GoRUFFLY

FUTURE.

What do you do after you’ve lived the great adventure of your life?

It’s not a question we ever ask ourselves, nor spend even pocket change thinking about.

Who can or would want to imagine life after this amazing GoRUFFLY journey? Who has spare time or blood pressure to worry about sometime-later when there’s so much worry to fill the right-here-and-now?

Nor enough leisure time to ponder ‘What’s next?’ or what to do when, one day far from now, a few fugitive hours slip through the fist of RUFFLY’s mighty and amazing grip on our lives.

And, especially, with much more of this still ahead – so many countries and continents to explore – and upcoming Gen2 Cockpit enhancements to reveal…

Anyways, too much of life’s fleeting here-and-now is lived for an imagined future that might never realize.

If ever I had a sand grain of doubt, then living this journey forged my certainty in the hardest way.

Losing Moxie to the last and least expected cause – a routine knee surgery – and nearly losing Greg to the very most common one – a traffic accident – teaches only one lesson in my mind:

The only life to spend time living is the one right now.

No other way to live our RUFFLY motto – ‘Live Extraordinary Together’ – than right now.

And, still, for all those platitudes, I admit I’m worried about something ahead in the murky future.

A burrowing tick that every athlete, influencer, actor, and businessperson must routinely ask themself: Are my best days behind me now?

Will we ever match the extraordinary experience of that great, terrible journey Across the Darien?

And, yet, at every age of life, and every stage of accomplishment, the future is a forever treadmill that paces faster than your resting heart rate – no matter how fast the hard running builds it.

So, worrying as we went, we did the only thing to do:

Push. Hard. On.

Set goals that capture our fancy, leap in before we have all the answers, and give the very full measure of what we have in the tank.

Defining success only by how closely we’ve worn our boot soles and tire treads bald.

Over the Andes is our great, big, here-we-go leap into ‘What’s next?’

And it’s out now!

1 year ago | [YT] | 49

GoRUFFLY

STORYTELLING.


After months of sharing this journey, we came to a realization.

We were telling the story before we knew what that story was.

Instead of raw and authentic, our weekly realtime episodes felt out of character to how we do things.

To everything else – these posts we write, every RUFFLY collar we make, and K9 Moto Cockpit we build – we try to live by a simple rule:

Do less but better.

But vlogging led us down the opposite path.

We tried all the usual techniques: clickbait titles, trending keywords, and preposterous thumbnails.

Worst of all, feeding the rapacious Algorithm means posting more frequently and producing more publishable minutes, rather than crafting a better story.

So, we went quiet quite simply because we didn’t have something to say.

That is, the story, which we were living out over the long months and hard, dust, muddy miles wasn’t ready to tell.

We trained Whimsy to ride in her Cockpit, traveled through the U.S., Mexico, and Central America, trekked across the Darien Gap, and then reached the foothills outside a small village in Colombia.

That’s where we ended the Across the Darien leg of this journey and had the opportunity to reflect on the most important question:

What story did we live to get here?

Rebounding from the double-barbed tragedy of Greg’s accident and Moxie’s passing.

Then opening wounded hearts to a new puppy to discover her discovering the world as we rolled riot on two wheels and four paws.

And then summoning our moxie more than ever before or imagined to tackle the challenge of crossing the Darien together.

We think the result is a story much better told and more worthy of telling. It’s more modest and far grander than anything we’ve shared before.

It spans eight months and 12,000 kilometers of this still ongoing journey as we try to live extraordinary together every day by making our home and running a business wherever and everywhere we are.

It’s a story in five parts, told as honestly and thoughtfully as we can, and true to our north star of doing less but better.

***All 5 parts of the GoRUFFLY Across the Darien miniseries are live! So watch now or binge this weekend!

2 years ago | [YT] | 57

GoRUFFLY

New episode posts tomorrow!

Did you ever watch that show Arrested Development?

Whenever a character got themselves into hot water, which happened a lot, they’d say, “I’ve made a huge mistake…”

We set out to ride around the world with a PUPPY – did we make a huge mistake?

Watch tomorrow’s episode and let me know what you think!

2 years ago | [YT] | 54

GoRUFFLY

NEW SEASON BEGINS TOMORROW!
 
You’ve stuck with us through some high highs – completing an Iron Tail ride and reaching the Arctic Ocean – and the low lows – Greg’s motorcycle accident and Moxie passing away due to surgery.
 
You went on pilgrimage with us to celebrate the special bond between a person and their dog.
 
Now we relaunch this great around-the-world adventure with a new K9 copilot! Whimsy joins the GoRUFFLY pack. She’s a White Swiss Shepherd – yes, that’s a real breed – and she just a puppy.
 
Join us for Season 4, Episode 1 – “Rides with the Wind” – as she joins the pack, learns to ride, and joins us on the great adventure!

2 years ago | [YT] | 39

GoRUFFLY

SEASON 2 FINALE IS COMING!

We’re still hard a work editing the last two episodes of GoRUFFLY season 2. In the final two episodes of the season, Greg is struck by a chicken bus at high speed on the Pan-America Highway and then Moxie goes in for knee surgery and tragedy strikes.

A journey becomes an ‘adventure’ when you confront challenges and hardships along the way to achieve your destination. In the final two episodes of the season GoRUFFLY Around the World evolves from a journey into an adventure. So stay tuned and thanks for joining us!

