American Journey 2020

The Pawprints are Back! A Sunday Meditation and Fiery Skies

Posted on by desiree michael
Spike's Footprints
21
Sep

I don’t think I have ever seen a dog meditate or take in the wonderment of the world the way Spike did yesterday morning. Sunday morning he awoke bright and early in Arkansas — Little Rock to be exact–walked across the dew-ladened grass and took a seat.

Spike taking in the morning sun
Spike taking in the morning sun.

I left him to take in the new sounds of the southern birds singing and the stillness of the morning mists. Not interested in sniffing the grounds, Spike sat for some time gazing out at the fields and towards the grey-hued morning sky. Upon his return to the front porch, he left his amazing pawprints. I am truly grateful for those of you who sent up your positive wishes for these pawprints to return. Return they have and return to sharing smiles across our land, we shall.

Fiery Skies

I captured the sunrise with a goal to capture the sunset as well. As you can see, both photos also captured more than Spike’s wonderment. The darkness that pales the sun is the burned-residue of a California ecosystem in flames. Amazingly, the skies are hazed this far away from the fires across the country.

  • Sunrise with fiery haze
  • Sunset in a smoke-filled sky
  • Spikey watching the sunset

Google find and math problems: 

  1. How many miles is Little Rock, Arkansas from Riverside County, California? We are slated to travel through this area.
  2. What was the average speed we traveled if it took us 4.5 hours to travel from the Mississippi Horse Track to Little Rock, Arkansas if the distance is 322 miles? 
    1. Hint: speed=distance/time
    2. Were we driving over the speed limit? If so, by how much?
Map of cyclist distance and time from MS to AR.
Follow Spike’s Footprint: Imagine if we were cycling–glad we’ve got four-wheels instead of two!

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This summer, the Mike and Spike, Spike and Mike roadshow will cross America and connect with people and places that make this country distinctly American. 
Horses will be the animal theme that draw us to the locations of states across America as they were historically the lead animal for transport…(Sure Spike, we won’t forget to visit dogs and create a signature print!). As we travel, the horse theme will transition to horsepower! Horsepower, of course, is now our primary means of seeing our country.
The subsequent theme is sand--yes, sand. Why sand? We will travel from “sea to shining sea” and collect sand from each shore; from the shores of the Assateague Island to the Coronado Islands, and the sand dunes in between. And, actually, these locations used to be called “seas.”