Myles on the lookout for wild turkeys in northern California.
The story of Myles. What would our trip have been without Myles? Myles commanded attention everywhere we went. And rightly so! What a dog. Just look at him!
Myles chose to accompany us on this adventure. All dogs love a great adventure. When I first encountered Myles I was traveling solo in Tennessee. I was camped on a deck off the back of an unoccupied, newly constructed home. A funky looking yellow dog came out of nowhere and spent the night curled up on the foot of my sleeping bag. The next morning he was still there and promptly followed along as Dawn and I made our way to the next unknown destination. During the three years of travels while Myles was with us he saw one adventure after another...a dog's life for all dog's to envy!
LOOK
OUT MYLES!!
Myles
under attack!
Have you ever seen a deer attack a dog? Myles has! We were in Texas when Myles encountered a deer that didn't show any fear of us at all. She didn't run away. In fact, she ate grain right out of our hands. Later we discovered that she had been raised by people who were living close by to where we were staying. Myles wanted to investigate her odd behavior one day, and before he knew it, she struck out in defense! Luckily, no one was hurt, and Myles learned what a deer is capable of doing!
Pawprints
in the sand.
Myles,
dog-tired after a long day in Nevada.
When we reached Oregon Myles had been with us for over three years. He traveled over 8,000 miles. We began to contemplate his retirement. As with so many times before on our journey, we just passively waited for the time to come. We knew if Myles was meant to retire, he would find a home. We were staying in Port Orford when we met a young couple living in Sixes, just a few miles north. They immediately took to Myles, so did everyone else who saw him for that matter, but this was different. They couldn't take their eyes off of him. Myles was even more entertaining than usual by dragging his butt across the floor in front of them. They thought it was great and fell in love with him. They told us that they were thinking of getting a dog recently, and had been looking for a yellow one like him. That did it, we knew this was to be Myles' new home. I think the hardest thing I had to do on this journey was to give up Myles. DC left the decision up to me. He figured Myles was my dog anyway. Contrarily, Myles was the most independant soul I ever met. He chose to walk with me and I believe he chose this for his new home. I decided to bring him to his new home on Christmas Day, complete with a bow on his head. When I got there I couldn't talk or hold back the tears. I had to leave right away. Myles tried to follow me back outside as I shut the door behind me. I was very sad and walked out into a meadow in the woods to be alone. I fell asleep and later awoke with a sense of peace like non I had ever felt before. I sat up and found myself surrounded by deer. A misty fog had rolled in off the ocean. All is calm, all is bright.
The next day we headed out to continue our treck northward. We were traveling along Route 101. Just as we passed by the road turning off to where Myles' new home was, a beautiful black raven flew toward us. As he approached, he pulled in his wings to his sides and flipped up-side-down as he passed straight above me.
