When we rang in 2018 on New Year’s Day last year, we had been traveling full-time for over ten years, and our traveling lifestyle and methods were a well oiled machine. We had lots more travel adventures planned for the future, but we figured they’d be similar to what we’ve been doing for over a decade involving two people, several cameras, a bunch of lenses and a rolling or floating home.
And then we unexpectedly became the owners of a puppy, and our lives were turned upside down!
2018 RV travels – The Year of the Dog!
We didn’t know at the time that in the Chinese calendar 2018 was the Year of the Dog, but we soon discovered that in our own personal calendar that’s exactly what was going on!
Our sweet little puppy, Buddy, stole our hearts. He also stole a bunch of our living space and a lot of our time, but we were happy to give those things up because he was so dear.
Buddy goes from Pound Puppy to Travel Pup!
Suddenly, we were emptying our shelves and closets to make room for bags of dog food. In no time at all we’d acquired 100 lbs. of dog food to feed our 20 lb. dog!
And everywhere we turned we were stumbling over little dog toys. Not only did Buddy have an indoor toy box full of toys he’d received from friends and his indulgent owners, but he also had an outdoor toy box full of treasures he’d found on his own during our walks, from balls to sandals to sticks and gloves.
Adorable Puppy Chow with the first toy he found.
Suddenly our time was no longer entirely our own either. Not only did we need to make time for energetic walks with our puppy morning and night and monitor his nature calls, but every so often a little furry face would pop up in front of us wanting to play.
Let’s play tug!
All of this took quite a bit of getting used to, so we began 2018 by sticking around central Arizona and not traveling too far. At Lake Pleasant and Canyon Lake we got into a rhythm of twice daily walks and training sessions to teach Buddy some basic manners. He proved to be an eager and fast learner.
This was good because in early February we had the extraordinary experience of spending three full days working with a video team to create a video for Camping World’s “RVing is for Everyone” ad campaign.
As part of the video shoot we took Buddy on the fun Dolly Steamboat excursion on Canyon Lake, and we walked all around the Superstition Mountain Museum and the Goldfield Ghost Town near Lost Dutchman State Park.
The Dolly Steamboat ride is a fun excursion on Canyon Lake in the Sonoran Desert.
Buddy peeks out of the outhouse at Goldfield Ghost Town.
Buddy was a trooper through all the commotion of endless re-takes in front of the camera, even though he was just a few months old. The producers didn’t give him a speaking role, but there’s no question he was the star of the show.
We returned to Lake Pleasant to chill a bit after all the excitement of being part of a professional video shoot, and then we headed west to the Colorado River on the Arizona/California border.
Buddy jumps for joy near the Colorado River in Arizona.
As we traveled north along the California side of the Colorado River, Buddy met his first wild burros. One came right up to the truck window to say hello!
On the Colorado River Buddy saw wild burros for the first time.
We continued north along Lake Mead in Nevada where we explored some beautiful red rock outcroppings.
Red rocks are fun to look at but even more fun to climb.
Continuing north into Utah, we drove the eye-popping Scenic Highway 24 through Capitol Reef National Park. This is an “All American Scenic Drive” that is a definite “must do” for all RVers!
Utah’s Scenic Byway 24 is one America’s best scenic drives.
Going north from there, we came to the fabulous red rocks of Goblin Valley State Park where crazy hoodoos fill a valley and kids of all ages and furriness love to play.
At Goblin Valley the cliffs were multi-colored and the hoodoos were a hoot.
It was early April, and as we continued our northward progress through Utah we soon encountered snow and ice in the mountains at Strawberry Reservoir. This is a summertime hot spot, but we loved the stillness and peace of the pre-season.
Strawberry Reservoir is a popular summer getaway, but we loved the quiet of the ice and snow.
In the village of Wanship, Utah, we made a turn in town and suddenly found ourselves right in front of Escapod Teardrop Trailers. This small shop turns out terrific, rugged off-road teardrop trailers, and we got an impromptu and inspiring look at a few.
If you want to get off-road in a rugged teardrop trailer, Escapod has a rig for you!
