It’s no secret photographer and filmmaker Justin Majeczky loves adventuring with his two Siberian Huskies. In fact, last year, he and his wife road tripped over 12,000 miles visiting the western United States’ most incredible locations while living in a Eurovan with their two four-legged companions.
Being on the road for that long gives a visual artist like Majeczky the opportunity to experiment. Inspired by the traveling couple behind the viral Instagram account and hashtag #FollowMeTo, Majeczky thought it would be fun to follow the same idea, but with his two huskies leading the couple. The original series is known for photos of Murad Osmann being led around the world, hand in hand, by his wife Natalia Zakharova.
I asked Majeczky about not only his tongue in cheek #PullMeTo series, but also about what it was like driving 12,000 miles with two very active huskies, and what the future holds for this couple and their dogs.
When did the inspiration from Murad Osmann’s #FollowMeTo series come to you? Were you already on the road, or did the idea come before you left?
The inspiration came while we were on the road. The #FollowMeTo thing has become so world renown that it’s almost a cliche’ now. However one day while driving I suggested that we mimic their pictures with our pups. Since Huskies can’t resist to pull as soon as you put them on a leash it seemed only natural to call it #PullMeTo.
What challenges did traveling 12,000 miles with two large dogs present?
Traveling with the dogs was not a huge hassle. The biggest challenge was with the national parks not allowing dogs on a majority of the hiking trails. This severely limited our ability to get to some of the most scenic places with them. So we made due with scenic vistas just off the road or close to our camp sites.
With your wife working now, do you envision being able to pack up the Eurovan with Nico and Taj and let them lead you on an epic 12,000 mile adventure ever again?
After our travels we purchased a beautiful home in Reno, Nevada. With the wife starting her career and me being busy in my own, I regretfully have to say we plan to sell the Eurovan this summer. We do have some long term goals to buy a larger Sprinter van and converting it ourselves into a camper set up. We love to travel but both agree now is the time to concentrate on our careers for a while before the next big adventure begins. In the mean time we plan to do more international travel since we checked off a good amount of the places we wanted to see in the States.
I would be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed with that last answer. Majeczky’s film is one of my favorites wanderlust films that I have seen in years, and I was hoping to get a sequel this summer. But at least we know the couple isn’t ready to hang up their #VanLife cleats just yet, and plan to take the challenge on again in the future.
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