If you haven’t figured it out by now….I like to tell stories….and many times I use my stories to always enhance my philosophical position that “simpler is better”….and not complicated like HUMANS think. We dogs always take the simplest of approaches….to any and all situations….issues….encounters….and really just about everything that we ever experience while spending conscious time upon this Earth….but on the other paw….nearly every HUMAN that I have ever known or learned about….can take a seemingly simple situation….with an obvious simple solution….and by the time each INDIVIDUAL HUMAN has put their two bits worth into the equation….which all HUMANS seem to think they have to do….that is when it gets even more complicated than it was….then HUMANS have to give ground to opposing opinions….Oh My God Dog…..it gets more complicated every minute. Anyway, long story short….I am going provide another piece of unquestionable truth that “simpler is simply better” by telling you this story about my friends in Mexico….Spike and Rusty.
Spike was one of my best dog friends ever……as he lived to the ripe old age of 147 years old (21 in HUMAN years)….for Spike was a wise old dog…..who had the right attitude about life. He was actually smaller that me….and not possessing of the royal bloodline like a Chiweenie….as I think his mamma got around a bit….but what Spike lacked in size….he more than made up for in attitude. Now this is a dog that lived in the Tropics with his HUMAN named Rusty. Although I’ve got many a Spike story to tell….this story is about Rusty….who Spike was with all of his 147 years…..which if you know dogs, you know that Spike was eternally loyal to Rusty.
Surfing – 2019 – Special Highlights – The Girls of Surfing
Me and Bone Daddy met Spike and Rusty on a surfer beach in Mexico in 1999….where they had just arrived at the best surf beach along the Costa Grande de Guerrero known as Playa Saladitas….as they came there after Rusty had spent the past 22 years on the beach at the US Military’s Camp Pendleton….yep….the home of the finest fighting soldier that the United States has to offer….THE MARINES. Camp Pendleton is a 126,000+/- acre installation that has been the main Marine base for amphibious and sea training since 1942….and Rusty had spent the previous 22 years rehabilitating his fractured neck and spinal injury by surfing…..as he called surfing his “Angel of Healing” . How Rusty got to be able to hang out on the beaches of Camp Pendleton….which is a story for another day …but yep, Rusty had lived on the beaches of Camp Pendleton for almost 22 years while using surfing to rehabilitate a serious neck and spinal injury. Of greater import than his own rehabilitation….which was serious and significant unto itself….Rusty had at the same time….been providing a sanctuary for other injured Marines….a healthy safe place that would allow each wounded soldier a place and a sport to heal their minds and their bodies through surfing….and “How awesome is that? Healing wounded soldiers minds and bodies through sports.” Can you imagine how many lives that Rusty touched over the 22 years that he hung out on the beaches of Camp Pendleton introducing other Marines in need of an “Angel of Healing” just like he had needed?
Surfing – 2019 – 30th Annual Dog Surfing Competition At Huntington Beach, CA
Rusty had been a lifelong surfer….when he entered the military at the height of the War in Viet Nam. During tank training exercises….a misfire of a cannon on his tank caused an uncontrolled recoil of the weapon….which hit Rusty in the side of the neck and upper spinal column….pinning him to the inside of the tank casing. The doctors who performed surgery on him….told him that he would never be able to surf or do anything of a physical nature again….however….after only four (4) months of a rehabilitation process that would eventually take years…..in Rusty’s words…..”Looking at where I was at in my recovery process after 4 months of rehabilitation….I could not even envision ever leaving the hospital….the road to healing looked so long.”
Surfing – 2020 – WSL Big Wave Surfing At Large JAWS 2020 Highlights
One month later….while returning to his hospital bed after a session with a physical therapist….Rusty found an sealed envelop with his name on the front sitting on top of his bed….when lo and behold, he had received new orders that he would be shipping out to Viet Nam in one week. Rusty refused to obey the orders….while remaining at Camp Pendleton and going through continuing hospital rehabilitation….but was eventually incarceration….which evolved into a complicated process of the military trying to decide what to do with this soldier who was still rehabilitating from a serious injury….who had refused to follow orders. As the process became more and more complicated….cuz more and more HUMANS got involved….as with each new HUMAN that came into the equation, who just had to take a stand on their opinion of what to do with Rusty and let it be known….I mean, “Do I need to say more!?!…..Can you say COMPLICATED?
Surfing – 2019 – Costa Grande Guerrero Mexico – “Surfing The Narco State”
In the meantime….when Rusty was released from jail….he remained confined to camp and since the beaches were part of camp….he just moved himself out on the beach….where he re-taught his crushed upper body and neck to first swim again….and then what became unbelievable to the Military medical staff….he taught himself to surf again…..which soon thereafter, It didn’t take long for other Marines who were rehabilitating at the hospital to find their way to the beach after hearing the stories about Rusty around the hospital. Before long, surfing had become an integral part of many injured soldiers path back to health…..and not just physically, but mentally too. As Rusty puts it…..”Surfing requires a person to use their mental strength and creativity in order to be able to throw a lasso around something much bigger and stronger than them…..which is coming at them at full speed…..while capable of inflicting great pain….maybe death…..long before the physical attributes necessary for a successful ride kick in.”
Surfing – 2019 – Costa Grande Guerrero Mexico – Playa Saliditas – Longest Left Break In Mexico
After 22 years of being a surfer dude on the beaches of Camp Pendleton….the military finally decided to tell Rusty to go away and never come back again….so he headed to the tropical beaches of the Costa Grande de Guerrero, Mexico….and that is when he .adopted Spike….as the two are still dancing every day with his “Angel of Healing”….for as Rusty said on the day that we first met him at Playa Saladitas…. as he heading out to the water in the late morning….on a day when there was hardly any waves at all….when BD asked him why he was heading out on such a bad surfing day….and Rusty said…..”Every day is preparation for the days when life brings you the really big ones.” Man, is that awesome philosophy…. and I for one can understand why BD and Rusty hit it off so well….cuz they both lived by the standard that everyday prepares you for the really “BIG ONES”….so these videos in this story herewith, are very special….because when BD and I watch the ones about Playa Saliditas and Surfing The Narco Coast of Mexico…..it brings back a lot of fond memories of playing on the beach with my friend Spike…..who knew all the the spots for a good snack of “trash food”…..where the smelliest backrubs were on the beach…. and the of course, there were “the treats” from BD and Rusty…..cuz any way you cut the pie…..this area is nothing short of paradise.
Surfing – 1988 – Special Highlight – “The Best Surfing Video Ever” – Featuring Laird Hamilton
I said all of that to say this…only in the world of HUMANS could it take 22 years to resolve something so simple. Now I know that I am just a dog….but it seems to me that if Rusty could remain in limbo on the beaches of Camp Pendleton for 22 years….then as Rusty said….”Why couldn’t the Marines have made me the Sergeant in charge of their Rehabilitation & Surfing Clinic at Camp Pendleton?” He could still be there helping injured soldiers find themselves again through sport and nature by introducing them to his “Angel of Healing” instead of being on a beach with Spike in Mexico. Once again….as I am hope at least some of you HUMANS are starting to see that this story makes a pretty strong point in favor of simplicity verses complexity….and those who engage in both.
Surfing – 2017 – Special Highlights – Incredible Suring Wipeouts With Surfer’s Comments
