Roadtrekingmike

One of the main reasons people buy RVs is because they like to travel with their dogs. But the fact is, not all places are dog friendly. If you want to bring your pooch along, you need to make some adjustments. On our big Roadtreking Family Vacation of 2013 out west, we traveled with six adults, two kids and three dogs. You need to understand, our dogs are big dogs. Their heads are the size of most other RVers pets. The lightest among them is my Norwegian Elkhound, Tai. He weighs 70 pounds. Next was my daughter Wendy’s Goldendoodle, Charlie, at 75 pounds. Then came my son Jeff’s part St Barnard and husky, Sequoia, who weighs 120 pounds. We went everywhere we wanted to go but we encountered several places – usually in National Parks – where dogs were not allowed. That required some dog juggling. One of us would usually volunteer to get dog duty, staying back at the camp or in the RV watching the dogs while the others went sightseeing. Most typically, dogs are not allowed on hiking trails that would put them near wildlife. Dogs are naturally protective of their people. So are animals of their young. If a dog spots a mama bear on a hike, its’s going to bark and growl. That only antagonizes the bear. So you can see why the Park Service has that rule. Still, there were several places, even a couple of trails, where dogs could go. They can be walked around the campsites, on the main roads and in parking lots and we never were at a loss about where to walk the dogs. Most beaches prohibit dogs. Most, but not all. We have found several beaches in our travels with Tai this year where dogs are allowed near the water. Usually, if you ask around at the campground, you’ll learn that almost every community has a no leash dog park, often with water access for the pups to play. The dogs are also people magnets. Almost everywhere we went on our family vacation, people flocked to meet the dogs. Not everyone likes dogs, however. At Rocky Mountain National Park, my daughter had Charlie on a leash at one of the overlooks, where dogs are permitted. A loud mouthed woman in a passing car rolled down the window and screamed at the top of her lungs, “No dogs allowed.” That was not true. Dogs are allowed in most of the public areas, just not on the backwoods hiking trails. It is easy to understand why some people are upset about seeing dogs. Just look around at the ground in rest areas and campgrounds and you’ll see the reason. Dog poop. Inconsiderate dog owners – slobs – who refuse to pick up their pet’s waste. We always travel with a plastic bag in our pockets and we always clean up after our dogs. But so many pet owners don’t. And that gives all dogs a bad name. We also always keep our dogs on leashes or, at the campground, tied on ropes. Sequoia and Tai are pretty calm. But they will gladly chase a deer if it passes by. Charlie is a barker and there were many times when we put him in time out because he was too excited by all the people walking past. We also kept him inside my daughter’s trailer until late morning, so he didn’t wake other campers with his excited yips and barks. The sun is a big issue for dogs. They sweat only through their mouths and they always need shade. At camp, even on cloudy days, we extended awnings to give them a cool place, always with a bowl of water close by. Tai and Charlie liked to hang out under the trailer. Sequoia preferred the shade of a tree. Dogs are social animals and they like to be around their people, their pack. We also used the Roadtrek as a big dog kennel. Our 24-foot eTrek is fine for Jennifer and me and Tai. But add Sequoia and Charlie and the aisle got pretty crowded. The dogs didn’t mind because the air conditioning kept things comfortable. We never left an animal in the Roadtrek without a human tender. Can you imagine how horribly hot and dangerous it would be inside an RV if the AC stopped working? Dogs are also prohibited from most stores and buildings. When shopping, we’d leave the dogs with one person for a few minutes. Then someone else would change places, so we all could shop and the dogs always had a human with them. Like people, dogs need breaks from long driving down the interstate. But be aware of where you walk them in rest areas. Dogs are often prohibited in picnic areas, again, because of the inconsiderate actions of those who don’t clean up after their animals. Be careful where you walk them. In the west and south, poisoness snakes are often in the underbrush just past the green grass. Ticks are also a problem in spring and early summer. In February, Tai picked up two ticks from a five minute walk in a per exercise area at a rest stop along I-75 in Tennessee. Those are some of my observations after a couple of seasons of RVing with dogs. How about you? What tips can you suggest? Use comments below.

