How It All Began
Our Story
I never intended to start a YouTube channel. I was just looking for a dog.
Six months later, I found an eight-week-old Kokoni puppy in California.
Twelve hundred miles later, I found my best friend.
A few years ago, a British friend introduced me to a little dog I had never heard of called a Kokoni, an ancient breed from Greece and Cyprus. I immediately fell in love with her dog, and before long, with the breed itself, and it wasn’t long before I decided it was time once again to have a dog in my life. I hadn’t had one since we had our beautiful dog, Christy, when I was a kid.
The problem was that, in America, Kokonis are very rare and hard to find, and finding a puppy is unheard of.
For six months, I searched from my home in Colorado, following every possible lead and repeatedly coming up empty. I had even begun seriously considering a trip to Greece when I suddenly learned about an eight-week-old Kokoni fluffball waiting for a home in Placerville, California.
I saw only five seconds of video, but it was enough.
So I did what any reasonable person would do. I grabbed my keys and drove twelve hundred miles to California.
I got there late, spent an anxious night in a motel, and met him the following morning in the parking lot of a Home Depot.
They put him in my arms, and he immediately started licking my face. I knew it instantly.
It had taken six months and twelve hundred miles to find him. One lick for me to love him.
I named him Buddy on the spot.
Before beginning the long drive back to Colorado, I wanted to visit the Pacific Ocean one more time—and I wanted Buddy to see it for the very first time.
We drove to Stinson Beach, where we stood together beside the water and took our first selfie.
At the time, it was simply a photograph of a man and a puppy at the beginning of a long drive home. Looking back now, I realize it captured the beginning of everything that followed.
Most friendships are built through conversation.
Ours was built one mile at a time.
Over the next two years, Buddy and I traveled more than 45,000 miles through 26 states. We crossed mountain passes, wandered historic towns, explored forgotten roads, hiked countless trails, and discovered that some of life’s best moments are the ones you never plan. Sometimes we had a destination. Other times, we simply followed a road to see where it led.
Somewhere along those miles, Six Legs silently began to take shape.
The name itself is simple: four legs for Buddy and two for me. But Six Legs is more than just our story. It’s about the places we discover together, the people we meet, and the stories waiting just beyond the next bend in the road.
So how did we end up here?
For much of my career, I’ve worked to preserve historic places and tell the stories that make them matter. Along the way, I came to realize that many of America’s best stories aren’t found just in history books or behind museum walls; they’re woven into the fabric of everyday America.
Part of that curiosity runs deep. My family has been part of the American West for eight generations, and I’ve always felt a connection to its landscapes, history, and the people who have called it home.
Buddy may not have created my curiosity, but he changed the way I experience life. Traveling with him taught me to slow down, to notice the things I might otherwise have driven past, and to appreciate that the journey between destinations is often more memorable than the destination itself.
Buddy also changed my priorities. Suddenly, I had a little four-legged traveling companion who depended on me, and I wanted him to experience as much of the world as possible. In return, he gave me a different way of seeing it.
That’s what Six Legs is all about.
We’re not chasing attractions. We’re looking for the places that make us pull over. The moments you can’t plan.
Along the way, we’ll explore remarkable landscapes, small towns, and historic places.
We’ll take great walks, meet interesting people, and often, we’ll take whatever turn Buddy wants to next.
If that sounds like your kind of adventure, we’d love to have you join us. New stories are waiting on our YouTube channel, and we’re just getting started.
Welcome to Six Legs.
Let’s go walking.
