Thoughts ahead of our two-week road trip
Markus likes to come to the front by standing on the middle console so we smothered him
About a week or so from today, we’re embarking on a two-week road trip. We’ve been planning for this road trip for a while now and we’re so excited that it’s just around the corner now.
This trip is especially exciting because there are parts of the US that we’ve always wanted to visit and it’s amazing that we get to do it even while we have a dog. Since we wanted to do a longer vacation and visit multiple locations in one go, we decided to drive down instead of flying. Driving down also afforded us the option of bringing Markus with us, which saved us the trouble of finding a sitter.
This year has been quite a good for us in terms of travelling with Markus. In the first year, while we were adjusting to life with Markus, we only did a couple of trips. Once we knew he was okay travelling with us in a car and staying at unfamiliar locations like a hotel, we ramped up the number of trips this past year. This trip will be the longest road trip we’ve taken ourselves and it’s ambitious with or without a dog, but we’re so glad to be doing it with Markus.
Ahead of the road trip, we’re doing some reflection on the things we’re looking forward to and also some of the concerns we’re thinking about as we prepare for the trip.
What we're looking forward to
At a high level, we’re driving from Vancouver all the way to the far north east corner of Arizona where it borders Utah. On average, the driving days will be 7 to 8 hours with a couple of 10 hour driving days.
From Vancouver, the first stop is going to be in California, stopping through Los Angeles. From there, we’ll be making stops to Las Vegas and before going back and forth between Arizona and Utah by the border. We’ll be visiting some of these states for the first time and that in itself is already exciting. Here are some of the things we’re looking forward to on our trip.
5. Visiting Crater Lake
Since this is the Pawcific Explorer, we had to make a stop to a national park in the Pacific Northwest. We finally get to visit Crater Lake National Park in Oregon, which has always been just a little bit too for the other times we’ve made it out to Oregon. We’ve planned on making the stop to Crater Lake as part of our route on the way back home and we hope the weather holds up.
We recently checked the website to prepare ourselves for what to expect and we found that there’s still a ton of snow up there. Some of the roads are still closed so we’ll have to monitor the situation when we’re in the area.
4. Visiting National Parks outside the PNW
Beyond the Pacific Northwest, we’ll be visiting some of the most well-known National Parks in the US, and frankly, in the world. Starting in California, we’ll be stopping at Joshua Tree National Park on the way to Las Vegas.
After Las Vegas, our plan is to visit the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Spending some time around the Arizona and Utah border, we’ll be hitting up some state parks like Goosenecks State Park and other national parks like Glen Canyon National Park (to visit the Horseshoe Bend), Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park.
3. Las Vegas
Need I say more?
The only difference this time around is that we’re going to have Markus with us. We’re actually not quite sure what we can really do in Las Vegas with a dog. Looking at the rules and restrictions for dogs on the strip, there really isn’t much we’ll be able to do together. Still, it’s a good in-between stop for us to get some much needed rest..
..or not.
2. Hiking the Corona Arch Trail
This is probably the hike that we’re most looking forward to. Utah is known for their rock formations scattered throughout the state and of these formations, the type that fascinate us the most are the arches. While visitors and tourists are allowed to visit these arches on foot, we’re only found one that allow dogs and that’s the Corona Arch.
The Corona Arch is at the end of a 30-minute long hike and we’re looking forward to doing that with Markus. It is said that there is really steep wall where many dogs have failed to get past and ended up getting stuck. Doing a bit of research, it looks like there are ways around these areas, so we’ll find out if Markus can do it soon enough.
1. Seeing Dog Friends In California
It’s amazing how much things have changed for us since a year ago. This past year, we’ve made some new dog friend through Instagram who are located in California. Since we haven’t gone down since adopting Markus, we have yet to meet these dog owners and their dogs in person. We mentioned to a few owner that we’re making our way down with Markus and now there’s a small group waiting for our arrival!
Yes, Markus has friends waiting for him in California.
