Traveling Dog Lady: October 2025

Monday, October 27, 2025

Epic Road Trip, Part 5: Texas and New Mexico

September 7, 2025

Santa Rosa, New Mexico

Today was my favorite day! I’m writing this from (yes) another La Quinta, this time in Santa Rosa. Maybe La Quinta will give me some influencer money hahaha. Seriously, I do not receive any compensation from any of the companies mentioned here.

So, today was my fave day. I achieved a goal that I wrote about in my Dear Hobie book. I’ve always wanted to drive Route 66 and I’ve always wanted to visit Cadillac Ranch in Texas. I did both today!

Route 66 was established on November 11, 1962. The road was decommissioned in 1985, so it’s not really a route anymore, but it was declared a Historic Monument in 1991 by Congress, so the route (what’s left of it) is marked with signs and you can follow along with it on Interstate 40. But today, we drove ON Route 66 that runs alongside I-40. It was so cool and we laughed.



Then, Cadillac Ranch, which technically is on Route 66 but it’s kind of not. Hard to explain. Anyway, this was a goal of mine for many years because I used to drive a 1963 Cadillac Coupe deVille. The thing was 18 feet long, and had fins. It was such a cool car. I drove that car in high school, during the ‘70s, right around the time Cadillac Ranch was created (1974).

Since two of my friends did not know what Cadillac Ranch even was (one thought it was a brothel – no, that’s Chicken Ranch!), here’s a quick description. It’s a work of art, one might call it a sculpture. The artist placed about ten Cadillacs in the ground, face-down, so as to show the back of the cars because the back of a Cadillac is just fabulous with those fins and huge lights, chrome bumpers. Oh my! it is just quite a car.

The sculpture features Cadillacs from 1949 through 1963! So, today, I had my picture taken in front of the last car in the row.

Now, what’s weird about Cadillac Ranch is that the cars were placed in the ground, then moved to another location, and then, for some reason people started painting them with spray paint. The attraction is FREE, and there were dozens of people there today, on a Sunday in September. Dogs are welcome. There were several dogs besides ours. A quick walk across a dirt field takes you from where you park (on the side of the road) to the cars. Even my Charlie had no problem, and he’s almost 14. He did such a good job! Good boy!

Charlie Brown dog (and hubby) at Cadillac Ranch

There is a truck vendor where you can buy spray paint, or you can bring your own. Also, there’s a guy selling souvenir jewelry and keychains made from chips of paint that falls off the cars. We didn’t spray paint anything. We just wanted pictures. I did buy some paint chip souvenir art.

I took a picture of each car. Then had my picture taken while standing between the 1962 and 1963 models.

The cars are loaded with layers of spray paint from the past 51 years. They are sort of unrecognizable as a car. “What is that thing?”, a friend asked when I texted her a picture. Another friend said she knew it was a car, but wondered what was sticking out from the side? I told her it was the open door of the 1949 car, and it has been painted so many times it’s thick, thick, thick with paint making it unrecognizable.

After that, I drove from Texas to New Mexico. Since we were in the Panhandle, it wasn’t much of a drive at all.

The scenery of New Mexico is incredible. I am in awe.

As luck would have it, we rolled into Santa Rosa before our room was ready. So, I parked downtown while Brad mailed a birthday card to his sister and went to the grocery store. I was parked in the shade near a courthouse and I was hesitating to walk the dogs around a government building, but I did it anyway. And then I noticed poop bag stations all around the entire courthouse. It was a dog-friendly park! There was also a bathroom for humans near the park, but it was locked. It’s a cute little town!

This hotel is a little different from the last one, as every La Quinta seems to be unique. This one has no carpeting in the room, so Charlie is a tad uncomfortable, but it’s only for one night.

Mom! No carpet!

Tomorrow – more time in New Mexico, exploring. Until then!


September 8, 2025

Gallup, New Mexico

I can’t believe I’m here. Who’d have ever thought I’d be in New Mexico?!

Today, we cross-crossed Route 66 multiple times, I cheered each time.

We both had a little bit of altitude sickness overnight last night. I had a really bad night, but I have acclimated now. We went from 4,100 feet to around 7,000 feet. Brad said not to worry about it, it will go away in about a day. Well, he was right, it did, and we had a great day. But I’m tired from lack of sleep.

We left Santa Rosa, NM in the morning with the first stop being Santa Fe, NM the state capital that sits at 7,000 feet. We walked around Santa Fe, and went into some shops. Dogs are allowed in almost every shop. Of course, I didn’t know that so Brad waited outside with the dogs while I went into a much-too-expensive jewelry store. The woman working there said “Oh, you can bring them in, dogs are welcome in almost all the stores here.” Knowing I wasn’t about to buy anything at those prices, I politely thanked her and said I’ll be right back with the dogs, and then we left haha. Sorry! But no.

I did get a great picture of Brad and the dogs sitting in front of the jewelry store.

