THE RIPPLE: Easter 2008

Three weeks away from Vancouver launch, the final countdown begins and I can’t help but think of our first Easter on our first walk which was spent at Granger Lake outside of Taylor TX with a haunted bridge and two 12 year old psychic detectives. 
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Easter 2008.  Granger Park
The following excerpt is from a blog a wrote recounting that day…

“There is truth to the saying that a fire warms the soul of a traveler and Easter night, we were fortunate enough to find a site at Taylor Park and have our first campfire. It’s a small but pleasant place where we met some endearing characters including a pair of twelve year old paranormal detectives, Alice and Bella.

Hudson and Murphy took to them instantly and we joined them for some sightseeing. One of the most curious sights was Hoxie Bridge, cranky, completely out of place, and yet reputedly haunted by the headless ghost of a murdered convict who helped build it. 
Hudson peed on it.”
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I’ve Seen This Movie Before
Later that Easter Day after our spooky adventures, I made preparations for the following morning then sank into a long, lazy mid afternoon slumber.  My repose was abruptly interrupted however by a flurry of activity: vehicles slowly driving around the campground, searching eyes, whisperings, and accusatory glares. 
It was all a bit unnerving so I sought out the mother of Alice and Bella and asked about all the hubbub.  “Oh”, she remarked, “One of the families can’t find their eight…..” I could already hear the alarm bells clanging around in Yer Big Dog’s head, “…. year old son”.  
“Damn”, I shook my head, “I’ve seen this movie before and the drifter is always the first guy to get blamed.”
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The Journey Continues
With three weeks til launch I find myself filled with excitement with a small side of nerves for the upcoming walk.  But it feels good to take a few and reflect on the stories from the first that made our adventures warm and rich.  
Happy Easter…
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Yer Big Dog’s Notes 1:  They found the boy asleep under a tree not long after the search ensued and boy, was I relieved.  

YBD’s Notes 2:  Never found out what became of Alice and Bella but they should be 18 now and hopefully on their path to becoming psychic detectives…

YBD’s Notes 3:  As part of our final preparations, we’re tightening up phraseology and branding henceforth I’m doing away with ‘Walk 2’ and ‘West Coast Walk’ as we feel it just doesn’t convey the importance of this undertaking.  We’re going with ‘The Journey Continues’…. And so it does.  

Puppy Up!


Before I head off for a week for my fast I wanted to share my speech from the Chicago walk with you.  I had intended to post it when we arrived in Memphis but that Monday kinda threw a monkey wrench into my plans with Hudson’s diagnosis.  
But here it is.  
I wrote on Facebook awhile back as response I made to one of our supporters who said, ‘You sure have started a great organization.’  
‘I didn’t found an organization’, I replied. ‘I started a family.’  
And at every Puppy Up! walk we’ve been to these past four years that’s precisely what I’ve felt.  A simple pride not only for all of the people a part of it but how 2 Million Dogs has effected their lives, too, and the pleasure it gives me when a city organizer, or PUPP as Ginger calls them, puts on a successful walk.  
Two years ago back in San Antonio, one of the participants in the walk there said, ‘I’ve been to a lot of these dog events but none of them had an energy like this.’  Well said.  
As we continue to grow this great grass roots movement of ours, my Chicago speech was about the meaning of ‘Puppy Up!’ since I’m the knucklehead who came up with that rally cry prior to my Austin-to-Boston walk back in 2008.  And I still get questions about it.    
I hope the speech finds you well on this special day and forgive the Ray Charles like swaying.  I was freezing my bollocks off.    
Happy Thanksgiving.  Now Puppy Up and Chow Down!

The Murphy Mobile Rides Again

It’s great to be back on the road again educating and raising awareness of cancer in pets and people and promoting the cause that we all so passionately believe in.  
Two weeks ago, the Fuzzybutts and I drove from Newport RI, crossed the Berkshires, transversed upstate NY on into Erie and Northern PA, down to 80/90 to the Twin Cities to get to the Veterinary Cancer Society Conference in Minneapolis.
From there our travels took us to Des Moines IA onto to Madison WI then horseshoed up to Grand Rapids MI and did a slingshot around Ann Arbor MI back to the Chicago area for the upcoming Puppy Up! Walk next Saturday, the 2nd.
The only reason I bring up geography is that, when added to the 12,000 plus miles of the Summer of Murphy Tour last year, the Murphy Mobile has pretty much circumnavigated the Continental US, except for a few swaths here and there.
Next blog… ‘This Is’ –  Pics from our travels!

This Is

Here are pics from our recent travels…

This is Dr. Sue the cancer vet lovin her some fuzzybutts…






This is Hudzers hammin it up and a toeheaded kid playing paddy cake on his belly








What Price Fame?  This is Hudson on day 4 of the conference.








At the Mall of America, this is?????

These are the Puppy Up! ladies of Des Moines.  From L to R, Julie, Chris, and Brooke (whose dog Gunner has cancer).





This is Beth in Madison whose beautiful Pyrenees, Czar, has metastatic bone cancer and one of the calendar boys in the 2014 Cancer Can’t Keep a Good Dog Down calendar.







This is where the fat cats (again, sorry for feline references) sit above everyone else in Madison.  It’s a law – no structure can be higher than the capitol.







This is Yer Big Dog dancing with Lil Nana.  Yep it gets lonely on the road… and FYI – he can two step.









This is the beautiful Memorial board that the folks in Ann Arbor created from their recent Puppy Up! walk.






This is Indiana pooping on a Church bush thereby damning his soul to an eternity of reruns of Garfield and Squirrel infomercials.

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