We continued to press north past Salt Lake City and visited several small lakes and reservoirs that oozed a fairy tale charm when blanketed with a layer of snow.
We saw fairytale landscapes in northern Utah after a dusting of spring snow.
Buddy had his first taste of snow and left his little paw prints on our stairs.
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Bear Lake, located in the north end of Utah, is known for its inviting vivid blue water and is lovingly nicknamed “The Caribbean of the Rockies.” In mid-April it was way too cold for swimming, but with few campers wanting to brave the wintry air at the water’s edge, we were able to watch the wildlife and enjoy the lake in solitude undisturbed.
A loon shakes out his feathers on Bear Lake in Utah.
Bear Lake, Utah.
It was cold at Bear Lake in Spring, but it was wonderfully quiet too.
We headed north and east for a while along wonderful back roads in Wyoming. Winter wasn’t exactly over in this neck of the woods, and as we climbed over mountain passes storms threatened.
The Wyoming mountain passes were a little forbidding.
When we pointed our trailer west again, we found sunshine at lovely Keyhole Reservoir where Buddy posed amid the evergreens and craggy rocks. Mark snapped a pic of him that won a small jackpot in a photo contest a few months later!
Buddy is faster than a speeding bullet and leaps tall bushes with a single bound…
At a quieter and more statuesque moment, Mark took this image and won a photo contest!
We then continued west into Montana to hook up with vacationing family. We explored the National Bison Range and the historic St. Ignatius mission church and enjoyed several outdoor eateries along the way.
The National Bison Range in Montana is known for bison, but we loved the flowers!
The gorgeous east side of Glacier National Park was a glorious next stop with views of soaring jagged peaks, clear blue alpine lakes, and a cool historic lodge.
Glacier Park Lodge at Many Glacier on the east side of Glacier National Park.
What a spot!
It was early June and the Going to the Sun Road was still closed because of icy and avalanche conditions at the peak of Logan Pass. So, we drove, walked and wandered all around the eastern parts of Glacier National Park, especially spectacular Many Glacier, and we took endless photos of wildflowers in front of a snowcapped mountain backdrop.
Wildflowers and snowcapped mountains are a great combo!
Our original goal for the year had been to visit the Upper Peninsula of Michigan over the summer, so we began moving east and a bit south with an eventual arrival there in mind. We visited tiny Choteau, Great Falls and Harlowton in Montana. On the way we were surprised to find ourselves near an Amish community when we turned at Eddie’s Corner.
We came across an Amish community in rural Montana.
We love small towns, and the town of Red Lodge, Montana, charmed us with its main street full of cute shops and bistros. Buddy was particularly fond of the store, “Lewis and Bark’s Outpost.”
The canine explorers that were left out of the history books: Lewis and Bark.
Red Lodge sits at one end of the jaw-dropping Beartooth Scenic Highway, and we drove it several times. Our mouths hung open in awe every single time. It was mid-June and the vast mountain-scapes were still covered with beautiful patterns of snow.
The Beartooth Scenic Highway is stunning.
If you don’t mind cold nights, early Spring is an incredible time to drive the Beartooth Highway.
The Beartooth Scenic Highway is another of those “must do” trips for all RVers, and seeing it before the snow melts is wonderful.
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By now we were pretty used to having a dog in our lives. Oddly, it seemed as though Buddy had always been with us, and whenever we’d chat about memories of different places we’d have to remind ourselves he hadn’t been with us then. So strange! It seemed only natural now to have all three of us together all the time and for me to look over and see his fuzzy face next to Mark’s in the truck.
We were getting used to having a canine companion.
The Beartooth Scenic Highway crosses from Montana into Wyoming, and from there the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway branches off. This is yet another “must do” for RVers (we were so lucky to hit so many “must do” spots in 2018).
We drove the exquisite Chief Joseph Scenic Highway several times, and in our explorations we came across groves of wildflowers that were like nothing we’d ever seen. Flowers of every color were in the peak of bloom. It was a photographer’s dream.
