Dog on Wheels Tour

Barnabas, Cabell's first dog, hiking in the Badlands of South Dakota - June 2000.
Equipment  Sponsor the School for Ethics and Global Leadership (SEGL) and Cabell's Ride Photos
On Traveling with a Dog Travel Journal Message Board Thanks  Contact Me

To see Cabell's location and mileage, visit the Travel Journal

The Trip, the Rider, and the Dog

Beginning June 15, 2006, I will cycle across North America on the American Discovery Trail.  For most of the route I will travel alone with my dog, Coltrane, who will alternately run alongside the bike and ride in a trailer behind it.  Our route is often off-road and will take us often into natural parks, forests, and wilderness areas.  This is an unsupported ride.  That is, I will carry all our supplies on my bike; there will be no support vehicle to carry materials or provide emergency relief.  At predetermined points on the trail we will pick up materials that have been shipped ahead, including maps and dog food (provided by Flint River Ranch).  In just a few places we will pick up water cached earlier along the trail.  Additionally, we look forward to running into both familiar and unfamiliar faces along the way.  If you would like to join us for a portion of the ride be sure to contact me before June 10, 2006.  

This trip is a monumental undertaking and will invariably be an incredible adventure.  It is also a fundraiser for a really exciting project.  Please visit the Sponsorship page and consider making a donation.

The Trip: The American Discovery Trail
The trail begins at Point Reyes National Seashore, outside San Francisco, CA, and winds its way to Cape Henlopen State Park, DE.  The American Discovery Trail is a mixed-use trail comprised largely of converted rail-trails, canal towpaths, dirt roads, and rural highways.  Where it splits, between Denver and Cincinnati, we will travel the southern route, passing through San Francisco, Carson City, Moab, Denver, Kansas City, St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Washington, D.C.  The trail connects 14 national parks, 16 national forests, 5 national scenic trails, 10 national historic trails, and 25 national recreation trails.  Organizers boast that it visits more than 10,000 sites of historic, cultural, and national significance. Click the map for a larger picture of the route and a detailed itinerary.  Click here for a list of cities on the trail.

I am using the trip as an occasion to raise support for a friend's project to open an independent school in Washington, D.C., The School for Ethics and Global Leadership.  Noah Bopp, the Director of the project, is a personal friend whom I admire and trust incredibly.  The Sponsorship page contains a bit more about the school and explains how you can help.  It is an incredible project , much more bold than my bike trip, whose genesis began in conversations between me and Noah about five years ago.  Though I am no longer involved in designing the program, I am thrilled to see it moving forward and am excited at this opportunity to support it.

I would also like to bring attention to responsible energy use, environmentally friendly modes of transportation and recreation, and the health of the non-human world.  The number of worthy charities are legion.  If you contact me directly, I would be glad to explore some of the options with you.

The Rider: Cabell King
 I am a Ph.D. candidate in Theology at the University of Chicago Divinity School.  This spring, to my great relief, I have just passed my doctoral exams.  Next year I will propose a dissertation regarding Christian conceptions of nature and space, considered in light of the writing of Henri Lefebvre, particularly as they impact theological anthropology.  My research interests intersect ecological ethics, spatial hermeneutics, the social character of redemption, and the relation of human identity to place, culture, and the body.  I am currently the co-coordinator of an interdisciplinary workshop and conference called Without Nature? A New Condition for Theology about the changing state of nature and the problems it poses for theology and ethics.  For the past two years I have taught in the University of Chicago's undergraduate writing program and have been the head of Blackstone Hall, an undergraduate dorm.   Before returning to school in 2002, I taught religion at St. George's School in Newport, RI.  I was a Geography major at Dartmouth College and am a native of Seattle, WA.  I have been a recreational biker for several years, but this will be my first extended touring trip.

The Dog: Coltrane
Coltrane is a mixed-breed dog of unidentified heritage.  He was abandoned under a porch in Stuart, VA, with his littermates at only a few weeks old.  He was discovered and delivered to the Patrick Animal Welfare Society, where he was fed, socialized, and given veterinary attention.  I found him on Petfinder.com, being advertised as a Greater Swiss Mountain Dog mix.  Somewhat impulsively I inquired about him.  A few weeks later I received a call; there were several people interested in adopting Coltrane (then, Slurpie), but I had been the first to ask about him.  If I wanted him I would need somehow to pick him up in Virginia.  Memorial Day weekend 2004 I drove from Chicago to Stuart to pick him up.  It turns out to have been a fantastic decision.  Coltrane is personable, beautiful, energetic, wonderfully mellow, and an excellent companion.  Of course we still don't know what breed he is; many people think he might have some Boxer blood.  He weighs roughly 75 pounds now and turned two years old as in March 2006.  He plays a mean saxophone and has never done any bike touring.