GoRUFFLY Around the World

‼️ Our GoRUFFLY book “My Heart Is Home With You” is now available for preorder! ***Link in bio***   Writing this book was the hope, challenge, and accomplishment of my life – and I couldn’t be prouder of the story we’ve shared.   It’s a memoir about discovering moments of home in so many different and extraordinary places along this journey – at an abandoned church in Mexico, along a riverbank in the Darien Gap, at the shoreline of Arctic Ocean, high in the Peruvian Andes, and so many other places.   It’s about how we journeyed by motorcycle or on foot to these marvelous places, the difficulties and hardships we overcame along the way, and how I found home because we were there together.   If you’ve enjoyed the posts we’ve written or the videos I’ve posted through these years, first with Moxie and now with Whimsy, then I’m certain you’re going to love “My Heart Is Home With You”.   Our publisher, @post_hill_press , tells us that rallying support through preorders is the whole ballgame. That’s what prompts Amazon and Barnes & Noble to share the book wider.   So, please take a moment to click the link in the bio and preorder your copy now.   You’re absolutely going to love it.   You’ll also be helping us out a ton, supporting the Girl Up fundraiser with a portion of the proceeds, and helping GoRUFFLY make the leap over to Africa later this year! Thank you! ❤️

There’s a stretch of old Route 50 that captures my imagination. It’s the span that links Fallon and Ely through a few hundred miles of high desert and snowy-peaked mountains. The sky feels big here. The land feels open. They called it “The Loneliest Road” in 1986 article in ‘Life’ and the name stuck. It’s not so lonely here as it once was – I suppose nowhere is. But it’s every bit as beautiful. 📷 DJI Osmo 360 @osmo_global 🏍️ Whimsy rides in her @k9motocockpit 🐾 Whimsy’s wardrobe by @rufflygear . 🎶 The House Always Wins by Jack Faraday SyncID: MB01TFPLYYJNTN8 . . . . #travelwithdogs #motorcycletrip #djiosmo360 #360camera #osmo360

STICKS. There are some things we say without meaning to. It’s like how I might say, “Calm down,” or “Just relax,” to someone when they get spooled up even though it only makes them angrier. Or, how I blurt out, “Oh my God!” or “Jesus!” at silly things that startle or surprise me but really don’t need intervention from the higher power. But, try as I might, I can’t train away these misfit expressions, which seem to be hardcoded into the genome. The same goes for the expression “middle of nowhere”. That one bothers me more than the others because it signals the opposite compass point of what I mean to say. That’s why a while back, Greg suggested, “Well then, let’s say ‘deep in the sticks’ instead.” “Yeah, that’s much better,” I agreed. And yet for all the nowhere hours we’ve spent deep in the sticks, I so rarely remember to say it that way. Like how very recently, we were traveling along a nowhere stretch of historic Highway 50, which is nicknamed “The Loneliest Road”. After we pulled down a gravel path and made lonely camp among the sand and scrub, I accidently caught myself saying, “This is definitely the middle of nowhere.” Greg scolded with a frown and said, “Deep in the sticks, you mean.” It was that and also the furthest place from any kind of nowhere. We were surrounded by everything that matters, which is sky and clouds, sun and breeze and blinding stars. And also by lizards and field mice, which Whimsy chased from one bush to another. “This dog has never met a hole, crevice, nook, or prickly hollow that she wouldn’t stick her schnout into,” Greg grinned as she waved her white battle flag and stabbed her nose and face into a thorn bush tangle. “At least Moxie had some common sense and delicacy about where to stick hers,” I agreed. “This one might look cute and fluffy, but she’s a total brute.” He ginned through teeth that clamped around a cigar. “I know,” I smiled. “You just love having your very own little huntress.” “This is exactly what she was built for,” he said, “and when she’s doing it, I know we’re exactly where we’re supposed to be.” “You mean in the middle of nowhere?” I smiled. · · ‼️ Big news coming Friday!

I removed Whimsy’s riding goggles, unstrapped, and then dismounted her. She was ablaze with attention but, instead of having to correct her for trying to bolt, she stood between us and we looked out amazed together. Then I saw at head level – and a couple inches above Greg’s – that the slope was terraced just wide enough to become our campsite. So, we unloaded the duffel from Tenderfoot’s saddle and pitched the tent where those grazing llamas surrounded and watched us. Above them were more llamas, and below us were our two fearsome Tigers… 📖 The GoRUFFLY book manuscript is done! Join us on Patreon to get an early paw-printed copy! #peru #motoadventures #shepherd #llamas #triumphtiger

“You got exactly what you wanted with this one,” Greg said as he put an arm through his riding jacket. “You picked a white, long-coated shepherd to take around the world with you.”   There atop her carrier, she normally pauses to survey the world from this new, curious vantage. I allow her a moment to absorb it unless we’re filming the routine. Then I say, “Turn around,” and I guide her to face forward, and pull her tail through the small window in her PawGuards as she lays down.   Once laying and tail out, I run straps through her riding harness. Then I check their tightness, so she is secure and comfortable like a head should strap on and fit inside a riding helmet. The last step comes when I slide the ridding goggles along her nose and clip them around her face. The small action camera is mounted to the top of them and, if there is beautiful scenery or a crowd gathered around, I might press the record button. Then and lastly, I tap her nose like how a pilot and copilot might shake hands or bump fists during the preflight.   “Ok, she’s all set,” I said. 📖 The GoRUFFLY book manuscript is done! Join us on Patreon to read full excerpts and get an early paw-printed copy!