The wildflowers on Chief Joseph Highway were the best we’ve ever seen.
The views on the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway were dramatic as the road climbed and fell and swooped around the mountains. One morning we got up before sunrise so we could catch the pink light at an overlook at dawn.
Dawn on the Chief joseph Highway in Wyoming
The Chief Joseph Highway is anchored at its south end by the town of Cody, Wyoming, an ideal spot to spend the 4th of July. Cody celebrated Independence day with so much gusto that there were parades on three consecutive mornings! If you’re looking for a fun place to spend the 4th of July, Cody is a great one (as is Custer, South Dakota!).
Cody, Wyoming, brought out the big guns for the 4th of July parade!
Patriotic Pup.
After all the cold weather in the mountains of Wyoming and Montana, it was quite a shock to visit Big Horn Canyon which is a lot lower in elevation and very hot in mid-July. But the red rocks were spectacular in the early morning light, ideal for a photo shoot.
Family photography outings became the norm. Buddy loves it when he sees us grab our tripods and head out the door!
Bighorn Canyon lit up beautifully in the early morning light.
In the heat of mid-July we kept looking at the map and the various routes that might take us from Wyoming to Lake Superior, but the temps in those places were scorching. We decided to wait for cooler temps rather than burning our toes hop-scotching across the country. A stop in Wyoming’s Big Horn Mountains and Lake DeSmet gave us some fun photo ops and a slight respite from the heat.
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Trotting down a dirt road in the Big Horns!
Moving east and north into South Dakota, we explored some badland areas in the prairie (not the famous Badlands National Park which we’d visited the year before). In the tiny hamlet of Buffalo, South Dakota, we watched the Soap Box Derby races over Labor Day Weekend. Little kids rolled down a small hill in wheeled contraptions of all kinds amid whoops and hollers from parents and friends.
The Soap Box Derby in Buffalo, South Dakota, was a unique Labor Day event.
Just over the border in North Dakota we stopped at Roosevelt National Park with plans to do some extended exploring.
The greeter they’ve hired at the Visitors Center is the wild bovine kind with big horns and a thick furry neck. What a surprise it was to see him on duty as cars and trucks rolled in and out of the parking area!
The greeter at Roosevelt National Park had hooves and horns!
By now it was mid-September and the temps had cooled sufficiently between our neck of the woods and Lake Superior to make a dash for it. Seeing the leaves changing color at Roosevelt National Park, we worried we might miss the show in Michigan if we didn’t leave soon, so we decided to save that National Park for a future visit and hustled across the top of the country.
At Walker, Minnesota, we pulled into town on the weekend of their Ethnic Festival. This is a town that has a festival every weekend it isn’t snowing — and even a few when it is — so it’s a good one to add to any itinerary since you’ll be swept up in a celelbration no matter when you go.
What fun it was to see and hear real alpen horns being played by two women in Scandinavian garb!
The mellow tones of alpenhorns were a highlight of the Walker, MN, Ethnic Festival.
We finally landed on the shores of Lake Superior at charming little Cornucopia, Wisconsin. Big sailboats and little kayaks bobbed in the water.
Cornucopia, WIsconsin, is a tiny piece of heaven on Lake Superior.
In our new travels-with-dog we’d discovered that dogs are as particular about their friends as people are. Buddy loves dogs his age and size, and even though we’d met hundreds of different dogs all across the country, few were a matching size, age and temperament for a lasting friendship. On the docks of the marina at Cornucopia, Buddy found a soulmate in the resident pup, and they tore all over the place in a rolling heap of happy puppiness.
Lakeshore Drive along Lake Superior is a beautiful scenic drive, and we stopped at all the pretty towns along the way. Bayfield, Wisconsin, was particularly enchanting in the early morning hours of a blustery day. But it was an accidental upside down photo of Buddy reflected in a puddle that stood out for us as a favorite pic from Bayfield.
Buddy in the Sky with DIamonds.
With any new place we travel to, we always arrive with some preconceptions of what it will look like and be like. These usually prove false in one way or another, and the Upper Peninsula shoreline of Lake Superior in Michigan was no exception.
