A tribute to the indomitable Duncan Idaho Romanoff (2004-2021)

In late 2020, in the midst of the Covid pandemic, Lesley and I bought a NuCamp TAB400 camper to try to escape the madness. After breaking it in over the fall and spring we headed out the following summer on a trip across America with our pup, Duncan Idaho, the luckiest dog in America.

Duncan, a 17 year old Jack Russell Terrier was our most beloved and intrepid pet. He had improbably survived a 4 day kidnapping in May of 2021, by unknown parties, who it seems mistook him for a puppy, instead of a mostly deaf and blind senior dog. He was abandoned by his captors after 3 days, with the recipient of this “gift” posting a video on Facebook complaining about him peeing in her kitchen! A member of Lesley’s school saw the video and showed it to Lesley. We contacted the woman, who would of course not tell us exactly where she lived, but told us she had let him go in Southeast DC because he seemed “unhappy”. This discovery led to us widening the search to include Washington DC. We spent hours putting up posters in Southeast and talking to people trying to find him, but we left exhausted and discouraged after 6 hours of searching. But the efforts of the many people connected with Lesley’s school helped to spread the word about his disappearance on social media, and these efforts were about to pay off.

Duncan was finally returned to us by a beautiful soul who found him wandering close to RFK stadium in Washington DC, 17 miles from our home. Duncan had fallen in with her two dogs as she walked them in the early morning and he followed them to her home. His tag was gone, and he had no other identification, but she decided that she could always love and make room for another dog. As luck would have it, she was also a user of the social media app Nextdoor, where friends had posted a description of Duncan and pleas for his safe return. She recognized Duncan from the post, and immediately contacted us. We were reunited with Duncan that same day. This episode made me a believer in the actual good social media can do. Luck, miracle, or algorithm, the difference seems unimportant.. We will always be incredibly grateful to her for her kindness.

After this, we decided Duncan needed a holiday, and he accompanied us on a wild trip across the country to Colorado. I believe he had a most excellent time. He swam in braided rivers in Nebraska, boondocked in Colorado, spent many peaceful hours in the kayak, and contemplated the cliffs overlooking the Mississippi. It was sadly, his last hurrah, as he passed away peacefully on December 9, 2021 at the age of 17 and a half. These photographs are a testament to his indomitable spirit. Rest in peace old friend, your memory be will always be a blessing.