Walking My Dog, Jane by Ned Rozell

"She's just a dog."Ned Rozell's friend <% END %> reminded him often. "I know, I know," he'd answer "but I have a deep emotional attachment to this dog. The way she groans when she plops down, the way she leans into me when I knead her ears in the morning, the way she makes me laugh when she barks at hot air balloons." Why not do something great with a great dog? Rozell wondered. That something great was an aimless summer walking the 800-mile length of the trans-Alaska pipeline-months without clocks without music or TV or driving, a summer of drinking from rivers that he'd only seen on maps, and a summer of meeting interesting people who have retreated (or advanced?) to a life in remote Alaska. WALKING MY DOG, JANE is Rozell's tribute to his adopted state and to the travel partner who carried Rozell's heart, and her own backpack, during a summer spent outside.