In the waterfront town of Ontonagon we strolled the beach at sunset and got some wonderful photos of the sun setting. This was one of our first Lake Superior shoreside stops in the U.P., and we assumed we’d have afternoons and evenings like that every day for the next few weeks. So, we glanced at our photos and shrugged that we would do so much better in the coming days.
Well, Mother Nature had other plans, and that was the last we saw of sunrises and sunsets for the next few weeks. What a wonderful life lesson was reinforced as we looked back at that evening on the beach: always treasure the moment you are in right now!
Sunset on Lake Superior in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. We thought we’d have a dozen sunsets like this!
Despite dreary cold weather, we saw lots of stunning beauty in the U.P. The area is dotted with ponds and small lakes, and we caught the leaves changing color in many spots.
Fall color at Worm Lake, Michigan (Upper Peninsula).
Buddy was loving the lush grass that grows everywhere east of the mountain states, and having a few leaves in the pics added a colorful touch!
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This area is known for the little meat pies that were beloved by Cornish miners across the pond a century ago. Yummy “pasties” were sold everywhere in the U.P., and we ate quite a few. It was fun to warm up the cold, damp interior of our trailer by popping one of these meat pies in the oven to heat it up!
Michigan’s Upper Peninsula has dozens, maybe hundreds, of waterfalls, and a few are quite famous, for good reason. Taquamenon Falls is a true beauty, and the upper part of Bond Falls is a favorite among photographers.
Taquamenon Falls, Michigan (Upper Peninsula).
Bond Falls, Michigan (Upper Peninsula)
At the bottom of Michigan’s U.P., just before crossing into the Lower Peninsula, we took a ferry out to Mackinac Island. This special island never took to motorized vehicle travel, and everything is done by horse and buggy or by bicycle. We had a ball watching the carriages and flat bed trailers being towed down the street by teams of horses.
Macinac Island, Michigan
Down in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan we stopped in at Metamora-Hadley State Park. All of the state park campgrounds in Michigan — and many throughout the midwest — entice folks to go camping even when it’s cold and wet in October by hosting fabulous Halloween events. We arrived on a Sunday morning, and not only was every campsite full but each one was decorated to the hilt with ghosts and goblins and witches and pumpkins.
Halloween is a big deal and a fun time at many midwestern state park campgrounds.
It was mid-October and high time to start dropping south. But first we visited Elkhart, Indiana, and the surrounding towns of Goshen, Shipshewana and Nappanee that are all home to the RV industry manufacturers. This area is fascinating for its long history as the heart and home of all things RV, and the RV/MH Hall of Fame and Museum was a highlight of our stay.
The RV/MH Hall of Fame and Museum offers a fascinating glimpse of the RV and Manufactured Home industry.
The antique trailers were fun to see in the museum, but I loved turning the pages of old issues of Trailer Life from 80 years ago.
We made a few pit-stops on our way south and west from Indiana, but we were on a mission to get to a place that was warm and dry so we could thaw out a little and regroup.
At that point, as we looked back at our year of travel to date, it felt as though we had made two big journeys — one from Arizona up through Utah into Wyoming, Montana and South Dakota, and a second one along Lake Superior and down through the midwest. It had been an outstanding year, but we were absolutely pooped.
Buddy was affected too. He had loved being in our truck early in our travels and had happily sat between us as we drove. But the weeks of long 150+ mile days in stressful rainy driving conditions on scary busy roads that made our tempers rise each time we got lost (which was about every hour or so), wore on him as well as us. Suddenly, he developed an outright shivering fear of the truck.
So we spent several weeks in the beautiful state parks of New Mexico, hiking every day, soaking in the sunshine, and leaving the truck parked.
We finally slowed down and caught our breath in Oliver Lee Memorial State Park in New Mexico.
By the light of a silvery moon.
Inching our way from New Mexico to Arizona, and driving short distances and staying for a week or two in each spot, we slowly recovered and Buddy grew to like the truck again.
