Gather 'Round the Campfire 4-26-14

Dog and Cat Tales

When we lived in Lake Tahoe, we had two wonderful Malamutes. They came into our lives when they were puppies. Both with the same father, but two different mothers and born just a week apart. They were such an important part of our lives, but I developed asthma and then severe allergies and we had to find a family to adopt them. We were so grateful to find someone who would keep the dogs together and who would love them as much as we did. Our puppy pals are now in doggie heaven, but they were loved by two families and had wonderful lives. 

Our babies in our Tahoe yard back in the 90's

Greg's folks have a bichon frise and I am able to be around Jack without allergies. It is great to have a dog in our lives (if not in our home) again. Jack loves to go camping. But, when he was a puppy and was left in Greg's folks prior camper, he destroyed a set of window blinds and a few other items while they were exploring a state park at Lake Tahoe.  When my parents returned to the camper, a mature beagle named Snoopy, who witnessed the whole frenzy, told my parents that he (Snoopy) had nothing at all to do with the huge mess.

Jack is much less destructive now, but still prefers not to be left alone.  

Jack enjoying the views from the Camper at Bosque del Apache

Jack and his Sock Monkey, Mictlan and Ozomahtli friends at Christmas

When we camp, we love all the dogs we get to see out having fun. I also love reading about the great adventures of the many cats and dogs who full time RV with their blogger families. 

Last night I had a surreal experience after reading RV Sue's post about her wonderful Spike wandering off from camp. She had a horrifying, long wait after searching for him and was so happy when he returned back to her unharmed. I was relaying her story to Greg and we were both relieved that Spike came back home. I then turned my browser to Facebook to check up on my FB friends. A friend said that her small puppy had escaped from her yard and was missing. She was asking for anyone in the neighborhood to let her know if they found her beloved Penny. We put the word out through Facebook and thankfully, someone found Penny and took her to our nearby shelter. Thanks to our posts on FB, the shelter had my friends number and they were reunited this morning. But, prior to learning that her Penny was safe, my friend spent a horrible night worrying about her pup. What a coincidence that two nights apart, two different dogs disappeared while their families worried and waited and then felt such joy and relief when their beloved pets returned home. 

RVillage has allowed me to chat with many other RVers and also to find a number of new blogs. If you are into RVing and haven't checked it out yet - have a look. Even though we don't change our location as often as full-timers, the site is a great resource and a fun place to chat and meet other RVers. 

Have I mentioned yet how addicted I am to RV blogs? Not only do we get a glimpse into our future life, learn about the ups and downs of full-timing, but we get to see adorable pictures of dogs and cats and read about their antics.

RV Sue's Crew - Spike and Bridget are quite the characters. I love to read about their adventures. Last week she had some awesome pictures of Spike getting into several mud puddles before his night out on the town. 

Aluminarium has a great photo of their dog Curtis with his new Darth Vader chew toy. But, alas the Emperor didn't live long or prosper (oh, wait - wrong franchise). 

Technomadia did a great post in 2012 about nomadic pets with a really excellent list of reminders for keeping your pets happy in an RV. Their cat Kiki seems to love life on the road. 

I am amazed at the number of people who travel with cats. I can see a cat enjoying soaking up the sun in the window of a camper and I get why people want their cats with them - but I was surprised how many RVers take their cats out for walks in all different kind of camps without the cats running off.

Nina and Paul of Wheeling It travel with two cats and a dog and seem to spend a good part of their year boondocking. Nina writes the most informative campsite/boondock reviews. 

Gone with the Wynns also travel with two cats. They make really polished videos about their travels. They have a blog, but many of their best photos seem to be reserved for their Facebook page.  

Metamorphosis Road travel with their cat Rosie who likes to go for walks, explore and chase lizards. While they were in Verde Valley, they took an amazing lizard picture. Click on their name to see the picture.

Life's Little Adventures have two cats, Elvis and Sophie. I see a two cat theme in this post. Today they saw lots of dogs, a geese family and even a shooting (of the film not gun variety) of a dog food commercial while visiting a park in Northern California.

My absolute favorite picture though is of Ivan Phillips' cat Harley who is now in the great beyond. Ivan's current traveling cat partner is Hailey. Ivan is in the process of fixing up his blog, but I think this link is the current version. He also has fun pics of Hailey frolicking at Cibola National Wildlife Refuge.

Although I can't travel with dogs or cats due to my allergies - I can and do travel with our sock monkey friends. 

Sock Monkey makes a new friend on the beach in California 

Doing what monkeys do naturally