To Ohio, with Buddy? - Day 22

  The sky was beautiful all day long. Sue actually got a much better picture than this, but you can take my word for it.

True to every time I've been there, these southernmost miles of Michigan were a wind proving ground with nothing to mitigate the blasts. Even the corn fields were reduced to stubble. There was snow just long enough to demonstrate that the wind was blowing it horizontally at 30 degrees and about 15 mph. Brrr.

But we made it to the famous sign at the border.

Sue played hopscotch with me so I could take my breaks in a car out of the wind. In between, she visited geocaches. There were quite a few along the route.

We parked near the sign to eat lunch, and Sue surprised me by going out of her way to get a whole tub of buckeye candies. Yum! No, we did not eat all these or give any to the dogs despite how interested Sophie looks. But we did have a few!

Just another half mile and here's the proof that I'm really in Ohio now.

You might think there were no adventures to be had on such a bleak road walk. You would be wrong. At the store where she bought the candies, Sue ran into someone she knew years ago.

And then there was Buddy. I think Buddy is a Boxer/Newfoundland mix. He is big. He was also exceedingly friendly. He came loping out to the road across a corn field from his house to greet me. He has a habit that silly dog-lover me finds strangely endearing. He gently took my hand in his mouth and began to lead me down the road.

So, 99 percent of friendly dogs will just escort me to the other side of their kingdom and then go home. This dog went beyond his fenceline, and past the next house. By then he was clearly in the adventure for the long haul. He was ranging about 100 feet in front of me and just looking back from time to time to make sure I was still coming along.

I called Sue and said I needed help to return this big dog to his farm. We were now about a half mile away. She came. He wanted to make friends with Sophie and Anabelle. Sue tried driving back toward his farm. He followed for a while and then realized I wasn't coming and he came back to me! So I had to walk all the way back to the farm. He would not tolerate anyone grabbing his collar. He never was agressive, he just knew he was big enough to twist away. He'd had practice!

Turns out his name is Buddy. His owner is a little old lady (definitely littler than me, maybe not older). Buddy is an outdoor dog. Buddy likes adventures. She said he's followed people to Hartly (2.5 miles away), and he followed some bicyclists for 4 miles in the other directon. She managed to engage him with a stick while we drove away. Sue returned me to my regularly scheduled programming of hiking.

I think poor Buddy needs some teenagers to play with. Clearly the cows aren't holding his attention. I'm quite sure he would have gone all the way to Ohio with me!

Miles today 15.5. Total so far: 325.5.

See True Blue Gumby II