When we arrived in Phoenix he was beside himself with excitement as he saw the people and homes he had known as a young puppy. We were very surprised to find he not only remembered them all but was thrilled to be back.
Before we’d left Arizona the previous winter, Buddy had become best friends with our friend’s pup named Mason. Mason was a rescue dog too. Whereas Buddy had been left in “a box of puppies” at the Animal Welfare League in downtown Phoenix, Mason had been dumped in the desert on Table Mesa Road north of Phoenix as a puppy and left to fend for himself. Somehow he’d survived, despite being an ideal coyote snack, although he was in very tough shape when we was found hiding from the rain under some debris.
He and Buddy took to each other the moment they met last year. It was truly love at first sight — or sniff.
This year, as we drove to a parking spot on the street by Mason’s house, both dogs went crazy before they even saw each other, Mason in his fenced yard (he couldn’t see us arriving!) and Buddy in our truck (he’d only visited a few times last year!). How did they know?
After 8 months apart, the two dogs picked up right where they left off in a happy tussle of fur and paws rolling around with each other and running across the grass.
Buddy became best friends with Mason in the beginning of 2018.
The dynamic duo didn’t miss a beat when they met again at the end of 2018.
Like all travelers, Buddy has learned the wonders of seeing new things and meeting new friends. But he has also learned how heartwarming it is to return to a favorite place and be back with loved ones.
As for us, we have learned that traveling with a dog has its complications, but there’s nothing like living with a little fur person who is absolutely thrilled to jump out of bed each morning and is unabashedly happy to be alive each and every day.
2018 was a great year.
HAPPY TRAILS and HAPPY TAILS in 2019!!
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How We Got a Puppy
Puppy Chow – Is There a DOG Living in our RV?
TRAVEL RECAPS from PREVIOUS YEARS:
An Overview of Our First 10 Years of Full-time Travel + Reflections after 9 Years!- 10 Years of RVing and Sailing Full-time - The Early Years! - Running away in an RV, then broadening our horizons on a sailboat.
- 10 Years of Living on the Road - 2nd Half! - Fulfilling all our cruising dreams and then returning to full-time RVing!
- 9th Anniversary of RVing and Sailing Full-time - Reflections on how we started and what the first few months were like.
- 2007-2012 - Years of Discovery and Exploration by RV and Sailboat - WOW! We're FREE!
- 2013 - A Year of Transition: Goodbye Groovy, Hello Buggy! - Our last year in Mexico on our sailboat
- 2014 - A Year of Beauty in our RV - Back to full-time RVing...What a rush!
- 2015 - A Thrilling RV Journey East - From Arizona to Florida to Nova Scotia and back!
- 2016 - A Year of RVing the National Parks in America and Canada - Park to Park to the Canadian Rockies. SPECTACULAR!
- 2017 - RVing the West + Flying to Thailand, Cambodia & Paris! - What a fulfilling whirlwind!
- 2018 - The Year of the Dog! - Buddy turned our lives upside down and stole our hearts!
All of our non-travel articles from 2018:
- 101 MORE Great RV Gift Ideas for RVers, Campers & Outdoor Lovers!
- Amp’d Throttle Booster Installation and Review
- Camping World Video Shoot — RVing is for Everyone!
- Cold Weather RVing – Brrr… (or Ahhhh?!)
- Honda EU2200i Generator Review + Oil Change and Maintenance Tips
- Lessons Learned in the Full-time RV Lifestyle – Tips & Ideas!
- Merry Christmas and Thank You for a Great Year!
- MORryde SRE 4000 Installation & Review – Smooth Trailer Towing
- Puppy Chow – Is There A Dog Living In Our RV ???
- Repacking and Inspecting Fifth Wheel RV Wheel Bearings
- Repairing and Replacing RV Roof Vents After a Hail Storm!
- RV Awning Installation and Repair – Replacing the Awning Fabric
- RV Boondocking – Tips for Living Off the Grid in an RV
- RV Roof Repair – Rubber Roof Patch + Holding Tank Vent Cap Replacement!
- RV Screen Door Modifications & Upgrades
- SunwayFoto Gimbal Head Review – Catching Birds in Flight!
