Off to look for America

Darwin's Great Adventure 

Darwin is 17 years old. When people ask what breed he is, we say he’s an American White Fluffy. He’s a no-nonsense guy in a frou-frou dog body. 

After what was no doubt a rough puppyhood, followed by time spent in lock-up (the pound in North Carolina), he washed up at my Dad’s house as a young adult and became his constant companion on forest trails and mountain hikes, at Lowe’s, at the tennis court, and on my Dad’s lap. He became a full-time nurse during my Dad’s final illness, and then, still grieving his loss, came to live with us. 

He was not particularly happy about the move, and we experienced him as a middle-aged, sort of grumpy, affectionate but needy fellow, jealous of any attention our other dog, Jacob, got from us, and not particularly interested in going out in any but the nicest weather. Then Jacob died, and Darwin, probably 15 by this time, came into his own again. “It’s MY house now!” he seemed to say. Suddenly cheerful and game for anything, despite being almost totally blind and deaf, he has made friends throughout the neighborhood, loves being petted by small children, and is living his best life.  

Now at 17, Darwin is about to embark on his next great adventure. With his two people, he is setting out to – well, smell – America. Darwin loves the campervan that will be his home for the next two and a half months, and he will have both his people within reach almost all the time, so he’s ready to go. He’ll walk the mountains of Eastern Kentucky, meet Kristin’s college friends at her reunion in Iowa, traipse the Badlands and Black Hills of South Dakota, drink from mountain streams in Montana, smell the geysers and bison in Wyoming, ride his comfy stroller on the trails of Idaho, camp in the coastal Washington rainforest, and if he makes it that far, meet his cousin dogs in Vancouver before heading back across Canada, down through Michigan’s upper peninsula and home.

We all know that he may not make it the whole way. He’s healthy, but older than most dogs ever get. We have a plan if he should need release during our travels (did you know there is a national network of palliative care veterinarians?), but we are confident he’ll enjoy the adventure in the meantime.

 

I hope you’ll join him – and us – in this grand adventure through our blog – Szakos On The Road: Off to Look for America. As long as we have internet, we’ll plan to post at least weekly, with lots of pictures and short tales of what we see and smell on the way. 


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  1. KristinMay 24, 2023 at 10:45 PM

    Send your name and email address to me at kszakos@gmail.com to subscribe.

    ReplyDelete

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