Typist: Bethany
Upon learning I was planning a budget road trip from Seattle to San Francisco a friend in Portland offered for me to stay at his place. "Thank you so much but you should know that I am traveling with my dogs," I replied. There was a long pause and a shaky "oh..." at the other end of the phone. It was obvious my friend was not comfortable with this turn but was hesitating to rescind his lodging offer. "Is there room for me to put up my tiny tent in your back yard?" I queried quickly. A very different "oh" came from my friend this time. It was lighter, louder and followed by a "yes! Yes, of course." One night of free road trip lodging was secured. Hooray!

One thing I get asked a lot when planning pet friendly road trip lodging is "are your pets well behaved." The answer, of course, is yes. But I have had people tell me their dog or cat is "extremely friendly" a split second before it turns into a snarling, teeth barring wild thing. Just last night, a woman told me about a parrot at a street fair that the owner was insisting passers-by pet or hold because the parrot was "so very nice." Then the woman showed me the scar from where this "nice" parrot bit her. So all pets are friendly and nice and everyone should be allowed to bring their pets everywhere, right? Wrong. Pets, particularly traveling pets, are unpredictable and rules, especially those of the host, should always be respected. My host, be it cheap accommodations or free lodging, knows I have pets, in advance and upon arrival. I make sure the host knows that I have no intention of breaking their rules about how my pets stay. When I am a well behaved pet traveler, it doesn't matter whether or not my pets are "well behaved." My goal is my hosts to not even know my pets are with me except for when I told them and we agreed upon the best way for my pets to spend the night.

As I exited my backyard tent in Portland, my friend came out to say good morning. I walked and fed the dogs as my friend and I visited. As we sat and sipped coffee my friend suddenly exclaimed "you didn't say you had trained dogs. It probably would have been fine for all of you to stay in the house." Again, I thanked him and made sure he knew we were truly comfortable in the tent. But his compliment did lay the foundation for the rest of my awesome pet friendly road trip south as well as many, many more.

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Please forgive the roughness (otherwise known as bad) about this poem. This ode was written in retrospective tears upon returning home from my last camping trip. The first trip I have taken in over seven years from which "The Palace" did not return with me. I considered revising this poem to make it more of a formula ode but decided to publish it in it's raw, exhausted from the camping trip, weary with memories, form.

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Typist: Bethany
My memory is foggy on whether it was the first time I walked into a dog show or a dog training seminar that I saw everyone with a small dog sitting on a folding dog crate chair. The people were intensely studying the event schedule on their comfortable chairs while their dogs rested peacefully below them. While setting up my dog crate then my quad folding chair and getting all of my personal items settled into the various pockets scattered on each, I fantasized about the ease with which my task would take if only I had one of those dog crate chairs. I was determined to get one. Until I found out how much a dog crate chair cost. I am an avid camping traveler with a collection of camp chairs, one in almost every color, multiple person camp chairs, a reclining camp chair and even a folding picnic table and I realized that it was not at all budget or storage practical to add yet another chair to my mass. For years the fantasy of how much more fun pet friendly travel and adventures would be with a crate chair lay dormant until I discovered Wrapsit™. While a more recent memory, I am foggy on the exact words I used when reaching out to the creators of this folding quad chair slipcover pet crate but I believe I used the word "genius."

The initial genius I saw in Wrapsit was simply an affordable crate chair option that would also help me avoiding ridicule for adding yet another folding camp chair to my already hilarious collection. Wrapsit features like the pockets, carrying straps and closure ease that meant I didn't have to stuff the quad chair back into it's bag didn't matter much to me. I avoid using the pockets of folding quad chairs, I don't try to carry any chairs very far and I have never had much trouble getting any of my chairs back into the bag. Then came the genius of Wrapsit. It is so much more than a crate chair cover. The pockets on Wrapsit are actually useful while the chair is open and closed. Among other things, I carry water for me and for the pets in the Wrapsit pockets. Both the hand and the shoulder straps are truly comfortable and my Wrapsit covered chair has now trekked farther on my back, in my hand or slung to the pet stroller than I ever imagined taking a folding chair. With the ease of setting up and closing my Wrapsit covered chair by simply pulling apart or putting together three strips of velcro, I want to throw away every chair bag I have and cover all my quad chairs with a Wrapsit. I promise that won't mean I will get more traveling pets for the crates. But if anyone with a small pet wants to come camping with us, I will have a spot saved!

Wrapsit makes carrying, setting up and taking down a quad chair easy.

For now, the one Wrapsit I have is on my oldest quad folding camp chair. If I decide to put it on another chair, Wrapsit is so easy to install, it would take only a couple of minutes to switch. The Wrapsit cover is also easy to remove to clean though after many outings with many pets, I have not needed to clean the Wrapsit yet. The waterproof coated polyester base has easily shaken off for me. So besides genius, affordability, ease and convenience, what more can I say about Wrapsit? Well, the two women who created and developed Wrapsit are amazing. They have both spent a lifetime with pets, support pet adoption and are just all around wonderful people that I feel extremely lucky to have connected with. As a person who is picky about the businesses I support and where my money goes, I am almost as happy to have a Wrapsit of my very own as I am to be able to share this genius product review. Almost. Please don't ask me to give up my Wrapsit. Wait. I mean, don't ask the pets to give up their Wrapsit. Wilhelm and Amelia just love their new favorite camp chair.

LeisureEase LLC provided Cascadian Nomads with a sample Wrapsit for review in this post. Cascadian Nomads only shares information we feel is relevant to our readers and all opinions are always our own. LeisureEase LLC is not responsible for the content of this article.

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Typist: Bethany
When packing for a recent camping trip I made sure I had everything I needed for all five pets before gathering what I needed for myself. This meant I had very little room for anything for myself in our tiny station wagon. After spending over four hours setting up the campsite, I decided that I deserved a treat. But all I had packed for myself were my favorite chocolate covered espresso beans. Delicious, yes, but not a good just before dinner snack. The dogs, however, had toted along a picnic box of dog treats from Merrick Pet Care. Well, if I can't treat myself, I may as well treat them. In all honesty, treating Wilhelm, Brychwyn and Huxley is more fun than treating myself and when I choose quality ingredient dog treats, like those made by Merrick, feeding dog treats is definitely more healthy than munching even the most nutritious of my own human snacks.

Merrick Pet Care doesn't just treat dogs. I brought a few cans of Merrick cat food on our camping trip for Amelia. This is only adventure cat Amelia's second multiple night outing and her first camping trip. On her last trip, Amelia was a little slow to accept meal times on the road but she no trouble enjoying her Merrick meals while camping. It is certainly a treat for me to have a trustworthy brand of pet food and treats for all of the camping pets with fur.

Remember to always count the calories of dog treats given in your dogs total intake and calorie burn calculations to keep your dog healthy, slim and fit.

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