Yadi and I took an epic road trip in March, not to do any soul searching, but to see some of our most loved and missed people, run some miles, see some cool shit, and hang out just the two of us. Yadi was a perfect road trip buddy--he didn't complain, he didn't change the music, and he picked out good snacks. We headed south to Stillwater, OK to run a very, very muddy 50K with our friends Molly and Cade, watch FRIENDS (our favorite show), eat good food, and take a Google Earth Tour of Cade's hometown and Google Earth a 14er trip. 

Then we went even farther south to Texas to hang with our cousin (Yadi's scuzzin) and old roommate Darby. We ran trail, ate birthday cake, went to Darby's museum, ate more good food, hiked, ate more good food, got up to watch the sunrise at Palo Duro Canyon, and hiked more. 

 
Then we went to Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge and trail ran, watched the sun set on top of Scott Mountain, and camped. Then we ran, almost were killed by long-horns, ran, and came home.

I needed a break from work. I needed to see my people who live far away. I needed to be outside. I knew all of these things. What I didn't know is how much my dog needed them. Since our week of traveling and sleeping in different beds, living in different houses, and doing both in my Jeep, Yadi has lost so much anxiety. He's still an attention whore and still hates new people, but, after 3 years, I can finally leave and, instead of destroying everything in the house, he chills, apparently knowing I'll come back. Camping with my dog and having him look out for me when we were on our own (and almost being killed by longhorns) made me love him even more than I thought I could. Of course I learned things about myself taking a solo-road trip, but the best part about it was that I got to do it with Yadi. Love and Nature fix everything--even my stress ball best friend.