Traveling With Pets
Part Eight: It's not travel if you stay put
As much as we enjoyed our four nights of camping in the Grand Canyon National Park, we had other places to go. Day Six of our travels, we needed to break camp. We weren’t sure how our seven-month-old English Springer Spaniel would handle hitting the road again, after his early bouts of car sickness.
Two-month-old rescue kitten Legolas seemed to believe RV travel with two senior citizen humans and a dog was normal, everyday life. Here he is deciding our “picnic basket” bag of paper goods and plastic utensils is the perfect hangout.
I decided to make reservations at our next hoped for stop: Bryce Canyon National Park. It’s hugely popular although out-of-the-way. We might not luck out getting a campsite like we had at Mesa Verde our first night of travel. The campground had a few spaces left. Yay!
As we feared, Strider was not a happy traveler. He was doing better than the first couple days of our trip. But we stopped frequently to let him stretch his legs.
On a whim, my husband abruptly pulled over outside of Kanab, Utah. He checked inside the museum in a cave. Dogs were welcome. We paid a modest fee (senior discount, of course), and took our puppy inside. I left Legolas in the RV.
The Moqui Cave had an interesting history as the setting for old Western movies. Also of interest was the family history of the cave’s owner. His father had six wives, and many, many children.
The cave’s owner, Garth Chamberlain, must not have remained in his parents’ Mormon faith. At one time, the cave included a bar that served alcohol. Was Moqui Cave a tourist trap? Perhaps, but a fun one worth a stop. Plus they’re pet-friendly.
We traveled on to Bryce Canyon National Park. My husband was wondering what all the hoopla was about. You don’t see much from the road or the campground. We set up camp for the night. Exploring could wait for the morning.
Besides, the weather was definitely winter in this park. We weren’t about to sit outside in our camp chairs. The temperature would dip into the teens at night. The next day, when we hoped to hike around, would be in the twenties. We were both glad we’d brought serious winter coats.
Moving On: I could see the appeal of camping in one spot for a week or two. Especially with a puppy who didn’t seem to enjoy long car rides. But it’s not travel if you stay put. Plus, this was a shakedown trip. We wanted to test out our new-to-us RV and this whole traveling with pets deal. Tempting though it was, the plan never was to stay in one place for more than a few nights.
Lessons learned: Frequent breaks made for slow travel, but seemed to ease our puppy’s discomfort. The kitten didn’t care. Another lesson is to take chances on funky roadside tourist attractions.
Questions: We were fast approaching the conclusion to our trip. Had it been a success? Or was the stress of traveling with pets more than we cared to repeat?
Find out in the ninth installment of Traveling with Pets.
Novels with animal companions by Catherine Dilts:
The Body in the Cattails, available from Harlequin Worldwide Mystery
The Body in the Hayloft, available here
Co-authored with Merida Bass: Grandpa’s New Year’s Relocation, and Grandma’s Valentine Abduction
YA series co-authored with Merida Bass (jungle animals): Frayed Dreams, and Broken Strands
The entire Rose Creek Mystery series, the Tapestry Tales series, and the Ninja Grandparent Placement Mysteries, are available at Basecamp Books and Adventure located at 3918 Maizeland Rd, Colorado Springs, CO 80909 (phone: 1 719 596 1621)