Is there anything more exciting about leaving on an RV Trip? Anticipation fuels each mile. Excitement about what lies ahead runs high. The sights are new, the day’s drive full of expectation. Conversely, is there anything more mind-numbing than the drive back home? Been there, done that syndrome kicks in. The vacation is over. There are so many miles to go on a road we’ve traveled before. On return from many a previous trip, Jennifer and I would resolve ourself just to drive. To get home as fast as possible. We drove 728 miles home from Branson in one day after attending the Roadtrek rally this past May. We’ve driven 20 hours straight home from Georgia. Twenty-four from Florida. But as we finished the Great Roadtreking Family Vacation of 2013 – our two and a half week trip to Colorado – we determined to do things differently. I was towing a travel trailer that my daughter, Wendy, husband Dan and granddaughters Hua Hua and Rachel (and Charlie their Goldendoodle) used. They were following behind our Roadtrek eTrek in our Honda Pilot. Son Jeff had left a few days earlier because he and wife, Aimee, needed to be back at their jobs on Monday. Our trip from Colorado was a giant circle tour of the state, starting at Colorado Springs, working southwest to Mesa Verde, up through Telluride, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, on to the Colorado Monument and finishing in the Rocky Mountain National Park. Except for a small slice of Wyoming, our return route was pretty much the same as our going out route – I-80 straight across the corn belt of Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois and Indiana to our Michigan home. I had planned to take three days to return, using the time to catch a couple of attractions on the way back. But those darn Rocky Mountains had a hold on us and we stayed an extra day. It was so hard to start back. Our exit from the state took us out US34, Big Thompson Road east from Estes Park. This little stretch of highway was like a final message from Colorado, asking “are you sure you really want to leave?” presenting us with some of the most beautiful scenery we’d seen anywhere. Bordered by the Big Thompson River and walled in by massive canyon walls, it was the perfect mountain drive. You don’t make good time on Big Thompson Road, especially towing a trailer around those steep curves. But you do enjoy every minute of it. We had a pair of walkie talkies that we used to communicate between vehicles. That helped with the boredom of the return drive. We delighted in the bison we saw after entering Wyoming from Colorado and the stark but equally beautiful contrast of the range land to the mountains we had just left. Then came the lush green and endless cornfields of Nebraska and Iowa, the tassled tops waving like an undulating sea in the wind. Beautiful. I found AM radio stations and listened to small town announcers fret about dropping corn and wheat prices in the increasingly dry weather as they speculated on the chances for rain and the quality of this year’s crops. You can tell so much about an area by listening to AM radio. Even the local advertisements are entertaining. We stopped at rest areas to walk the dogs and to have lunch together. Along I-80, Nebraska and Iowa have great rest areas, spaced about 25 miles or so apart. Except for the rattlesnake warning signs in western Nebraska, there were pleasant spots for the dogs. We kicked on the rear air conditioning in the Roadtrek and all of us – four adults, two kids and two dogs – squeezed into the back of the Roadtrek for communal meals. Wendy researched and found two great overnight spots for us for the return trip. In Nebraska at Exit 312, we stopped at the Mormon Island State Recreation Area, a quiet, very clean and spacious little campground right on the northeastern side of I-80. Named for the winter stopover used by Mormon emigrants heading westward, the state turned the ”borrow pit” used to provide fill for the interstate into a swimming lake, complete with sandy beach. We had a campfire and made S’Mores. I like my marshmallows on fire, burnt to a crisp, which the girls delighted in providing so they could “watch Grandpa eat fire.” I delight in making them laugh so I devoured way to many flaming torches of gooey sugar puffs until it was time for them to go to sleep. n the morning, we liked the place so much we lingered over another picnic table breakfast of bacon and pancakes. There were only one or two other RVs in the whole park. Most of the grounds were empty. But the park maintenance guy decided that he needed to start cutting the grass right where we were, instead of at the other, vacant end. His unmuffled mower shattered the calm of the place and stopped our conversation, kicking up a cloud of dirt and grass clippings that started to drift onto our food. Jennifer waved her arms and chased him away and we all laughed at the riled Mama Bear as the lawn cutting guy retreated to where he should have started anyway. Further west at Exit 284 in Walcott, Iowa, we stopped for an obligatory visit at the massive Iowa 80 Truck Stop, which proudly proclaims itself to be the world’s biggest. There is a full blown food court there with a slew of fast food restaurants and one sit-down restaurant that boasts a 50-foot salad bar and room to seat 300, as well as truck displays, a sprawling truckers warehouse store with everything from clothing to CB radios and the cleanest restrooms you will find anywhere along the Interstate. Our last night was spent just over the Illinois border, where, four miles from Exit 19, we found the delightful Geneseo Community Campground where owners Craig and Shari Weber runs one of the cleanest, neatest little campgrounds we’ve ever seen. The restrooms and showers look like they are part of a home and the wide grassy and shaded spots are just a stone’s throw off a bike path that follows the Hennepin Canal connecting the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. Hua Hua and I walked the dogs along the path in the morning and marveled at the huge lily pads in the canal, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Then, six hours later, we were back in Michigan. Jennifer and I stopped at Jeff’s house and Kalamazoo for dinner and drove the last two and a half hours under a huge full moon. She popped us a bag of popcorn in the Roadtrek microwave and Tai , our Norwegian Elkhound, scootched forward, between the driver and passenger seats, perfectly positioned to catch the popcorn that dropped as we passed the bag between us. About 10 p.m., we pulled into our driveway. It was a surprisingly relaxed and peaceful drive home from Colorado. Partly because we shared it with family. But mostly because we decided to savor each mile, looking around, stopping when we felt like it and marveling at the countryside. So this RV trip – The Great Roadtreking Family Vacation of 2013 – has come to an end. The Roadtrek is unpacked. Laundry is now done The lawn has been cut and on Monday we set out on our next trip, visiting a few Southern states. Thanks for virtually riding along with us on this adventure. See you out there ....