Then, we went to the “Five and Dime” store (that’s what it’s called. It’s a throwback to the old Woolworth-style stores. Dogs allowed inside AND there are restrooms AND food! Yay! We got a Route 66 fridge magnet. If you haven’t seen our fridge magnet collection, it is quite something.

We walked around a little bit, but Petey was barking at all the other dogs, and we still had several stops to make, so we left after about an hour and ten minutes.

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We then drove to Albuquerque. Our main objective was to visit the Breaking Bad Store (and Museum for $5 each). Which we did, but not without some hiccups. Another couple with two dogs went into the store ahead of us, Of COURSE. It’s a tiny little store, but we tried to be in there together. No dice. Petey went bananas barking like an idiot. I took both dogs and went outside to wait until the other people left. That wasn’t great either because when they DID leave, Petey went nuts again. We had to go around the corner to get out of the line of sight.

The Breaking Bad Store & Museum

I went into the store, and we bought some more fridge magnets. Some of the stuff in there is so fun and funny. We watched the entire series Breaking Bad while we were dating, and then watched the entire series AGAIN during the pandemic. So, we just love it. Also, its prequel Better Call Saul. Two of the best shows ever made in my opinion. The store was very fun. I didn’t buy anything, but you can buy stuff from them online.

After the Breaking Bad store, we walked around a little and noticed that the setup of that section of Albuquerque was almost identical to Santa Fe, so we laughed about that.

Then, we got lunch at Taco Bell. hahaha I know, here we are in New Mexico and we go to Taco Bell! But it’s easier with the dogs, when it’s hot out.

The weather was actually quite nice and not too hot. Charlie did GREAT, I was so surprised. He’s really being a trooper.

After that, we drove from Albuquerque to Gallup where we are staying overnight. Nothing much to say about Gallup except the rock formations on the drive here are otherworldly!

I feel better. I seem to be past the altitude sickness for now. It feels exactly like seasickness, for the record. Yuck.

Next Monday: The BIG day: THE GRAND CANYON! Stay tuned.

If you haven’t read my new book, “Dear Hobie: Letters to My Heart Dog” you might want to check it out. Now available on Amazon and elsewhere. eBook on Amazon Kindle; paperback available everywhere. Thanks for reading!

Tuesday, October 21, 2025

Epic Road Trip, Part 4: Across the Mississippi

September 5, 2025

Tonight it looks like Charlie isn’t doing great. Charlie isn’t thrilled to be away from home but I think he’ll be ok. He ate more than Petey did. He’s doing well on walks, and everything seems normal. Charlie doesn’t like the ramp to get into the car, so we utilized the dog-lifting sling to put him back in the car. It worked great because we each lifted one side so it was only 30 pounds for each of us, and Charlie didn’t even realize that he was being transported into the van. I’m glad I brought that thing.

I think Charlie will be fine. He would think we abandoned him if we had left him at the pet resort, or with a sitter. As it is, Tux is at the resort, and I am concerned enough.

Petey seems good. As usual he’s just afraid I’m going to leave him somewhere. The poor thing has been abandoned by so many people, but not us. We are his forever and ever family.

Charlie seems to know that Brad is his ticket back home. Every time Brad leaves the hotel room, Charlie waits at the door. Like Petey does with me.

Charlie snoozing in the hotel room

Today, I visited three new states: Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas. It’s funny because Memphis takes up a tiny corner of the southwestern part of Tennessee, and that’s the part I saw. Whereas MOST of Tennessee is actually closer to where we live, and yet I had never been there! Crazy to think about!

And until this very moment, I had forgotten that my dogs Charlie and Cooper came from Tennessee. I didn’t acknowledge that on the drive. Ugh.

We crossed the Mississippi River! By car! I have flown over the country, but I have never done it by car. So, this is something I’ve always wanted to do. For months, I’ve wondered should I just enjoy the moment, or record the crossing? At the last moment, I decided to record a video of us crossing the river. The water was hard to see. Really all you can see is the bridge, and the old bridge, as you’re going over.



Tomorrow, I will add Oklahoma to my list! DING

I colored in the blank map that I had printed at home. I’ve been to 29 states (including this trip, and previous ones).

States I have visited are shown in green.


I had forgotten about Wisconsin, which I visited when I was a very small child when my grandparents lived there. So I added that in tonight when I was coloring in the map.

Interstate 20 is a trucking route. This was kind of a fascinating learning experience for me. There’s an intermodal terminal along the Mississippi River near Memphis. This happens to be where the main FedEx hub is located, which we drove past — it’s huge.

While the area is very industrial looking, it was interesting to see how the boats, trucks and trains all come together to transport goods across the United States. This doesn’t even include airplanes. I’ve never thought about it until seeing the magnitude of the process while on the road. Next time you order something from Amazon or any other vendor (but wow we saw a lot of Amazon trucks, shipping containers and train cars) realize what it takes to get that little thing from point A to point B. It is no small feat, and some of these companies do it super fast. It’s a remarkable system, and one I felt was underappreciated (by me, at least) until it dawned on me what I was witnessing.


