We start up at about 4:00 am in the RV. We’re often boon-docking. We are two

grown men and a 70 lb Shepherd mix.

We’re headed to Mill Valley California from Jacksonville Beach Florida, along several U.S. migration paths, Santa Fe, Mormon, The Pony Express. At or before dawn David is off running on average 35 miles a day, at David’s side is Lucky. Lucky runs with David about 1/2 the day Lucky has Lymphoma. Every Monday we three find our way to a different Veterinarian who’s willing to follow the treatment protocol prescribed back in Florida. The trip is going to take 100 days. On The Trail of Tears, at the beginning of the Appalachian trail in Georgia, for me two things began to sink in, this is really happening and I have a lot to learn.

I’m in possession of some disturbing ignorances and prejudices, they are not cooperating with my experience as I travel along non-touristy, majestic, overlooked south through Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois and Missouri. I’m progressive, a liberal, but I have not been fair and regretfully a lot of what I thought was funny is not. I’m discovering cliches of my thinking that are bothering me. Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, California lay ahead.