The group has planned a hike for us and we’re interested in what that’s going to be like. We don’t know where the hike is going to be yet, but we’re going to leave that to the locals.
Things we’re keeping an eye on
These aren’t really concerns as that might be too strong of a word. Since two weeks on the road is a long time, these are things that we’re mentally preparing for - things we’ll be keeping an eye on for Markus. Our car isn’t exactly a big trailer where Markus can roam around like he would at home - it’s our everyday SUV and Markus’ space in the car is fairly limited. While there are plenty of things on the trip to look forward to, these are some of our “concerns”.
3. Markus not settling in the car
Markus generally doesn’t like to rest in the car. Even when we have him in the trunk of our SUV on day to day trips, he likes to stand and look out the front window to see where we’re going. The side windows just don’t work for him. He will settle if the car’s going consistently on the highway and it’s not stop and go traffic, but as soon as the car slows down, he’ll get right back up.
On occasion, he has settled and laid down, but he has only ever fallen asleep once in the car and that was on his adoption day, after a 14-hour flight. I guess that is to say that if he’s tired or exhausted enough, he’ll eventually fall asleep, but I really hope it doesn’t always have to get to that point.
It makes me wonder why he insists on looking at the window constantly. Are all dogs like this? Is it based on curiosity or something else? Sometimes he’ll strain himself so hard just trying to get to the front while we’re on the road. We use one of those hammocks for our car setup where the dog can rest in the middle, but he never does and ends up trying to hop over the edge to get to the front. It’d be fine if he was willing to sit on our lap, but he just wants to stand on the middle console and that’s not safe.
2. Too much stress on Markus
The trip will be a lot of fun, for sure, but the experience won’t be the same for Markus. It’s easy for us to stay excited for each destination and national parks because of the history they carry, but they will just be another park for Markus. Going from staying at home all day to staying in a car all day is quite a change, but we think he’ll be fine with it! We’ll be sure to break the trip up into 2-3 hour chunks so we can all stretch our legs out.
Markus usually sleeps through most of the day and now that he’s in the car and usually doesn’t settle, I hope eventually exhaustion prevails and he’s able to sleep. I also hope he’s able to sleep at the hotels, which is my top concern.
1. Hotel stays and noise
If you’ve followed our Adventures & Lodging series, you’ll know that sometimes we have issues at hotels when there’s a lot of foot traffic or noise outside our door. Markus tends to get that guard dog behaviour and he’ll sometimes start barking at the door when he feels threatened by the noise outside. Obviously, this wakes us up and by the end of the night, no one’s gotten good rest, which will be crucial on a trip like this.
We’ve taken the extra step of calling ahead to give hotels the courtesy of knowing we’ll have a dog with us. We’ve also dropped in a request that if at all possible, we’d prefer to be at a quieter area of the hotel. In some cases, this is at the end of the hallway. In other cases, we just need to be away from the elevator.
All in all, these concerns aren’t really anything we’re not used to when travelling with Markus already. We’re accounting for them and we think that Markus is going to be great in the car and on this two-week road trip. We can’t wait to do the trip and then share all about it with you all on the other side!
In our development with Markus, we’re constantly pushing for the next thing. We’re always trying new things to train and work with him - so much so that when something doesn’t go the way we expect it to, we can become discouraged or even frustrated.
Taking the time to reflect where things began helps us to appreciate where we are today and it gives us the boost for another day. Putting in perspective that Markus was a rescued dog who had difficulty being adopted because he was labeled as aggressive helps us to appreciate how far he’s come in his time with us.
The Paws & Reflect series is our way of pausing to appreciate all the progress Markus has made from his days as an aggressive dog at the rescue shelter. We revisit his past to help us put into focus all the great things he’s already accomplished with us.
We’re so grateful for your support of The Markus Project. We mostly choose our locations through searching and word of mouth. If you know of a park, trail or location you think we should check out, please share it with us. We’d love to know!
