Month: July 2018

Ranger has never been a dog to nap on car rides. He either sticks his head out the window to pick up on local scents, enjoying what we like to call ‘smell-o-vision’, or he’s standing in the back seat looking dejected. The longest car ride that he’s ever been on is to our favorite campground in western Maryland, about a 3-hour drive. Sometimes, on these longer drives he would look a bit like a horse sleeping standing up, a really awkward pose where it looks like he has locked his knees and is leaning sideways against the seat back. We noticed his discomfort many times and hypothesized that this was a remnant of being car sick as a puppy – perhaps he was still getting nauseous when not looking at the horizon, or perhaps it’s just an odd personality trait. As this trip approached and we saw little improvement we decided that he would eventually get over it. That was until the first really good driving day of the trip – From Akron, OH to Higgin’s Lake, MI, about an 8 hour drive…

By the second half of the trip, he looked miserable. We had spent the night before at our friend Ann’s house and stayed up late watching movies. The next morning Kelly woke up early to get a head start on work and naturally Ranger woke up with her. So, when we climbed into the truck that afternoon for a long drive he was probably already tired. Once we noticed how dead exhausted he was and how he refused to lie down for more than a few minutes we really started to study the issue. For the next few hours of the trip the 4Runner became a mobile dog behavior research facility. Our conclusion? He didn’t like the bumping on his soft little belly. At every seam, dip, or rumble he would immediately jump up to a standing or sitting position.

Off to Walmart we went. One double bed egg-crate mattress folded thrice later and Ranger is now a car napping dog. For the last few days he has adopted the standard dog behavior of passing out cold as soon as we go above 50mph. He’s still exhausted and cranky but now at least we can attribute this to general travel and the need to guard the trailer from every bump in the night.

Sweet Dreams Ranger 😊

Tripometer – 992 mi

Gas Gauge – 80.821

Location – North Higgins Lake State Park, MI

Lodging – $32

Today was a travel day. We moved the rig from Ann’s place near Akron, OH to upper middle Michigan – North Higgin’s Lake State Park. We pulled in well after dark and had a little contest to see how fast we could get set up for bed. Total Time, a little over 30min (almost no leveling needed).

NOTE: This trip has a side story – See ‘The Princess Dog and the Pea’

Tripometer – 602 mi

Gas Gauge – 46.030

Location – Cuyahoga Falls, OH

NEW METRIC – Lodging – FREE!

We traveled from Ohiopyle State Park to Cuyahoga Falls, OH to visit Ann at her new place before she runs off to the San Diego Comicon. Upon finding out she had not been to her nearest drinking establishment we retired to the Brick House Tavern & Tap for dinner, drinks and general frivolity. Ending the evening with ‘East of Eden’ and a bottle of wine we then enjoyed our last proper bed for a while. Thanks to Ann and Bella for a great evening and wonderful hospitality!

Tripometer – 501mi

Gas Gauge – 46.030gal

Location – Pittsburgh, PA

No travelling today. Stratis gave us a fantastic tour of some of the best sites in Pittsburgh. We saw some amazing turn of the century buildings in and around Pittsburgh, visited The Point, The U of Pitt Cathedral of Learning, and rounded off the day at the Pittburgh Vintage Grand Prix. Seeing vintage cars racing on a closed city circuit was a new experience for me! I’ve never seen a Mini-Cooper Van before.

Tripometer – 501mi

Gas Gauge – 46.030gal

Location – Pittsburgh, PA

Visiting Stratis in Pittsburgh. Enjoyed seeing the progress on their DIY project of a lifetime. Seeing the scale of a true old home renovation will give me pause when I complain about my home DIY from now on. Had a lovely Greek dinner on the front porch overlooking the Mellon Estate grounds across the street.

Tripometer – 425mi

Gas Gauge – 29.126gal

Location – Ohiopyle State Park, PA

Once Kelly finished work for the day we traveled from Harrisonburg, VA to Ohiopyle State Park, PA on the way to visit Stratis & Regina in Pittsburgh, PA. We couldn’t resist stopping at Cooter’s of The Dukes of Hazard fame. Cooter and his band still play here every Saturday. Kelly very wisely purchased a battery operated button for our dashboard that plays the General Lee’s Dixie song whenever we see something that strikes us as excessively redneck.

  

Tripometer – 225mi

NEW METRIC! Gas Gauge – 18.745gal

Location – Harrisonburg, VA

While Kelly and Patti worked, Tim took me on a tour of his favorite fishing spots in and around the GW National Forest. We had tremendous success bringing back 4 tasty trout for dinner. We also visited Patti & Tim’s cozy mountain cabin  lovingly referred to as their “Meth Shack”

Tripometer – 213mi

Location – Harrisonburg, VA

Patti and Kelly had to work today. Paul and Tim played in the workshop building a bathroom vanity and went fishing in the afternoon. This ~15″ rainbow trout sets a pretty high bar for the rest of the trip! Caught and released in the George Washington National Forest, right behind the house Tim grew up in.

Tripometer – 202mi

Location – Harrisonburg, VA

Finally on the road! The house has been reduced to a finely packed 19 feet of plywood and styrofoam. The first fully packed haul is complete and the trailer pulled well (even up mountains). Spending a few nights with Paul’s sister Patti & husband Tim in Harrisonburg.

 

Hello Everyone! The past few months have been an absolute whirlwind of activity. Making the decision to go on an extended road trip was a lot easier than actually making it a reality. From buying a trailer, to figuring out where to store the gas can — this has been a journey in rearranging our entire lives!

I have been procrastinating this blog day-after-day since we bought the domain name in March. Once we begin our travels I plan on updating this blog with our plans, activities, pictures, and thoughts from the road. I want to talk a bit about the work we’ve done over the past few months to shift from single family home living to living and working on the road. Several of the blog posts coming up will be based on things we worked on and conquered weeks ago, so bear with my memory.

How this all got started

In mid-February of this year my company informed me that my job would be moving to New Jersey. Rather than accept a job in glorious suburban New York, I decided to move on.

Kelly currently works 100% from home out of an office in our basement. This arrangement provides a tremendous amount of work / life freedom for both Kelly and me.

It didn’t take us long to realize that the happy coincidence of these two things provided us the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take a several-months-long road trip around North America. Kelly and I have always enjoyed our road trips. In the past we have traveled across the country by car twice — once from MD to Yellowstone/Grand Tetons and once from MD to Utah. Both of these trips were tremendously successful and left both of us with the desire to do something similar again. It has long been a fantasy for both of us to wander the country with no set destination or schedule and we’re both looking forward to this trip as the road trip of a lifetime.

What’s going on right now

In March we purchased a 2018 Jayfeather 19XUD. I will get more into our trailer shopping journey at a later time, but for now, here’s a picture of the trailer and the layout of the inside.

Today is (hopefully) our last full day before we hit the road. We’re running errands and packing like chipmunks in the fall.

What’s next

I have a dentist appt. tomorrow which delayed our leaving by a few days. I like to say that, but the reality of it is that we probably wouldn’t have been ready to leave until Monday anyway. Week One has us visiting friends on our way West and North through Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Our first camping destinations are going to be the Michigan Upper Peninsula and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in Northern Minnesota, all hopefully starting early week of July 15th.

I’ll try and post frequently!

Paul