Everlasting Memories for the beautiful infinity ring that holds Murphy’s ashes. Orijen for providing the 6 Fish food for Hudson.

Reflections on Week 1

Friday we made it to Edison WA wrapping up week 1 of 25 of our journey. By my estimates we logged about 55-60 and given the week we had, I’m pleased with our progress.  
The Launch

Our sendoff Saturday the 10th at the Peace Arch Park was great. Folks from five states were there including two of our PUPS (Chris & Hope & Lori & thanks to Valerie for helping plan and coordinate), Erick with TAGG, and Sarah Charney the veterinarian oncologist from Boundary Bay Specialty Hospital in Vancouver.  
Iliopsoas 
Unless you’re an extreme backpacker you’re prob unfamiliar with this anatomical reference. It puts the G in grind and the work in twerk.  It’s a subset of pelvic muscles that are quite possibly impossibly capable of being trained.  But after a few days with a fifty plus pound pack they hurt.  
But for me, the term is also a metaphor for what the onset of a massive undertaking is like. There are things that just can’t be planned for or anticipated. Like Hudson throwing up in our tent.

Yep, just two nights into it, I had drifted off into the good sleep only to be abruptly awakened to the sound of retching.  Hudson had vomited earlier that Mother’s Day morning and I didn’t give it much thought since he occasionally has a heave and a hurl and seemed fine from then on.  But after five more times in the tent Sunday night, I made the decision to pull him from the road for a few days rest.  

Google v Reality

Planning our route from Memphis is a whole lot different than getting up here and scouting out the terrain.  I had planned on a more direct path but road conditions sometimes dictate otherwise.  
To be sure, the options are kinda limited since I-5 is the only direct highway from border to border so I anticipated zigging and zagging until we got to Southern Oregon at which point we’ll pick up 1/101 the rest of the way.  But I’ve made the decision to stick the shoreline as much as possible because they be mountains up here.  Speaking of….
Chuckanut
Only in my world would our first great technical challenge be a mountain named Chuckanut.  
And though it did try to toss us a few times, its native name means long beach and even on the occasionally treacherous stretches, we bore witness to some of the most stunning bay side vistas.  As well, the mountainside is lined with cascading waterfalls pictured nearby.  

It’s also home to Larrabee State Park, a destination point for anyone travelling in this area.  We took a days rest there and the beach on Sammish Bay was so totally alluring.

The whole area, including our time in Bellingham WA, now known to me as the City of Backpacks, reminded me of the Sirens of Shenandoah in the shadow of the Blue Ridge mountain back on our first walk.  I didn’t want to leave.

The people I met here are all so beautiful eclipsed only by the presence of their surroundings.  From the Bellwether Hotel to Boulevard Park to the Interurban Trail we picked up for a bit, this is a special place in the universe and I’m surprised I’ve been tempted so early on in the walk.  Indeed, Erick my walking companion for a few days remarked many times that this is a place he’d like to relocate to.  But the journey must continue…

Testing the Mettle

The first week is always unkinking – adjusting weight load, routes, and all sorts of last minute adjustments physically and spiritually.  It’s a curious truism one which I can only suspect because god’s just making sure you’re serious.

We were picked up Friday and transported to Seattle for the Petapalooza and it was great to spend time with Buddy and Ja-Cee, our PUPS up here in the area and their kiddos – Fonto & Sabrina.

In a few hours, we’ll be back on the road…. Until next time here are a couple of other pics to tide you over…

The Trailer is Live

Thanks to all of the walk sponsors:  TAGG the Pet Tracker, Hollywood Feed, Orijen, EMS, P2 Collars, Rudy Greens, Everlasting Memories, Institute of IMT, Toki Poki,  
One walk sponsor was inadvertently left out of the graphic in the trailer and that’s Easter Mountain Sports (EMS).  They donated a sleeping bag, head lamp, and other camp gear. There are other individuals who have made this journey possible and my heartfelt gratitude goes out to them as well.  Puppy Up!

Speaking of, I have to promote the Puppy Up song that Joshua Louis composed – this is the instrumentation of it but you can purchase the full version of it on iTunes.  

TAGG

 I wrote sometime ago about still being haunted by Highway 40 out of Baltimore on the first walk. For some it’s like the naked nightmare when you’re in public completely unclothed and exposed or others the one about missing the final exam and failing the semester even years past graduation.

Mine is losing my boys. 
It almost happened on that highway.  I’d been given collars to test out for a potential sponsor. Slim sleek with a few bells and whistles I outfitted Hudson and Murphy with them and hoped they’d work but at that critical point – they failed and slipped off within 50 feet of 4 lanes of traffic traveling 60 mph.  
I had like four heart attacks in the time it took me to secure them.
That wasn’t the first time nor the last they got loose and during the 2,300 mile walk and I always imagined, no I hoped for a better solution than microchips which is basically, ‘you lost you’re dog,well maybe he’ll turn up when someone finds him.’
TAGG offers that kind of hope to pet parents and that’s why we’re partnering with them on this walk.  
Not only does TAGG have GPS tracking if your dog gets lost but you can also monitor their daily activity and they’re the only company that does that.  And while we’re on the road, TAGG plans on having contests for the pups with the most points though expect some stiff competition from the fuzzybutts.  We’re averaging around 500 per day!
Also the folks there have a promo called TAGG it forward and if you purchase a pet tracker you’ll get 10% off and they’ll donate $25 towards our cause.  Sweet.  Just enter 2dogs in the promo code.
Now that the sites are live, you can track the fuzzybutts as they walk the west coast on the awesome micro site TAGG has built for us at www.2dogsagainstcancer.com.  This is my first time using an iPad and I haven’t figured out yet how to hyperlink.  
Thanks to the folks at TAGG & for loaning us one of their teammates Erick who flew up for our launch to walk with us for a few days.  More on that later…