Ron Storms said he hasn’t slept well for two days in anticipation of leaving Lincoln City behind and heading east by bike and cart with his faithful canine companion, Onyx, to raise funds for Canine Partners for Life, which provides service dogs to people who can’t afford them.
Meghan Shreiner will drive the truck and communicate with the duo as they venture through the various terrain on their journey to Pennsylvania. She will be updating the Facebook Page with Team Ronyx’s exploits.
As a crowd gathered in Mo’s parking lot this morning to see the troop off, hugs and treats were exchanged in ample supply. People made journeys of their own just for the chance to see the trio off.
“I’m a little anxious and excited,” she said. “The truck runs well, so I think we’ll be OK. That’s always a fear, you know, taking a long journey with a lot of weight.
“My intention is to update the Facebook Page daily. We were going to have a live video feed, but the camera we bought doesn’t allow us to do live streaming. We have an action camera and we will connect it to the bike and I’ll upload those videos at night.”
One of Storm’s friends, Juanita, who has trained with Storms, biked with them for a bit through Lincoln City.
“Just for a little ways, for old times sake.” she said.
Virgil Moon, who built and carved the custom camper that sits on the Onyx’s Great Adventure truck, said he was going for a “Snoopy doghouse look.”
“It started out as a canopy, and it just grew from there,” Moon said. “As time went on, we felt like we needed to make it a little wider and a little higher. Going across country they’re not always going to be in a town, so they’ll need a place to sleep.”
Brenda Woodley-Thomas, an experienced event organizer who was with the Fraternal Order of Eagles for 35 years, has helped organize the route and spread the word about the cause.
“We saw Ron and Onyx on the beach and I said, ‘I think I can help you.'” she said.
Woodley-Thomas, who has been involved with the effort since then, was instrumental is contacting Portland media outlet KGW and Lincoln City Homepage for coverage.
Storms goal is to bike and hike 30 miles per day with the first stop at Grand Ronde’s Spirit Mountain Casino.
As Onyx was placed into his cart and Storms started peddling away, everyone could hear barking.
“He’s telling Ron to go faster,” someone in the crowd said.
Homepage will provide continuing coverage of the journey to get service dogs to people who need but can’t afford them. We are also running a live feed of the Facebook Page for Onyx’s Great Adventure at the bottom of our website.
Previous Coverage:
‘Team Ronyx’ throws bone to service mutts with countrywide dog walk
