This is Jack and my voice has been silenced by my two human travel mates, who want to hog all the attention. I’ve got about 5 minutes while they slurp a 2nd cup (the first one is always way strong, made by steve in the French press with heated water from the Coleman stove) of java at the Longstreet Casino located on a desert springs just east of Death Valley and Ash Meadows NWR (where I am sure I WILL HAVE TO BE ON A LEASH). Not sure how to encapsulate 6 weeks of travel in 4 minutes, but here goes; My highlights have always been my times of walking in the crazy varieties of natural settings I find myself with my Alpha male and female. The long hikes with them in the CanyonLands of Utah were terrific, minus the sore pads I got on the abrasive sand and limestone formations—-I had to take a couple day break from walking with them as a result, but then they left me in this god awful cage with other howling dogs at a kennel on the South rim of the Grand Canyon—I call it a Gulag!—while they went traipsing out of sight for a couple days.
The visits with other humans has been entertaining and given my keen interest in the new things that come my way with these two humans, quite varied. Try these on for goofy: Hours of me sitting in the van with vehicles swooshing by and neon lights flashing while they party on the ‘Strip’ in Vegas—talk about trying to find proper toilet facilities for a four legged! Finding a proper chunk of wild, ungroomed grass to do my business was equally challenging in Sun City outside of Phoenix—also the 80 degree weather sucked—way to warm for this black haired North- Westerner! Meeting up and hanging out with family (Deb and Peter Ciani, Bill Porten) and friends (Deborah Neff in Tucson, Dave and Kim in Bisbee, Tim and Raimie in Prescott) has been comforting and easy as they have welcomed me into their homes for an opportunity to roll on my back and stretch out my legs—life in the van with two others gets to be confining sometimes.
O—dang it! Here comes Steve and he is going to want to push the ‘send’ button and push off further into the Funeral Mts and Death Valley—-word has it I’ll get a walk about with an opportunity to sniff around at some of the varied sized holes in the ground that house everything from red diamond backs, to kangaroo rats.
Signing off for now, and until I can sneak my paws back onto their computer, I remain faithfully yours, JACK
Do It Yourself Life 
Woof woof arrrrrrfff, Jack!!! Please tell your humans to friend us on Facebook, would totally love to follow your wacky adventures!!!!! We are actually quite proud of you representin’ the fine canine out there!!!! How’s the food, any sweet little surprises??? Our humans are threatening a similar adventure. We’ve already been north east in the freakin’ cold, to Edmonton in November, like, what were they thinking??? Mind you, we did a lot of bonding as we curled around eachother and it actually was really fun to play in this really cold fluffy white stuff…it did make weird balls in our chest hair but our humans were pretty good about removing it….once they stopped laughing….with us, not at us!! A trip south, however, really sounds good!!!!…note taken on the heat tho’!!! Hold your head high, big guy!!! You are with some very fine humans and we will be clinging to your every word!!! Happy Howling!!!! AAAWWWWOOOOOOFFFFFF!!!!!!!!!
Pretty cute. He is indeed a properly literate poodle. Thank you for taking dictation. love to you all in the warm and dry. We got big breez-ie today. I like the feeling of something coming and going all the time, messages from afar, rushing by. Try to catch them on the FLY. Someone here told me she saw the weee new moon last eve. I expect you, having total access to the big sky, would have seen it too. I’m off to walk over and check on Bill Humes who is keeping it together at 91. on and on, With love, winnie and bob
I too am beginning my personal journey across this great land. I find your blog exciting and hope that i can be as creative with mine. Unlike you , i will be traveling alone. I am seeking to find my self once more, this last year has been one hell of a test, the AZ pictures look really inspiring. I see myself spending some time there. Keep up the great blog, maybe we will cross paths in the near future.
Hi Dean,
Thank you so much for writing to me! I love comments. As you plan your journey, be sure to give considerable time to Utah as well. It is a most astonishing place. However, it is cold this time of year! I really believe in this journey, and I have learned a lot about myself and all the amazing places and people that make up this country—most of which never make it to the news. Write again sometime and keep us appraised of your own journey. And have fun.