Wondering what a painting of a dog has to do with the great American road trip? Well, Fred's story epitomizes that idea. I first heard of Fred only after his passing in December of last year, when an article appeared our local newspaper. However, Fred was a celebrity, and single-handedly put the town of Rockford, population 450, on the map! He wandered up as a stray, and soon stole the hearts of the entire town, and became a fixture at Ken’s Package store in the center of town, where he lived and was taken care of by the owner who was his official guardian. He greeted customers, made the rounds of the town, and became known as the Official Town Dog. His picture graced t-shirts and mugs, a sign designating him town dog was erected next to the town sign, he had his own column in the local newspaper, and soon people were traveling through the backroads of Alabama just to visit with Fred, and even brought their own dogs to meet him. Word spread some more, and Animal Planet did a feature on Fred. He had his own bank account, and was grand marshall of the 4th of July parade. Fred is getting the honor of being entered into the Alabama Veterinary Medical Association Animal Hall of Fame in January, and small world that it is, it just so happens that the chairman of that committee is my boss’s husband, and my husband and I will be attending the affair to honor this special dog. My husband and I made the road trip down to Rockford to present Ken with Fred’s rock, and we visited his gravesite located behind the old town jail, an historic museum. We heard stories and looked through scrapbooks, read letters that had been written to Fred by many of the children in town. Some people might think Fred was one lucky dog to have found his way to Rockford, but the townspeople were lucky too, as this dog touched many lives and brought people together. I know he touched mine even after his death. Gentle journey, Fred.