Day one on the Road

I didn't have Internet access yesterday so I am writing 2 blogs today, depending on time.
We left home a little late yesterday and I still forgot some things! My GPS took me on back roads until almost Kerrville, Texas. I wish it would have warned me that after Kerrville and for well over 100 miles, there is pretty much nothing. No rest areas, no gas stations and pretty much no scenery. I finally found a lone gas station/restaurant and hurried in to use the rest room. The one unisex bathroom was being used by someone very slow. So, I had to use the bathroom in my camper while sitting in the middle of their parking lot. Of course the dogs had the whole world as their bathroom!
At about 5 pm, I was getting ready to find a place to camp. I saw signs for Marfa, but I didn't know how far it was off of I 10. That's when a navigator would come in handy! So I continued until I saw a sign for Balmorhea State Park. Many years ago I went there to be SCUBA certified, but I didn't remember much about it except the lake. When we arrived, the park office was closed but one could register and put your payment in a locked box. The campground was only about 1/4th full so I was able to find a spot near the restrooms, my favorite place! I loved the southwestern look of the camp ground.




I took Seymour and Zooey for a walk around the park and came across a guy in a tent camper with cameras and telescopes set up. His name was Don and he said he was doing a Star Party at 7:30 that night.




Of course I came back at 7:30 and listened in awe at his knowledge of the stars and planets. Guess who was the only geek taking notes?
Did you know that Zenith is the top point in the sky. If you hold your hands straight up and make a small triangle with your hands, and look through it, that is your Zenith. And no one else has the same Zenith.
Did you know that only Mercury, Venus and Earth are rock planets; all the others are gaseous planets. OK, I have lots more where that came from in my trusty notebook.
Don had a computer program that showed the sky in real time. This wasn't a very good shot, but you can see the moon.




The sky was truly magical. One rarely gets to see that many stars because of too many light sources around. This area, which includes Big Bend, is open sky and little human habitation. I actually set my alarm for 5 am, because Don said the most stars could be seen then. But Zooey had to go the the bathroom at 4 am, so I took them out, looked at the beautiful sky and turned off my alarm.

I couldn't get a good picture, but the Davis Mountains surround the camp grounds. I could have easily stayed there another night to watch Part 2 of Don's Star Party, but I have places to go.
I didn't rush out in the morning. We walked, enjoyed the views and left at about 10 am.
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Slowly Finishing the Packing

My goal was to leave at 9 am this morning. Now I am hoping to leave by 10 am. Everything seems to be fitting in the camper, if I don't need to sleep on my bed!



I still have to fill the ice chest, check my list, and finish the routine around here.

Seymour and Zooey know that something is going on and they are afraid that they aren't included, so they are just about stuck to me as I am writing this. They may wish I had left them at home after a week or so!




I bought a new camera since none of my others seem to be working, and now see it is a wifi with no place to put a memory card. The memory card is what I've always used to put pictures on my iPad, so hopefully I will figure it out.

Not sure where we are stopping tonight but I don't think this will be a long travel day. I'm starting off tired from all the packing!


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Location:Wimberley, TX

Getting Ready for our Trip out West

We have one week before we leave and I have a lot to pack. I am not sure how long we will be gone so I am planning for a possible extended trip.

I know I want to bring as many Christmas gifts as possible so I don't have to think about mailing them on time. And I usually shop all year so now I just have to find - and wrap them.

To start, I wrote a list of what I need for Seymour and Zooey. Their crate and blanket is already in the camper but still the list is long:

