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Dog, companion make cross-country trek for awareness
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| Cross-country trekkers Antigone the basset hound and her human, Marshall Wayne Lee, show off their traveling gear during a stop in Twentynine Palms on Friday, Jan. 29. (Trail photo by Kelly O'Sullivan) |
By Kurt Schauppner
The Desert Trail
TWENTYNINE PALMS — In the Sophocles tragedy that bears her name, the ancient Greek heroine Antigone commits suicide and is joined in suicide by her fiancé after her uncle, the king, sentences her to death.
In modern-day America, Antigone, a 61/2-year-old basset hound, saved her human, Marshall Wayne Lee, from committing suicide after he had lost a job. Now she’s helping him spread the word about suicide prevention and about basset hound rescue.
Antigone and Lee, or “the companion” as she refers to him on her blog, www.antigonebasset.com, are bicycling from Chicago to San Francisco.
On Friday, Jan. 29, Lee and Antigone spent part of the day in Twentynine Palms and stopped by the offices of The Desert Trail to talk about their trip, which had already taken them 3,099 miles.
“The reason we decided to do this trip is I wanted to move,” Lee said. “I wanted to find a new home and the bicycle was the only way I could do it. To rent a U-haul and to move would have taken more money than I have. I am laid off. I lost my job. There is really no reason to stay in Chicago.”
When a friend gave him the bicycle Lee and Antigone are using, he realized he was no longer trapped in Chicago.
“As we are biking we are trying to raise awareness of a couple of causes,” he said. “I knew I would need a little outside motivation besides my own happiness.”
Antigone, raises awareness of basset hound rescue in part because she was rescued from a basset puppy mill.
“I was rescued from a breeder mill by Guardian Angel Basset Rescue. I had heart worms, and they treated me for it. I was put in a foster home, until my companion took me to my forever home. I’ve been at my forever home for three years,” she wrote on her blog.
In Southern California that includes the Basset Hound Rescue of Southern California, which can be found online at www.bhrsc.info, and Basset Rescue Network’s Web site Daphneyland, which can be found online at www.daphneyland.com
Lee said he’s also making the trek to raise awareness of suicide prevention, more specifically, a suicide prevention walk-a-thon, the Out of the Darkness Overnight, which supports the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
This year’s 18-mile, dusk-to-dawn walk-a-thon, according to information at www.theovernight.org, has been tentatively set for Saturday and Sunday, June 26 and 27 in Boston, Mass.
“I learned about the walkathon when I was living in Chicago; when I was unemployed in 2007 I was suicidal,” Lee said.
He added that having Antigone around, worrying about what would happen to her if he took his life, kept him from moving past the planning stage.
After leaving Chicago on Oct. 1, man and dog traveled down Route 66 to St. Charles, Mo., and then headed west on the Caty Trail to Kansas City and then to Joplin before heading to Oklahoma City.
“Loved it,” Lee said of Oklahoma. “The nicest people were from Texas so far, but Oklahoma had the most genuine people.”
Lee noted that he made two important discoveries about Texas while traveling through the Lone Star State.
“Texas is huge. It’s not flat like people said,” he said, adding that the people are, “just really warm and friendly people, always willing to help.”
Lee called New Mexico his lazy state because it was cold in the mountains and he was constantly getting rides, meaning he traversed as many miles as a passenger as he did as a pedaler.
He also confessed some mistakes he made on his journey, including not accounting for headwinds and not accounting for rain.
Lee planned to leave Twentynine Palms Saturday, Jan. 30 and head for Yucca Valley and, from there head toward Bakersfield.
He confessed that his route his evolved as he has gone along and may continue to evolve as he gets closer to San Francisco.
A dog’s blog
Antigone is blogging about her cross-country trip with Lee. Read Antigone Goes West: A Basset Blog at www.antigonebasset.blogspot.com
In modern-day America, Antigone, a 61/2-year-old basset hound, saved her human, Marshall Wayne Lee, from committing suicide after he had lost a job. Now she’s helping him spread the word about suicide prevention and about basset hound rescue.
Antigone and Lee, or “the companion” as she refers to him on her blog, www.antigonebasset.com, are bicycling from Chicago to San Francisco.
On Friday, Jan. 29, Lee and Antigone spent part of the day in Twentynine Palms and stopped by the offices of The Desert Trail to talk about their trip, which had already taken them 3,099 miles.
“The reason we decided to do this trip is I wanted to move,” Lee said. “I wanted to find a new home and the bicycle was the only way I could do it. To rent a U-haul and to move would have taken more money than I have. I am laid off. I lost my job. There is really no reason to stay in Chicago.”
When a friend gave him the bicycle Lee and Antigone are using, he realized he was no longer trapped in Chicago.
“As we are biking we are trying to raise awareness of a couple of causes,” he said. “I knew I would need a little outside motivation besides my own happiness.”
Antigone, raises awareness of basset hound rescue in part because she was rescued from a basset puppy mill.
“I was rescued from a breeder mill by Guardian Angel Basset Rescue. I had heart worms, and they treated me for it. I was put in a foster home, until my companion took me to my forever home. I’ve been at my forever home for three years,” she wrote on her blog.
In Southern California that includes the Basset Hound Rescue of Southern California, which can be found online at www.bhrsc.info, and Basset Rescue Network’s Web site Daphneyland, which can be found online at www.daphneyland.com
Lee said he’s also making the trek to raise awareness of suicide prevention, more specifically, a suicide prevention walk-a-thon, the Out of the Darkness Overnight, which supports the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
This year’s 18-mile, dusk-to-dawn walk-a-thon, according to information at www.theovernight.org, has been tentatively set for Saturday and Sunday, June 26 and 27 in Boston, Mass.
“I learned about the walkathon when I was living in Chicago; when I was unemployed in 2007 I was suicidal,” Lee said.
He added that having Antigone around, worrying about what would happen to her if he took his life, kept him from moving past the planning stage.
After leaving Chicago on Oct. 1, man and dog traveled down Route 66 to St. Charles, Mo., and then headed west on the Caty Trail to Kansas City and then to Joplin before heading to Oklahoma City.
“Loved it,” Lee said of Oklahoma. “The nicest people were from Texas so far, but Oklahoma had the most genuine people.”
Lee noted that he made two important discoveries about Texas while traveling through the Lone Star State.
“Texas is huge. It’s not flat like people said,” he said, adding that the people are, “just really warm and friendly people, always willing to help.”
Lee called New Mexico his lazy state because it was cold in the mountains and he was constantly getting rides, meaning he traversed as many miles as a passenger as he did as a pedaler.
He also confessed some mistakes he made on his journey, including not accounting for headwinds and not accounting for rain.
Lee planned to leave Twentynine Palms Saturday, Jan. 30 and head for Yucca Valley and, from there head toward Bakersfield.
He confessed that his route his evolved as he has gone along and may continue to evolve as he gets closer to San Francisco.
A dog’s blog
Antigone is blogging about her cross-country trip with Lee. Read Antigone Goes West: A Basset Blog at www.antigonebasset.blogspot.com
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