Heading West: The Drive & The Moose
When my ex went on her way, I could see it broke him. Then work asked me to move to Washington, and once they said he could come to the office, I was all in. Another epic road trip, until a moose came full throttle out of the evergreens with Stud chasing behind it. At about seven years old, I thought I would lose him.
Just Stud and Me
When Stud was seven going on eight, my ex decided this wasn’t the life she wanted. She went on her way, and I could see it broke him. I can take a lot of pain, but seeing him sad hurts me the most. Stud was a wolf, a pack animal. That probably explains his intelligence, and why he didn’t trust people. When a wolf loses one of its pack, the whole pack hurts for a long time. There is clear evidence they feel sorrow. They will go back to where the death happened and howl. There was nothing I could do about it.
Then work asked me to move to Washington. They had asked me to move to Japan and to Texas a few times before, and the only reason I didn’t was Stud. Neither is ideal for a husky, or a wolf. One is hot as fuck, and in the other I would have been at work 18 hours a day. I said yes to Washington because it has good weather, it’s a great place to explore, and they let me bring him into the office. But at this point I needed to get away and get into a new environment. I was broken, Stud was bored, and here was the opportunity. We had already explored every inch of where we were. I could tell he was bored because I would take him places and he would turn around, or just wasn’t that excited anymore. Starting over in the mountains called our names. Still, I would not have moved if they told me he couldn’t come to the office. Once they said he could, I was all in. To this day I thank the people who made that possible. Well-behaved dogs should be allowed everywhere, and Stud was exceptionally well behaved, better behaved than most kids and, for that matter, a decent amount of adults. So it was just Stud and me, moving across the country.
Road Trip
I packed the car full, said goodbye, and Stud and I went on our way. Another epic road trip! We checked out so much as we drove across the country in my grandpa’s Buick. Our first stop was Madison, WI. I stopped at the capitol and got cheese curds and beer cheese soup, yummy. Yes, Stud swallowed a few. We continued to our next stop, Mt. Rushmore. We hit some pretty cool trails in Black Hills National Park, then went to Bighorn National Forest, where we saw tons of wildlife. Next up was Yellowstone.
Second Near Death Experience
They don’t allow dogs in most national parks, so I found a trail that started outside of Yellowstone and went inside, “dogs allowed,” it said on the trailhead. We were having a peachy walk, trying to figure out where the trail was as the grass was overgrown. I noticed a lot of poop from different animals and kept telling him to stay close.
Walking with Stud has always been my favorite, no matter the place. It lets my mind wander. I know now that it was immensely therapeutic. I knew he was happy, and it always made me happy. Whatever I had going on in life, a walk with him always made all my problems dissolve. The most challenging life problems were when he was by my side and he made the problems vanish, ending the walk with a clear solution. My mind wandered a little too far, and he was about 50-75 feet in front of me, behind some evergreens. I could see the evergreens shaking. I yelled, “STUD, leave the rabbits alone.”
That is when a moose came full throttle out of the opening of the tall evergreens, charging directly toward me like I had beef with him. I was in disbelief, it was the most enormous creature I had seen at this distance. We can say, ummmm, the complete fucking opposite of a rabbit. I froze. What felt like forever was only a split second. It was disturbingly close and approaching at a rapid speed. Should I stand my ground? All of this rushed through my head like lightning. I looked around, and there were no trees. Of course I walk thousands of miles and there are always trees, but now in this instance there wasn’t. The giant was coming fast directly towards me, Stud chasing behind it.
There were two options. Stand there or run like I was going to die. Option 2 kicked in without consciously thinking. I sprinted as fast as I could towards a stump, and just as I dove behind it, I could feel the air from the giant as it turned in direction. Moose move quickly, but they do not have the best coordination. I knew this combination was bad for Stud since he would chase it forever. As Stud kept chasing after it, I got up and tried to tackle him, but he was too fast. I was yelling with such anger. “STOP STUD, STOP.” I knew there was a fast moving river and then a road. He was driven by prey.
Whenever something ran, he went into kill mode. At about seven years old, I thought I would lose him. He came back 40 minutes later and looked like absolute death. I have never seen him so ragged in my life. He was all wet, his fur was all over the place, his collar was hanging down, he had a slight limp, and he was entirely out of breath. I was so happy to see him. I said, “Ohh hey, little guy, you almost got both of us killed.”
He would run away when he was younger, and I would yell at him when he came back. Then I was walking with someone, and they were always nice when their dog returned. I asked what gives. They asked me, “Would you want to return if you knew you would be punished?”
Glacier, Then Home
From Yellowstone we went north to Glacier National Park and camped for a couple of days. Then we crossed into Washington and went straight to the Alpine Lakes. We made it an epic road trip.
More from the Road