1. Zooey's rabies tag - since she is too small to wear a collar, I haven't figured out how to attach it to her, and now I can't remember where I put it!
2. Both dogs health records - just in case I need to board them.
3. Allergy meds - just in case.
4. Heartworm meds - they will be due to take them when we are gone, most likely. And since they only take their meds if they are mixed with vanilla ice cream, I will also need to bring 2 small bowls.
5. Food - I don't want to have to find their favorite food in an emergency so I will bring a few cans and some dry food.
6. Treats - I have started making them beef and chicken jerky since there have been problems with the store bought kind, especially those made in China. I will also bring their dried chicken treats that I often use to reward them for allowing me to cut their nails. Spoiled?
7. Nail clippers and scissors - emergency grooming. After our trip to Italy, I realized how important nail clippers are!
8. Wipes - to keep them clean between baths. I doubt if they will get a bath on this trip, which will make them very happy.
9. Ear meds - Zooey especially seems to have problems with her ears. She will let me massage her ear as much as I want when I put her meds in.
10. Sling and purse - having 2 dogs, it is easier to carry them if one is in the sling. The purse is for emergency stealth occasions. On a former trip, my camper broke down and I had to stay in a "no dogs allowed" hotel. That doggy purse was a life saver. Not sure I could do the same with 2 dogs, but hopefully I won't need to.
11. Extra poop bags - obvious reason.
12. Bowls and a folding bowl to attach to leash.
13. Brush - mostly for Zooey
14. lint roller - mostly for Seymour. He does love being rolled and I love seeing the loose hair on the roller and not on my clothes.
15. Clothes - Zooey needs clothes that have the hook to attach her leash. Seymour has some halters that have the hooks, but he also gets cold easily so he needs some extra layers.
16. Chew bones - neither are into toys but periodically they like to gnaw on a bone or my fingers.
17. Toothpaste and tooth brushes - not their favorite activity to share with me, but if they sleep in my bed, they need to have semi- clean breath.

I think that is all they need, at least I hope so! I haven't even started my list, but we do still have a week.


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March Against Monsanto - May 25, 2013

This is a very late post but I wanted to share it. After reading lots of information I didn't like about our food and my dogs food, I decided to join in the March Against Monsanto in Austin, Texas.

The morning of the March, I woke up with bad allergy symptoms, it was raining and the meeting place to start the March was over an hour from my house. Zooey and Seymour weren't crazy about the rain, either. But I decided it was important enough to attend. I put Seymour in a bee costume because the bee population is decreasing - and he doesn't mind dressing up. Unfortunately, I don't have a good picture. But if you look closely, you can see a little bit of Seymour and his yellow bee costume in my arms in the picture someone took of us.



When we got to the starting point, I was excited to have found a parking place nearby. I found a ticket on my car when we got back, but that's another story. I put the dogs in their stroller and we joined the March. What a great feeling to be marching for a cause with families, friends and even other people with their pets. I had tears, not just rain in my eyes! Seymour wasn't impressed because if you have read my blog you would know that he hates live music, which includes marching bands. So, that is why he was tightly held by me throughout the parade while I pushed Zooey in the stroller.

During the march my phone rang and it was my daughter. I said "Sorry, I can't talk right now, I'm in the middle of a protest march". How often can a mother say that to her daughter?

When we marched to the Capitol I decided not to stay for the festivities. If my dogs could clap, they would have. Here is a picture of Seymour and Zooey in their stroller - which was the only doggie stroller in the March. My dogs will do just about anything to be with me and I was happy to have my best friends there for this important experience.



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Location:Austin, Texas

Getting Used To Traveling With 2 Dogs

I am very behind in my posting but we plan to do more camping soon. A few months ago my neighbor Mary went camping with me, Seymour and Zooey in my new old 1997 Roadtrek. I was excited to see that I had two sleeping areas in the van. There is the back bed and then the front passenger set and the seat behind it also makes into a bed. It's actually very comfortable.




We headed off for a 2 day trip to Guadalupe River State Park. Luckily we arrived early enough to pick a camping spot beside the restrooms. I still haven't tried to set up the toilet in the camper. The dogs eagerly road in their crate and just as eagerly wanted to check out the smells around our camper when we got there.

I have to say that it is so nice having all dogs on leashes and not worrying about a dog running loose and heading toward your dogs! My neighborhood has a number of dog owners who don't seem to care about the safety of their dogs or the leash laws.

Back to the camping trip. It was very hot and when we started taking walks, neither dog wanted to walk very far. So Mary and I ended up carrying them most of the way. I wished I had brought the harnesses I bought that you wet and put in the frig before you put them on the dogs. They probably wished I had brought them, also!

Both Seymour and Zooey chose to sleep in the bed with Mary instead of sleeping in their crates beside me. So much for my best friends.