Dreams never come easy.   They never come clean or simple either. They might be soaking wet or streaked with mud, or else have fangs and claws or clenched fists. They will make you chase, wrestle, and pin them down, and they will not submit when you do. They are not clean or simple, and they never come the way you imagine or expect them to.   Dreams never come easy. They come true. 📖 The GoRUFFLY book manuscript is done! Join us on Patreon to read full excerpts and get an early paw-printed copy!

There is a picture I see when I close my eyes.   When I do, whatever thing I see at that moment will probably be the one truest expression of how I understand or remember that thing I am thinking of. So, it won’t surprise you that, when I close my eyes and think of a dog, a moment’s flash of Whimsy is what I see before anything else. When I think of love, I think of my own husband before some sexy movie star or athlete. And when I imagine a motorcycle, the one, true, ideal form it takes is my Tiger, Tuskarossa, sneering and snobbish in her purple coat… 📖 The GoRUFFLY book is happening and we’re writing it now (we’re almost done)! Join us on Patreon to read full excerpts and get an early paw-printed copy!

Whimsy blossomed during those warm days of August.   All through the many free-range hours she traipsed in the garden, plunged into the pond, and sifted through the flotsam. With each day, I noticed how she grew into her oversized paws and inhaled every scent, which we called “filling her database with smells”… 📖 The GoRUFFLY book is happening and we’re writing it now (we’re almost done)! Join us on Patreon to read full excerpts and get an early paw-printed copy!

There’s a curious thing about the way we grapple with everyday dangers. All through our early travels we remarked on it and I have remembered it ever since. It’s about how we might fixate on certain ones and ignore others completely. I think of it like how a person might scroll or text on their phone everyday as they drive distractedly to work, but then they need to pop a Xanax before getting on an airplane. The way we notice it most often is how people warn us about what dangers to look out for. In larger cities, it might be a little different but in each rural village you might hear some version of the same thing. “Everything is fine here,” the people you speak to will say, “but be careful over there. That’s where the problems are.” If you start in the north, then “over there” will refer to someplace further to the south. Otherwise, the warning will be the same in reverse. When you reach one “over there”, you’ll be warned about the next, but you will probably never encounter a problem at any of them. When you reach the furthest and last of the “over theres”, you might be told how lucky you’ve been or warned about what lies across the border. We are not fearful people but something that rubs long enough at the surface can eventually grind clear through. So, when we discovered this trend, we made our best effort to thicken our hides against it… 📖 The GoRUFFLY book is happening and we’re writing it now (we’re almost done)! Join us on Patreon to read full excerpts and get an early paw-printed copy!

Nothing is quite so difficult as being fully present in the moment. Even, and maybe especially, this is the case when you’re on a journey. The road has a way of narrowing and sharpening your focus so that you never actually see the details in the tarmac as it rolls beneath your wheels. Except, extraordinary things might happen while you’re rushing to get somewhere or worrying about what happens when you do… 📖 The GoRUFFLY book is happening and we’re writing it now (we’re almost done)! Join us on Patreon to read full excerpts and get an early paw-printed copy!

Birthdays are a big celebration in my family. We plan most of our visits around them and my sister has taken the practice to an extreme. Her birthday celebration unrolls like a red carpet across a full week of meals and outings as if to create her very own series of Mardi Gras parades. Greg is opposite and he grudgingly celebrates my birthday but insists on skipping over or ignoring his own. By a stroke of good luck – for me, not him – his 40th birthday came around just a few days after we crossed the border into the United States. “You know how people are always asking how long a dog can ride comfortably in the Cockpit?” I asked. “Yeah,” he said. “I should do a post about that.” “You should,” I said. “And I know exactly how we’re going to prove it. We’re going to do an Iron Butt with Moxie and we’re going to do it on your birthday.” “You want to ride a thousand miles for my birthday?” He said. “Is that your gift to me or something?” “It’s probably more of a gift for me,” I said. “I’ve got way better stamina. This will be much harder for you than for me or Moxie.” “But how exactly do you see this whole Iron Butt thing working?” He asked. “We get up super early and we ride straight west on the I-40,” I said. “We’ll go through New Mexico and Arizona, and then in California we go up through Bakersfield and Fresno until we complete the 1,000 miles.” “So, it’s like we’ll do a whole segment in just one day,” he said. “Exactly and we’ll have the perfect example of how long a dog can last in their Cockpit,” I said. “Plus, it’s the perfect way to celebrate your birthday, especially if you’re going to be miserable anyway.” He cringed at the mention of his birthday, and then said, “But we’re going to call it an Iron Tail since this is about doing it with a dog.” Greg’s Iron Tail birthday morning began with a 04:00am alarm… 📖 The GoRUFFLY book is happening and we’re writing it now (we’re almost done)! Join us on Patreon to read full excerpts and get an early paw-printed copy!

Come see Whimsy, Greg and me @overlandexpo  SoCal in Costa Mesa, CA next weekend! Learn about what it’s like to ride and travel with your dog and how to teach them to ride in their @k9motocockpit . Use coupon code Overland10 for 10% off your tickets at overlandexpo.com. 🐕 Whimsy’s carrier by @k9motocockpit 🐾 Whimsy’s wardrobe by @rufflygear