(Mostly) chronological list of our travel articles from 2018:
- 2017 Travels – RVing the West and Flying to Thailand & Cambodia
- Fall River Balloon Festival in Hot Springs, South Dakota
- Lake Pleasant & Canyon Lake – Waterfront Camping in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert
- Dolly Steamboat – Gliding Through the Arizona Desert on Canyon Lake
- Lost Dutchman State Park Campground – Arizona Gold in the Superstitions
- Magical Moments in the RV Life
- Wild Burros of the Colorado River – A Puppy’s View!
- Waterfront Dining in Arizona – Scorpion Bay & River’s Edge Cantina
- A Back Roads RV Trip – AZ to NV to UT – Colorado River & Spanish Trail
- Utah Scenic Byway 24 RV Trip – Capitol Reef National Park
- Goblin Valley State Park Utah – One Gigantic Playground!
- Strawberry Reservoir, Utah – Springtime Beauty with Ice & Snow!
- Escapod Teardrop Trailers – Rugged Campers for Off-Road Adventure!
- Utah Back Roads – Lakeside RVing Near Salt Lake City
- Bear Lake, Utah – A Turquoise Paradise in Snowy Mountains
- Wyoming Back Roads by RV – Rugged, Remote and Wild!
- RVing Wyoming – Lakes, Mountains and Waterfalls
- Montana Road Trip – Wildflowers, Bison, a Mission Church + Good Eats!
- East Glacier Scenic Drive – Treasures OUTSIDE Glacier National Park
- Glacier National Park’s “Many Glacier” – Crown of the Continent!
- RVing Central Montana – Great Falls, Cool Coffee & Amish Buggies
- 4th of July in Cody, Wyoming – The Cody Stampede Parade!
- Beartooth Highway Scenic Drive – Dazzling All American Road – WOW!!
- Wildflowers in Wyoming – Spring Showers Bring Spectacular July Flowers!!
- Chief Joseph Scenic Byway – Mountain Majesty Near Yellowstone NP
- Bighorn Canyon – A River Runs Through It in Montana!
- Summer Fun in Wyoming’s Big Horn Mountains
- A Smoky Moon, Badlands & Hummingbirds on the South Dakota Prairie
- Soap Box Derby & Barrel Races – A Labor Day to Remember!
- North Dakota at a Glance – Roosevelt NP and Surprises in the Prairie
- Walker, Minnesota – A Hidden Jewel in the 10,000 Lakes
- Wisconsin’s Lake Superior Shoreline – Cute Towns & Great Sunsets!
- Waterfalls in Michigan’s U.P. – Tahquamenon, Bond Falls & Black River Jewels
- Fall Foliage in Michigan’s U.P. + Lake Superior at Sunset
- Mackinac Island, Michigan – A Precious Walk Back in Time!
- Halloween Camping – RV Witches & Goblins at Michigan State Parks!
- RV/MH Hall of Fame + Elkhart (RV Heart) Indiana
- RVing Through History – 80 Years of RV Travel!
- Oliver Lee Memorial State Park, New Mexico – A Dog’s Eye View!
- Cross-Country Highlights on an RV trip from Indiana to Texas
Our most recent posts:
- Beehive Trail in Arizona – A “Mini Wave” hike by Lake Powell 07/19/24
- Reese Goose Box Review: 20K Gen 3 TESTED + How to Hitch 06/27/24
- Lake Powell – Heart of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area 05/10/24
- Quick Release Pull Pins for Fifth Wheel Landing Jacks – YES! 05/03/24
- Sheep May Safely Graze (in the Mountains with Dogs!) 04/26/24
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If you ever want to adopt a wee bit older son and his dog Sassy, just drop me a note. Will work for food and travel! Wonderful pictures and story. Buddy made a fantastic addition to your family! Thanks for all the adventures in 2018 and have a safe and spectacular 2019! Jeff
Very funny, Jeff! Thank you for the good wishes. Gosh, we’d bring you and Rhonda and Sassy along if we could, but it might get a little tight in the truck! Happy 2019!!
