Senior and border collie are now in Ontario on virtual walk across Canada
89-year-old West Kelowna man’s rescue dog has been keeping him active
Dudley Booth reached two milestones last week. The Westside man celebrated his 89th birthday and he completed 3,000 kilometres of walking his rescue border collie, Loki.
The pair usually walk 6.8-kilometres a day, heading out from Booth’s Westside home to the Otter Co-Op then across to Highway 97 North and tracing their steps back home.
They are out about an hour and a half.
“I enjoy it, my dog enjoys it,” said Booth. “We have conversations on the way.”
We first met Booth and Loki in October 2019 when they had completed 1,000 km. Since then, they have added 2,000 more.
While travel is off the table because of COVID-19, Booth has started a virtual trek across Canada with mile zero at his Westside home.
He pulls up a map of Canada on his computer 100 kilometres at a time and posts to his Facebook page how far he has gone.
When his virtual trek takes him through a little town, Booth digs up information on the town and some historical and modern photos and posts a small story to Facebook simulate that he’s actually there.
While in reality, Booth marked his 3,000th kilometre Monday with friend Robin Harper near the Westside Superstore, on his trek across Canada he and Loki were just past Terrace Bay, Ont., along the north shore of Lake Superior.
He took a detour off the Trans Canada Highway in Manitoba, discovering magical towns whose histories he found fascinating.
“It’s been a wonderful adventure for me. I’ve learned more about Canada in my trekking than I ever knew before,” said Booth. “I look forward to discovering these new communities as I go.”
Booth attributes the long walks to his high-energy border collie
Loki, whom he rescued three years ago.