Gallery
These are real pictures from the adventures in the book. Get the most out of the adventure by feasting your eyes on the real-life magnificence that inspired the story.
Part 1: Doomed
That’s why I was hired. I was what they called a reasonable amomodation, which means a dog who trains a reactive human to behave around other people.
There are a lot of silly people out there who are afraid of dogs, so to set strangers at ease, beefy loudmouths like me need to dress nicely to show that we’re civilized.
That’s why I was hired. I was what they called a reasonable amomodation, which means a dog who trains a reactive human to behave around other people.
Chapter 1
Impending Doom
Wherein Oscar and Mom say goodbye to their office job
Location: San Francisco, CA
Chapter 2
Doomed
Wherein Oscar and Mom get more than they bargained for
Location: Siskiyou Dunes, OR
“See?” Mom held up the Witch to show me a droopy runner and a whole lot of sand. “The website said we would run through sand dunes. Doesn’t that sound like fun?”
I shook off the rain and looked longingly at all the runners making friends without me.
“Are you sure you don’t want a pitchfork and maybe to light someone on fire?” I asked supportively. “Don’t you think someone should pay for this?”
“See?” Mom held up the Witch to show me a droopy runner and a whole lot of sand. “The website said we would run through sand dunes. Doesn’t that sound like fun?”
“High clearance and four-wheel drive are a must,” the Witch added smugly.
“If anyone asks why we’re not in a campground, we can just tell them that we weren’t planning to spend the night. Which I suppose is true, when you think about it.”
Chapter 3
Outlaws
Wherein Oscar and Mom aren’t welcome
Location: between Lone Pine and Badwater, CA
Chapter 4
Weather Jinx
Wherein we discover Mom’s superpower
Location: Kanab, UT
“Whatever you say, Mom,” I rolled my eyes and then I rolled my body in the white—I mean “pink”—dirt again.
I sprinted in loops, leaving pawprints, buttprints, and backprints all over the dooms.
Every time she convinced herself to stop worrying and go for it, she thought of something new to worry about and the disaster movie in her thought bubble would start again from the beginning.
Every time she convinced herself to stop worrying and go for it, she thought of something new to worry about and the disaster movie in her thought bubble would start again from the beginning.
Chapter 5
Out of Harm’s Spray
Wherein Mom’s plan is too smart by half and Oscar must face one of his biggest dislikes
Location: outside of Escalante, UT*
Chapter 6
Sand Trap
Wherein Oscar and Mom are nearly swallowed by the earth
Location: outside Escalante, UT
Part 2: Referees
Chapter 7 & 8
Referees & Hyper Vigilante
Wherein our hero sees many ways to react to uncertainty
Location: Sedona, AZ
Chapter 9
Turn at Albuquerque
Wherein Oscar seeks a hot dog
Location: Albuquerque, NM*
Chapter 10
Retreat
Wherein Oscar and Mom must escape Colorado before it’s too late
Location: Loveland, CO
Chapter 11
Why-oh-Wyoming
Wherein Oscar and Mom achieve the goal of their trip...
Sort of
Location: Devil’s Tower, WY
Chapter 12
Little Hound on the Prairie
Wherein Oscar and Mom must make a decision
Location: Custer State Park and Badlands National Park, SD
Chapter 14
Wind from my Sails
Wherein Oscar learns the fate of his Friends back home
Location: Sandy, UT* and Bonneville Salt Flats
Chapter 15
Rage Against the Quarantine
Wherein Oscar and Mom return to their homeland
Location: Capetown, CA, Mendocino County,
Pacific Coast Highway
Part 3: Grounded
Chapter 16
Don’t Hold Your Breath
Wherein Oscar and Mom see what the boogeyvirus has done to Oscar’s Hometown
Location: Pacifica, CA
Chapter 17
Cabin Fever
Wherein Oscar and Mom return to work
Location: Pacifica and San Francisco, CA
Chapter 18
Caps Lockdown
Wherein Mom runs from a fight
Location: Pacifica, CA
Chapter 19
Tahoe-down
Wherein Oscar and Mom return to exploring
Location: South Lake Tahoe, CA*
Part 4: Rekindling
Chapter 20
Mystery
Wherein Oscar and Mom solve a cold case murder mystery
Location: Shasta Lake, CA*
Chapter 21
Reunion
Wherein Oscar meets an old Friend and visits the lair of an old nemesis
Location: Ashland, OR*
Chapter 22
Superspicion
Wherein Oscar and Mom make Friends who have more in common than they expect
Location: Northeastern Oregon*
Chapter 23
Witchcraft
Wherein the Witch pulls her worst prank yet
Location: John Day, OR*
Chapter 24
Where There’s Smoke
Wherein Mom goes too far and Oscar follows her
Location: Mammoth Lakes, CA*
Chapter 25
Orange
Wherein the danger follows Oscar home
Location: Pacifica, CA
Part 5: The Cooldown
Chapter 26
The Race
Wherein Oscar and Mom discuss what it will take to save the America they lost
Location: San Francisco, CA
Chapter 27
Epidog
Wherein Oscar and Mom must escape a sticky situation and the Witch redeems herself
Location: Cadiz Dunes, CA
To tell you the best, most exciting version of the story, I combined some things that happened on different days and in different places. The pictures above are all from the stories told in that chapter, but these chapters also include bits from:
5
9
14
The drive was actually from Escalante to Reflection Canyon, 60 miles away. The river scene took place in a different canyon closer to Kanab.
In real life we dawdled for two days in New Mexico. The campground was closer to Las Cruces.
The trail really was closer to Boss Charming’s house than the closest Starbucks. We really did get stuck in a storm before leaving Salt Lake City that day. But the description of the steepest part of the mountain actually happened on Black Butte near Mt. Shasta in California.
19
The part of this story about the hikers in the flower bush actually took place in the Trinity Alps in the Forgotten California. The drive home through the protest also happened on the drive home from the Trinity Alps.
20
21
22
23
The description of the trail with the deer graveyard and the flying bear was actually in Bishop, CA.
We did meet Lily in Oregon on this trip, but Mailman Mountain was actually in southern Washington.
We were actually in a spot called Sulphur Peak near Darrington, WA.
The trail where we met the mule and the power ranger was actually at Camp Wahoo, WA. The description of the drive and getting lost before finding the top actually happened outside of a town called Scenic, WA.
24
We really were one ridge away from a major forest fire in Mammoth Lakes, but the description of getting lost on the scree slope actually happened in a place called Lundy Lake, right outside of Yosemite.