Wonderful article. Just loved following your travels. Do you have any idea what breed Buddy is? He is perfect.
We have no idea but we’re sure he’s a mix of some kind. The vet at the adoption place wrote “Australian Shepherd mix” on his paperwork, and that’s possible, but he’s a much lighter and smaller build than an Aussie. Other possibilities in his heritage are Papillon, Basenji, Border Collie, and Brittany. But who knows! We just got very very lucky, and you’re right, he’s perfect!
Great year end summary! Looks like Buddy was the perfect addition to your family. Hope you had a nice holiday and the New Year brings you lot more joy!!
Sometimes the best things in life come when you’re not looking for them and don’t even know what they are, and that was definitely the case with Buddy. He puts a smile on our faces all the time, and when we’re out and about with him he puts a smile on other people’s faces too! Happy 2019 and thanks for reading!
What a great year you two had! Awesome video too!
Thanks, Steve!! The video was an amazing project and the videographers and editors did a fabulous job. 2018 was very special and 2019 will be too. We’d love to go to your photo workshops in Africa and Costa Rica this year — but now we have a dog!! 🙂
Emily,
So glad you and Mark decided to give Buddy a good home, even if it does have wheels and gets a bit nippy in the winter. 🙂 I can’t imagine Buddy finding two better “pals” to go through life with. Tanya and I have enjoyed the many beautiful, humorous, and otherwise entertaining pictures of “Puppy Chow’s” adventures. Just as entertaining and sweet has been seeing your and Mark’s reaction to this little guy and how you’ve come to love him so. Look forward to seeing many more pictures of your and Puppy Chow’s travels in 2019.
Happy New Year,
Bob
Thank you, Bob, for appreciating not only our little Puppy Chow but also our personal evolution as dog lovers and caretakers. Buddy sure has been a great addition to our lives, and he makes us smile and laugh every day with all his funny antics and special traits. I think 2019 is going to be a great year, and we hope to have lots more inspiring images of beautiful places to post here. Some of them might even have a familiar dog in one corner or another! Happy New Year to you and Tanya!
We unexpectedly lost our dog at the beginning of 2018 and were just too heartbroken to adopt another one for a long time. It was interesting to live without a dog after so many years of having one. I can’t lie – not having to wake up in the pouring cold rain to take the dog out was pretty nice. But, we also missed having that constant companionship and the humor dogs naturally bring to our lives. We just adopted a one year old German Shepherd about three weeks ago and he is just So Much Fun – when he’s not eating our house… 🙂 Enjoy every moment with that precious furchild. They really do make everything better, and Buddy seems like a wonderful travel companion! Happy New Year!
Oh gosh, Laura, it is the eventual loss of a beloved pet that was one of many reasons we debated long and hard about keeping Buddy, as we had both lost several pets in our lives. But the joy they bring until those last moments is very precious, and in many ways is what life is all about. I’m sorry you lost your dog last year, but it sounds like your new pup is a bundle of happiness. Pets certainly demand extra time and care from us that can be burdensome at times, and I know what you mean about the relief when you don’t have that responsibility any more. But how life affirming it is when you can live alongside a special animal that makes your heart sing. Happy 2019 to you are your new German Shepherd.
That was very sweet. I love how you catch a scene and have a great eye for photography – I love all of your photos – especially with Buddy!! 🙂 I love all of your travels, you go to the same places I would choose to go when retired – small towns and roads less traveled. Thank you for sharing. We want to get a dog like Buddy before I retire in August and we can travel more. Happy New Year to all 3 of you!!
Thank you for all the compliments, Deborah. We both love taking photos, and it means so much to share them and know you and others get a kick out of them too. Over the years we’ve found the smaller and less visited places have a vitality all their own, and we always find ourselves drawn to them. I hope you find a loving dog that has an adventurous spirit! Happy Retirement in August — now the fun can begin! — and have a blast with your travels.
