Giving Back
The longest clothes line I’ve ever seen - near Dudley, Idaho
Zilla and I got a very early start as we had a long day ahead of us, but more importantly, we had some business to attend to along the trail… something that we’d been looking forward to for a long, long time!
The day itself was fairly unremarkable. We started out where we’d left off, near what remained of Dudley, Idaho along the banks of the Coeur d’Alene River and continued east. Since we started near sunrise, there wasn’t anyone else on the trail which was just the way we liked it! Along the way, we passed the longest clothes line I’ve ever seen. Realistically, I’d estimate it was at least 80 feet long, if not more!
As we passed along the Coeur d’Alene River, a flash in the water caught my eye. I watched it for a few moments but it wasn’t moving. I then realized that it was the sun reflecting off the scales on a dead salmon. It was an absolutely massive fish so it had to be an adult that had swam hundreds of miles up the Columbia River, Spokane River, and ultimately the Coeur d’Alene River where it spawned before passing on to allow nature’s cycle to continue. It was sad to see, but that’s exactly what these fish had evolved to do so I tried to stay positive and focus on the fact that this fish had successfully completed its journey.
Just a few minutes later, Dogzilla and I came upon a overpass above the trail for Interstate 90. It had been a long time since we’d crossed Interstate 90, so long in fact that the last time we did, both Dogzilla and Captain Fantastic were in the trailer. That hit me a little harder than I’d hoped but I tried to stay positive again and just focus on her life well lived. We then carried on an soon found ourselves on a bridge over the Coeur d’Alene River from which we saw lots of young salmon swimming in the clear blue waters. It was interesting to have been so immersed in the cycles of life over such a short distance of trail.
As we carried on, the trail stayed fairly close to the interstate, we even crossed back under it once more. For the first time in a long time, we started seeing a lot of buildings closer to the trail and started encountering a lot of people on it as well. This could only mean one thing, we were getting close to Kellogg and our goal (which I’ll talk about more in a moment), but first I got sidetracked by something interesting along the trail, a dirt bike track!
Having grown up watching the movie “Rad” about a BMX racer and his attempt to take on “Hell Track”, I’ve always had a fascination with these types of courses, so when I saw one next to the trail, I decided that Zilla and I would give it a go!
Needless to say, this was a horrible idea as not only was my bike not designed for this sort of thing, but I was also pulling a bike trailer which really slowed me down and did not make me very agile. We ran over several little bunny hill bumps which caused the trailer to bottom out on every bump. I didn’t let that deter me though, there was a steeper little climb ahead that looked like it would be fun… Well, I wasn’t able to build up enough speed with the bunny hills and the trailer so when I hit the steeper incline, I nearly flipped my bicycle and had to jump off to keep from toppling over and landing on Zilla and the bike trailer. This had really turned into a horrible idea so I decided to cut our losses and just get back on the trail and get to our goal!
Though I don’t mention it here often, Pedals4Paws isn’t just about getting out and exploring the world with my dogs (though obviously that’s a huge part of it). When I came up with the idea of Pedals4Paws back on the ferry, near Seattle, my goal was to find a way to help animals in need. To do this, I decided that the dogs and I would raise money through donations (both during our travels and from the website) in order to donate to the various animal shelters and other sorts of animal welfare organizations that we encounter during our travels. Since coming up with that idea, we hadn’t passed such organizations near the trail but today would be different; today we would be passing right by where the Treasurer for the Shoshone County Humane Society worked! We didn’t tell them that we were coming, so our donation was going to be a total surprise!
When we arrived at our goal (the bank the Treasurer worked at), I didn’t know if I’d be allowed to bring Dogzilla inside. I made the decision that he was such an important part of Pedals4Paws that I’d just bring him in with me and hope they wouldn’t be mad. I parked the bike, grabbed Zilla and our donation, and walked inside. There weren’t any other customers, so it was pretty easy to find the woman we were looking for and before anyone had a chance to tell me Zilla wasn’t allowed, I introduced us and quickly stated that we were there to make a donation. We were very warmly received and Zilla and I proceeded to donate the $636.71 that we’d raised! It was such a wonderful feeling to be able to finally make our first on trail donation! My only regret was that Captain Fantastic hadn’t lived long enough to take part and see all the good that her adventures were about to do for other animals in need.
Dogzilla and I were treated like VIP’s with Zilla getting to eat a bunch of dog treats that the bank had on hand! This was one of the happiest moments of my life, getting to share such a wonderful experience with Dogzilla, knowing that all of our hard efforts on the trail were now going to help some less fortunate animals who need a little extra help in life. This single moment made all the hardship and struggles worth it.
But our journey wouldn’t end here, Pedals4Paws was just getting started!
Giving back - $636.71 donated to the Shoshone County Humane Society! - Kellogg, Idaho