September 6, 2025

Today, we went from Arkansas to Oklahoma. We could have probably gone to the Texas border, but we wanted a slightly shorter day of driving.

So, I’ve added Oklahoma to my list of states visited, and I colored it in on my map. 30 states!

Oops! Enteriing "Klahoma"!


We went to the Meher Baba center in Prague, Oklahoma. We’d been talking about this for months, and it’s so funny but the woman who runs the place is actually in Myrtle Beach this week!

She said someone was covering for her, but we called and then went by and knocked on the door, and no one responded to the phone call or our in-person visit. It’s really even funnier, because I had been wondering how I was going to handle the dogs being with us, and I was thinking we wouldn’t be allowed to bring them into the Baba Center. Well, problem solved because it wasn’t open.

We tried to find the spot where Meher Baba had a terrible car accident in 1952 just outside of Prague, Oklahoma. We were given specific instructions to find the place in the road, but even though we calculated the distance perfectly, we couldn’t figure out exactly where the crash occurred. We were told there were usually flowers around, and someone said the Prague Baba center had purchased the adjacent land and was going to build a memorial of some sort. We saw no indication of any of that. So, we just said some prayerful words as we drove past the spot where we thought it happened according to what we were told. Oh well. Wasn’t meant to be I guess!

Route 62 in Prague, approximately where Meher Baba's crash occurred in 1952
Some say this location is almost the "center of" the United States. Hmmm.


The dogs slept all day in the car, basically. I took them out twice at rest areas. We are exclusively using the sling to lift Charlie into the car now. So, the ramp is probably going to sit in the corner of the van for the rest of the trip. We are on the third day of a 30-day trip lol.

Speaking of Charlie, he had some tummy issues tonight. Sort of. I am a little concerned. The funny thing is both dogs ate tonight when we arrived at the hotel, so I thought that was good. But then we took them out for their last walk before bed, and let’s just say it wasn’t ideal. So I’m a little worried. I can’t imagine what we did wrong because he’s eating the same food he always has, and is drinking the same water we are drinking.

Today, I fulfilled another wish. I drove on I-40 alongside of old Route 66 which was decommissioned years ago, but which still exists in part, and some of it can still be driven on. It is now just a frontage road. But it meanders right alongside Interstate 40 westbound, until it disappears and then reappears again, because certain portions of Route 66 are gone.

I always dreamed of driving on Route 66. I didn’t realize the road is not used as a travel road anymore, until today. Guess I was out of the loop on that one.

So, I got as close as I could. Tomorrow, I will get even closer because I think I’m actually going to drive ON it, when we go to Cadillac Ranch near Amarillo, Texas.

Tonight, we’re staying at our third La Quinta Hotel. The address is “Highway 66” but it’s not that meandering road I saw while we were driving here. But that’s ok. It’s close. The Route 66 Museum is here in this town (Elk City, Oklahoma).

Funny, they couldn’t give us a ground-floor room tonight. I realize it’s Saturday, so I figured that was why. But with two dogs, we were thinking it’s kind of a pain to take them down stairs or on the elevator. In fact, Charlie is terrified of the elevator. When we got back from our evening walk, Brad was talking to a woman in the elevator, and he said “Wow, there are a lot of dogs here tonight.” And she said, “Oh, that’s because there’s a DOG SHOW in town.” He asked where, and she said it’s at the convention center about a mile down the road. It’s unbelievable we were able to get a room knowing that additional information. Many thanks to BringFido.com where I have been booking the rooms (on their app) it hasn’t let us down yet.

Petey says, "I'M not afraid of elevators, though."

This is the best of the three La Quintas we’ve stayed at on this trip. All three are great hotels, but this one is by far the nicest. There’s a great walking area for the dogs. The other two places (Alabama and Arkansas) were a little less safe in terms of dangers to dogs such as holes, cracks, sewer grates, broken glass, construction materials… this place is nice and tidy and NOT under construction.

It seems like everything is under construction right now. It’s September. Right after Labor Day. They must lie in wait all summer and then dive in to do repairs and renovations at these places. Two of the three La Quintas were under repair/renovation. Every Love’s truck stop we’ve gone to has been under repair/renovation.

It’s only been three days. I wonder how many more La Quintas we’ll stay at! If we come back the same route, maybe we’ll simply stay at the same ones again. Who knows?

The moon is almost full, and we can see it from our hotel window.

Tomorrow: Texas! I can’t believe I’m finally going to Texas!! More on that, next time.


Before you go: My new book, “Dear Hobie: Letters to My Heart Dog” is available on Amazon and elsewhere. Hate Amazon? No worries, you can check get it on bookshop.org for the same price (ten bucks). Not interested in a print copy? Have no fear, the e-Book is available for just 99 cents. Thank you in advance for buying and reading. I appreciate you more than you know.

I wrote a book! Psst: it's a memoir.

Next Monday: Texas, Cadillac Ranch, Route 66!