Date: 2012-02-08
To: A Heavy Hike
Miles today: 0.0

December 18, 2011 I found myself curled up in the middle of a trail that people referred to as the AT. I'm not too sure why people find this a happy trail as I¢m laying here extremely hungry, thirsty, and nearly frozen to death. I'm not able to do anything about it, as I ended up hurting my front left leg as I traveled to get the this trail, it is 3 times its size and smells really bad.I've seen the sun come up and fall seven times since being out here, a few of the days there was snow and rain falling from the sky. I remember on the seventh day, I saw 4 people and another of one my kind walk up the trail towards me. They all had a puzzled look on their face and was speaking gibberish to each other and me. They kept trying to get me to stand up and walk but I was in such poor condition that I couldn't move even if I wanted to. Instead they gave me this yummy substance they call PB and filled a bowl with water for me to drink. I couldn't express how excited I was to run into these people... until they came and picked my rump off the ground and started to make me walk down the trail. I walked about a third of a mile before my body gave back out on me and I had to lay down. I expeted them to leave me for dead but instead they tied a small piece of rope around my mouth with a bow. They then hoisted me up in the air on top of this small young women's backpack who carried me for a short while. They then passed me from hiker to hiker and every now and then they stopped to water and feed me. My body started to get a little more energy in it after the PN kicked in. So they put me down on the ground and I started to walk along beside them, so I didn't have to carry me the whole way. I was much slower than them but the small women stayed beside me the whole time and encouraged me to keep on keeping on. We finally made it to a road where I experienced sound over load, I stopped and wouldn't budge. So instead the one man come over and picked me up and carried me to a car and laid me in the back of it. The car had nice warm blankets and was out of the elements, I felt like I was in a palace. I ended up staying in this car over night and into the next morning incept for when they let me come out to head to the bathroom. It turns out the small young women was driving the car while everyone else went different ways I learned later they went to their own home. She dropped me off at a vet clinic where they fixed up my leg and gave me medication and more food. A few days later they found out that my name was Mr. Otis, but they decided that Heavy Hopeful was alittle more fitting.They tell most people my name is Heavy, because when you have to carry a dog a couple of miles on your shoulders you realize that is heavy. Then the Hopeful part is because I started to perk up after getting food in my tummy just like there friend Hopeful, I also had a heart and desire to live so I kept plugging along on the trail following the bi-peds thinking they would heal me, (which they did.)I now am living with the young women who I now call mommy everyone else calls here on the trail Sweet Tea. I learned to follow momma everywhere I go. FACT: An estimated 5 million cats and dogs are killed in shelters each year. That's one about every six and one half seconds. (The Humane Society of the United States) Millions more are abandoned, only to suffer from illness or injury before dying. (Doris Day Animal League)