Well, it’s obvious that the Fagan family had a spectacular year. It was tons of fun following your travels and enjoying your photos. I’m sure you hear this from just about everyone Buddy meets, but he is absolutely adorable with a capital A and a half dozen exclamation points at the end. (I have no doubt that Santa visited your RV at Christmas and Buddy made out like a bandit.) It seems like your paths crossed at the right time for everyone. Best wishes to the three of you for a new year full of grand and glorious adventures!
Thank you very much, Mary. We did have a spectacular year with lots of variety and many new discoveries. Buddy is truly Adorable and he’s a Socialite too — with a capital S — and it is very funny to find ourselves meeting new people all the time because he has insisted on it. Everywhere we go people coming towards us are smiling as they look down at him. Santa was very good to him, so his indoor toy box has been upgraded to a bigger container. We are utterly blessed to have crossed paths with such an angel. We wish you the happiest of new years and hope you have lots of exciting travels in 2019.
Congrats on year 10. We are in year five of FT travel and like you, have no plans on slowing down. Thanks for the beautiful color shot of the leaves changing colors in Michigan. We were in the UP in early fall and enjoyed the color change but couldn’t capture it on camera.
Mark took that beautiful photo of the leaves changing color in Michigan, Caite. We saw some wonderful fall foliage in the U.P. and really enjoyed running around with our cameras doing our best to get great pics. Our years on the road have flown by, and in May we will actually be celebrating our 12th anniversary of traveling full-time. Your five years in a truck camper is amazing and very inspiring. We have lots of readers who dream of traveling in smaller rigs, and it is wonderful to know of folks who have been at it so long. Thanks for reading!
Stunning photos from 2018! They all look like award winners. Some of my favorites are the mirrored images from the various bodies of water. And Buddy is becoming a seasoned runway model. Charming! Happy New Year! Looking forward to seeing photos of your adventures in 2019.
Thank you, Edith. It’s so much fun playing with reflections in the water. Whenever we see glassy water we start running around looking for ways to capture the reflections. I love Mark’s mirrored pic of the seagull and how he caught the gull just a split second before he landed. Thanks for reading our various postings this year and have a wonderful 2019!
How funny! Just when we are in a routine something pops up to shake us up. What a darling pup/son. 🙂
Those are the best turning points in life, Ann! And having someone so darling in our lives everyday is truly precious!
Spectacular 2018….a photo recap, a reminder of the immense variety in our America – the beautiful ! Love that Buddy came into your lives…in the Chinese Year of the Dog ! Wishing you all many more years on Roads Less Traveled…
Thank you. We are blessed to live in this beautiful country and so fortunate to be able to explore it at leisure, and now with a sweet puppy! Your life has been a great inspiration — wishing you many more years of happiness in the City of Light!!
Thank you for sharing your year of travel adventures with us. Your gorgeous photography is a treat every single time. My husband and I look forward to exploring the back roads (and well-known scenic roads) of Wyoming this next summer, inspired by your travels. I can hardly wait. Warm wishes for a happy New Year. By the way, 2019 is the year of the pig. Just sayin’. 🐖
You are going to have a fabulous summer in Wyoming, Julia. Have a blast — it’s all gorgeous! Thanks for the heads up about 2019. We’ll make a point not to stop by any hog farms this year, or we just might end up with a pet piglet too!
How funny about Year of the Pig! DON’T! Pig parents would probably say go for it! Ha! We’ve enjoyed your newsletters immensely and even more so now that Buddy is your star model! Your comment about “enjoy the moment” when you were in U.P. Michigan reminded me of dogs – they live in the moment. We would do well to learn that from our fur-babies. Hope to see you on roads-less-traveled one of these days in our Dodge pickup, Hitchhiker and Tex, our 1 year old Bichon.
So true about dogs, Faye. We saw a wonderful image recently of a man sitting with his dog on a park bench and two little bubbles above their heads that showed what they were thinking about. The man was thinking about luxury yachts, sports cars and other dreamy things. The dog was thinking about himself and his owner sitting on a park bench together. We should emulate dogs more!! Happy travels to you in 2019 with your Dodge, Hitchhiker and your special pup Tex!!