Stupid is as stupid does!
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-talk-cubs-goat-walk-0313-20120313,0,6384430.storyBy Leonor Vivanco, Chicago Tribune reporter
8:31 a.m. CDT, March 13, 2012
One state checked off, one man down and roughly 1,600 miles to go.
A group of six Cubs fans and a goat named Wrigley are about 275 miles into a cross-country walking trip to raise money for cancer research. Oh, and hopefully break the Cubs "curse."
The six men set out from Mesa, Ariz., site of Cubs spring training camp, on Feb. 25, the birthday of late Cubs player and broadcaster Ron Santo. They lost one guy to an Achilles tendon injury over the weekend, but the rest of the fans crossed over into New Mexico on Monday and expect to arrive in Chicago just before Memorial Day.
"Our spirits are high," Oregon resident Matt Gregory said Monday in a phone interview, with Wrigley bleating in the background. The men also are updating their progress at crackthecurse.com
The 4-month-old Nigerian dwarf goat, bought on Craigslist for $60, walks only about four or five miles a day. Then the 22-pound Wrigley is pushed in a cart the rest of the 20 miles they typically hike daily before camping for the night or staying on the floor of benevolent businesses.
"Wrigley's got a pretty easy life and a free ride to Chicago," said Gregory, 33. "He's looking good, drinking a lot of water, eating," he said. Just to be sure, Wrigley will be checked out by a vet in New Mexico.
The men, also from Michigan, Tennessee, Washington and Arizona, plan to stick mainly to interstates but also are using state routes and even some dirt roads. They've suffered some foot blisters, faced 50 mph winds and even spotted coyotes. But they say carloads of Cubs fans have pulled over to show their support.
So far they've raised nearly $1,500 for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, where Gregory's mother, who died in 1999, was treated. Their other goal is to "crack the curse" by helping the Cubs win their first World Series since 1908.
"Not everybody believes in the curse, but it's kind of a wacky thing," Gregory said. "I believe it'll be broken when we get there."