3 years ago | [YT] | 151

GoRUFFLY

SCALES • No episode this week because…

Pride comes before a fall.

I suppose that happens when the gods decide to balance the scales.

But what about when it’s not pride but Happiness that comes before the fall? Is that the cruel gods at play and laughter?

We had crossed into Guatemala one year after leaving to launch GoRUFFLY. The plan was to spend a couple weeks in Pana with our ‪@RUFFLYgear‬ and ‪@K9MotoCockpit‬ teams and then continue south to El Salvador, Honduras, and the Antarctic Ocean beyond.

After Moxie peed and pooped, we saddled up and rode on joyfully along the Pan-American. We worried about what diagnosis the vet might assign to Moxie’s leg injury, but we were optimistic about the care she would receive and the wonderful GoRUFFLY results we were achieving.

It was finally working this gamble of an idea to ride around the world with a German shepherd to raise $100K for ‪@girlup‬. Donations were rolling in, @rufflygear sales were growing, and our hungry credit cards were finally being fed.

Finally, the thrill of the ride and the joy of adventure was replacing the paralyzing stress and anxiety of business failure and social media obscurity. Where a financial cliff so rapidly approached, now a sturdy bridge spanned the chasm and green fields lay beyond.

We spoke of joy, promise, and happy plans – and that’s when the chicken bus appeared in the rearview.

Painted red and yellow with gaudy running lights flashing angrily across broad brow and chin, it closed in at a furious pace, bellowing smoke and leaning through the curve like a Chinese dragon.

It pulled up and alongside – Greg in the right lane, steaming dragon to his left, and me just in front of it.

“Come over,” Greg said over the ‪@CardoSystemsGlobal‬. “This asshole wants to pass.”

Before I could oblige he spoke again: “Mother fuuuu–!” and then silence.

I slowed, pulled over, turned around on the Pan-American. As I pulled up, the idling dragon resumed its furious course. Gunning engine and releasing air brakes drown the barrage of Spanish curses that spit venomlike from my mouth.

As the bus pulled away, it revealed Greg’s bike keeled on its side and him face-up in a ditch his limbs outstretched and no signs of movement.

Moments before our joyful voices rang across the intercom and now only the rumbling sound of the gods’ distant laughter.

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3 years ago | [YT] | 22

GoRUFFLY

Happy holidays to you all!

Next Sunday we start Season 2 of GoRUFFLY Around the World!

Follow along with our adventure as we make our way down from the Arctic Ocean, get stranded along the way, suffer through some almost trip-ending problems in Utah and some hot hot HOT riding through the desert as we continue south into Baja.

Make sure your notifications are turned on and we will see you next Sunday!

- Jess, Greg and Moxie

3 years ago | [YT] | 160

GoRUFFLY

I know what you're thinking: "Don't you dare say there's no episode today! You finally start the Dempster and then leave us hanging?!?" Yes, guilty. We're at the Adventure Rally & Camp this weekend in Julian, CA. But, worry not! We'll be back next Sunday and the wait will be more than worth it!

3 years ago | [YT] | 41

GoRUFFLY

STORYTELLERS.

Every activity has an industry built around it to supply the gear, training, and outfits you ‘need’ to perform.

If enough people discover they enjoy flipping bottle caps, you can be sure a host of entrepreneurial businesses will line up to provide caps in every size, shape, color, and design.

Humans are better at nothing so much as turning our passions into into dollars.

And, hey, I’m not judging. I’m an entrepreneurial gal with big ambitions! And at RUFFLY we make all the dog gear that you need (and don’t) to get out there and live extraordinary together with your dog every day.

Gear is necessary. Good gear increases your enjoyment. Great gear is, in some cases, life-saving.

But nothing at all is so singularly important as Inspiration.

Without it, interest wanes, participation declines, and – if you’re a ‘bottom-line’ kind of person – sales dry up.

That’s why the Storytellers are the alpha and omega – the one essential ingredient.

They are the writers, the podcasters, the content-creators, and the social-posters. They inspire us with heroic tales of journeys embarked on, obstacles faced, triumphs achieved, and disasters overcome.

Every brand understands this, which is why they fill Instagram feeds with sponsored content rather than stale product photos. ‪@OverlandExpo‬ understands it also, which is why, they part the endless sea of vendors to feature a sponsored Author’s Tent.

Good Storytellers entertain us. The great ones – the Sam Manicoms – inspire and motivate us. They make it feel possible. They make us feel capable. They remind us that every epic journey begins by stepping out the front door.

In the world of motorcycle travel, there is perhaps no greater platform for the Storytellers than Adventure Rider Radio. That’s why it’s equally humbling and thrilling to be interviewed for this week’s episode.
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*My GoRUFFLY goal is to raise $100k for ‪@girlup‬. So please donate what you can - Www.goruffly.com*

3 years ago (edited) | [YT] | 25

GoRUFFLY

Sorry all, there is no episode this week because we are currently on the Dempster highway trying for the Arctic Ocean! We made the Arctic Circle but the hardest part is yet to come. Inches of loose gravel, slick mud, road construction, and all the large animals roaming around make for a spectacular adventure with a big dog!

Don’t forget to subscribe to us on YouTube if you haven’t already and follow ‪@GoRUFFLY‬ on Instagram and Facebook to get our updates!

3 years ago | [YT] | 37