In May of 1804 Lewis and Clark left St. Louis, Missouri on an expedition that would eventually lead them to Astoria, Oregon. They arrived back in St. Louis in September of 1806.
Had Morris the dog been with them they would have completed the trip in half the time.
You see, Morris was a walker. Not a little “let’s walk around the block” walker, no, that was not Morris. He was a “Let’s go on a walk across Pennsylvania and get on with it right now” walker. Taking Morris for a morning walk was like starting an expedition to Astoria. Many times we walked with Morris, he leading from the front end of his leash, and the leash stretched out and one us at the back end.
Morris used to go work walks all around his Germantown neighborhood in Philadelphia. He also went for long walks in the Wissahickon Valley Park. That was his favorite place because he could smell the smells and see the many sights. There were animals to spot, too. Sometimes Morris would see deer or racoons.
Another place that Morris really liked was Valley Forge. That was a great place for him because there are large open fields and he liked to walk out into the tall grass and see if he could find surprises. One day he found a herd of deer, and that was really fun because he smelled them before he saw them. Putting the nose to work is a big thing for a dog.
The trouble, so to speak, was that a little walk was not enough. A medium walk was not enough, either. Nobody could find a walk of any length that was enough for Morris. Morris was a first-class walker, and once he got on the move, he stayed on the move.
One day Morris went for a walk a long way up Wissahickon Creek. He walked up the valley, under the big bridge, and then crossed over the creek to see what was on the other side. Finally, he came to the Inn in the Wissahickon Valley. Then Morris turned around and walked all the way home.
It was a lot of fun! He saw squirrels, people on bicycles, and some very special animals. For the first time ever, Morris saw horses. Oh, boy, were those horses big! Horses are much larger than dogs, and these were pretty big horses. Morris thought they were special. They had a peculiar “horsey-smell” that he was not familiar with, and he decided to remember what horses smelled like so that he could recognize them again.
After an hour or so Morris finally returned home. It was a good walk, but he was not tired. No, he was not tired at all. Unfortunately, the people he was walking with were really tired. They were worn out. How do I know this? I know this because I was one of the people with Morris, and I was really, really tired.
But, not Morris. That little dog was ready to go again.
What many of the young people who read these stories do not know, is that back in the “old days” we did not have streaming movies and stuff like that. If we wanted to watch a special movie at home, we had to go to a video store where we would rent a movie on DVD. We would take the DVD home, watch the movie, and then return the disc to the video store.
When were these “old days” that I write about? The old days were sometime after Lewis and Clark’s return to St. Louis and the start of Hulu. Those were the golden days. Kids, you can baffle your parents and ask them if they remember “Blockbuster Video”. You can look it up.
Just as we returned home from our very long walk, our neighbors came out of their house. Morris was very happy to see them because they were his favorite pals. The neighbors, Beverly and Shirley, were going to walk to the video store so they could rent a couple of movies for the weekend. They had their special walking shoes on and were all set to go.
Morris knew they were going to walk somewhere, but he did not know where. He did know that wherever it was that Beverly and Shirley were going, it had to be good. He asked them if he could go along. Well, I am sure you know that Morris did not ask in English. He asked in “dog language”, which involved special tail wags, eye rolling, and certain squeaking sounds.
Beverly and Shirley liked Morris a lot. They loved to visit with him, and sometimes they gave Morris treats. They even let Morris come over into their yard to chat and explore. When Morris asked to go on a walk with them, they were more than happy to allow him to go to on their walk to the video store.
Morris’s human handlers, that included me, you know, said that Morris could go with Beverly and Shirley if they took good care of him. We warned them that he had been on a long walk and would probably get tired. They might even have to stop and let him rest several times.
That, as it turned out, was not to be.
Morris, Beverly, and Shirley started on their walk. We watched them march down the street and turn the corner. Morris was in the lead. I had never walked to the video store, but I had driven there in the car. The route went something like this. You go down our street and turn right. Then you walk down the new street for several blocks, then that street dips downhill and you walk several more blocks. Just about the time that you think you are at the bottom of the hill; the street goes down steeper for several more blocks. After all that the street levels out a little, and after a few more blocks you come to the video store.
We found out later that Morris led the way the whole route to the video store. Once there, he was allowed to go inside the store so that he could help select the movies. After choosing the DVDs, the three left the video store and started the long walk back home.
You may recall that a moment ago I wrote that it was just about all downhill to the video store. I bet you know what that means when you have to go home. Right! Going home is nearly all up hill. Up, and up, and up, and up, and uphill they went.
I was sitting on the front porch enjoying a cold iced tea when I saw Morris, Beverly, and Shirley turn the last corner. They had walked up from the video store, uphill, one step at a time. The neighbors were tired. You could see it. The trudged along putting one foot down in front of the other with great determination.
But what about Morris? Was he tired? You had to see it to believe it.
Morris was in the lead. He was ahead of his friends and was gently tugging at his leash to get them to hurry up. Was he tired? I do not think he was, although if Morris was tired, he was hiding it well.
The little expedition slowly made their way back down the block to home. The neighbors were exhausted. Morris was not. Beverly and Shirley handed the leash back to us, and we took over for them. Morris turned around and looked at them, then he sauntered over to some shade and laid down. Have you seen a dog saunter? It is very interesting. Nevertheless, he did it.
Beverly and Shirley looked at us and rolled their eyes. They had not had the experience of walking with Morris before and they were amazed. They concluded that he was unstoppable.
I think they were right. Morris was an unstoppable walker.