I am finding it easier to take both dogs with me for travel and shopping. They have become inseparable pals.

This camping trip was a good, short test for us. We are planning another short camping trip soon and then a longer cross country trip in October.

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Home

For some reason my blog from yesterday won't post. First I thought it was due to the campground wifi, but now I'm home and it still won't post.

Here are some interesting pieces of information I hadn't put in my blogs:

1. Gas was about $3.19 around Tampa Bay but got steadily higher as I went north. Gas was cheaper in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana than in most of Texas.

2. None of the rest stops in any of the States I went through allowed over night camping. Even when they had 24 hour security, it still said no over night parking. That is a shame.

3. What the dogs seemed to miss most, besides their regular dog food, was going into a building. We did stay at La Quinta 2 nights so the other 3 nights they headed for any door they were near. I guess they were getting stir crazy in the camper. And they were too little to jump on the bed, so they had limited floor space to roam. Of course, at home they are stuck to me like magnets although they have the whole house to roam!

4. I have never seen so many CVS and Walgreens as I did in Florida. They seemed to be on every corner. I guess they are meeting the needs of all the retires.

5. When using my GPS, it tells me my speed. But my van will show 70 mph and they GPS will say I am going 65. I wanted to go through a construction zone where they show your speed to see which was right. I went with the GPS.

6. I love traveling with the dogs. When I was gripping the wheel tightly during the high winds, and probably complaining, each dog would come up front to check on me. I would pet them on the head and say "Everything is all right ", and they would go back to their carrier. It calmed me down when they did that.

We drove about 7 hours today and I decided to just come home instead of trying to find a campground. As much as I loved the trip, the dogs and I are happy to be home! But I am already planning our next trip.

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Location:Texas

Biloxi, Mississippi

We finally got through Florida. The northern part was all tall trees and few towns, so it was much easier driving. I was getting a little low on gas so I can't remember which town we were in, but I used my GPS to find a Walmart. It sold gas and if you had a Walmart gift card, the gas was 5 cents cheaper. I bought the card and paid $3.18/gal. My MPG was about 16 1/2 and that was driving mostly against the wind. My old van only got about 12.

I did some Walmart shopping and broke down and bought a pillow, some junk food, paper goods and Dog food. I haven't been able to find their kind of food and they won't eat anything else. I finally found some Seymour will eat but Zooey is still holding out. Not that she won't eat a few chips, but no semi healthy dog food!

We quickly drove through Alabama and in to Mississippi. I love all of the water around here. Beautiful! When we got to Biloxi, it was like little Atlantic City, casinos everywhere. I am not complaining about that, but none had camp sites. I stopped at the Visitor's Center and heard about the Cajun RV park, near a casino, and off we went.

I finally set up the camper, plugged in the electric, turned on the A/C, swiveled the passenger seat toward the back and logged on to the free wifi.

Here are pics of the inside of the camper. That is Seymour and Zooey in their bed and my bed behind them. My bed became our bed during the night.




This is the front of the camper. Notice the chairs facing each other? A great lounging area.



After the dogs were fed and walked, I headed to the casino for a few hours of fun. I ordered a shrimp poboy to eat back in the camper. When I got back, the camper was dark. No lights, no A/C. Luckily it was pretty cool outside. All I had was one of those thumb sized pinch flashlights. I checked the electric connection and the fuse box (not an easy thing to find) and still no power.

I finally decided to at least eat my poboy while I contemplated my options. A shrimp poboy should never be eaten in the dark. I heard the first shrimp hit the floor almost immediately and by the time I was done, I squeezed the little light to see a family of breaded shrimp on the floor. And the dogs wanted nothing to do with them.

Back to the electrical problem. I was cussing out Meryl, my camper's new name, because I thought she done me wrong. Then, with no other options I opened a few windows to get a little breeze and tried out the bed. It's not bad. I do like the layout of this camper and how they used the minimal space so well. It's a shame I couldn't see it.

But, sometime during the night, I was awakened by a light in the camper. The electric had came on! Don't know what happened but I'm pretty sure Meryl wasn't to blame for the lack of power. Since I am now wide awake, I decided to write my blog. Besides, Seymour and Zooey have decided they like the middle of my bed best!



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