Following is the first entry in my Traveling Dog Lady "diary" for our cross-country trip that just ended a few days ago. I began making journal entries about a month before the trip began. So, I will be posting here weekly as you travel along with us on our Epic Road Trip.
A few notes before the journal journey begins: We had allotted for a full 30 days, but we ended up completing the trip in only 20 days.
We "flew by the seat of our pants" in terms of booking reservations as we did not want to be on a set schedule, having to rush somewhere or whatnot. We were lucky to be able to secure reservations everywhere we wanted with only a day's notice, sometimes less. I wouldn't necessarily recommend this in summer, but it certainly worked out for us in September.
We departed on the trip September 4th, a couple days after Labor Day. I wrote the first journal entry in August, in anticipation of the trip. Here goes!
August 10, 2025
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina- Home Base
We are about to embark on our first cross-country trip together.
This is the trip I dreamed of many years ago when I started TravelingDogLady.com. It is finally, finally happening. But I'm not gonna lie, I am nervous. I envisioned it a little differently than the trip Brad and I have planned. I’m taking a leap and trying to stay open to other ideas other than what I had seen in my mind’s eye for the last two or so decades. We will be doing a combination of tent camping, van life, and pet-friendly hotels and Airbnbs. Not the RV I had imagined we would be driving. That may come later, IF we like this trip.
Let’s not forget that we and the dogs are all seniors. So, it’s entirely possible we may get too many aches and pains, be too uncomfortable or cranky to do this again. But for now, we are taking a month off and heading west with Charlie and Petey.
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| The dogs, and all our gear in the minivan. |
You see, I have been to the western U.S. many times, by airplane. I've been all over Europe. But I've never seen the United States by road, and have never crossed the Mississippi or the Missouri rivers by road – only by air. I've never seen the Grand Canyon except for flying over it.
When I was a kid, my family did road trips to and from Illinois twice a year. We were from Illinois but we lived in Massachusetts. That's as far west as I have ever gone by automobile. So, I’m excited to finally do this.
When I first started TravelingDogLady, it was because of a dream to finally see my own country on road trips with my dogs. The dogs I had at the time, Hobie and Hector, wouldn’t be the ones. It turns out it wouldn’t even be Charlie and Cooper, the two I had elected second! Instead, it’s Charlie and Petey! Hey, at least I got it half right. And Petey may be Hobie reincarnated… so there’s that.
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| Charlie and Petey sitting together in a hotel room. |
The initial plan is to book nothing in advance, something that, as a former tour operator, is pretty foreign to me! Brad is very adventurous. I’m more of a planner. AND, I got spoiled working in the travel industry because I used to get all fancy accommodations. This will be more like roughing it, and low-budget hotels with the dogs in tow. As well as flying by the seat of our pants in terms of where we’ll be staying each night,
I did manage to convince him that we should book a hotel for the first night. About three weeks before the trip, I used BringFido.com and booked one night in a pet-friendly hotel in Alabama. I based that location on about a 6 or 7-hour driving day for our first day, and we also wanted to get west of Atlanta before stopping for the night.
The plan is to drop off our cat, Tux, at our local pet resort early that morning, having packed the car the night before. Tux will be staying at the resort for an entire month. He being 16 years old, it worries me a little. I’ve never left a pet for that long in my entire life. This is all new to me. My entire reason for never being away from home longer than, say, two weeks, was my pets. In this instance, only one pet is staying behind, and he loves being at the resort. He would get more attention there than if we kept him at our house with a drop-in sitter. I think he would be very sad if he was all alone at home. As it is, he often walks around yowling, looking for me, seeking attention. The resort staff plays with him and they have toys (something he doesn’t get at home because the dogs would steal them).
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| Tux at the pet resort |
September 4th can’t come fast enough as I'm interested to see how the first night turns out.
To help find places to stay while on the road, I downloaded several apps onto my phone. The KOA Campgrounds app, because most KOA Campgrounds are dog-friendly. HotelTonight app was recommended by a friend. You can find hotels available “tonight” in the city where you're located. BringFido which I mentioned above, and RoadTrippers where I planned out our proposed trip.
I spent the last few months mapping out the trip on my Roadtrippers account. I was able to do several versions. I recommend this program because you can see a map of the whole country, and it gives you places to stop such as museums and other attractions, plus you can look up hotels, restaurants and even rest areas and truck stops. You can modify your trip as many times as you want, and can choose different dates and stops along the way. They provide turn-by-turn directions, but it's a little difficult to find this feature and I have to hunt for it every time I want to see the directions. That's probably one of the only negative features of the program I can think of. (I do NOT get compensated* by Roadtrippers, BringFido, or anyone else mentioned in this post, by the way).
*At this time, I have suspended all my arrangements with affiliates. I am not getting compensated for any products or services mentioned.
Next up! Epic Road Trip Pre-Trip Musings continue!
Check back here every Monday, and on Substack!
