Typist: Bethany
When I first sat down to begin planning our cross-country road trip with three dogs, I had no idea how to do it. I began with an obvious math problem: the total hours it will take to drive from Seattle to Buffalo divided by the maximum hours the dogs and I are capable of being trapped in a car, which is 8. Now I knew how many days we will be on the road and when we need to leave. We have a specific date we must arrive for my cousins wedding reception and I gave us a just in case buffer of a day and a half. I rented the car. I stared at the map. Now what?
When I first sat down to begin planning our cross-country road trip with three dogs, I had no idea how to do it. I began with an obvious math problem: the total hours it will take to drive from Seattle to Buffalo divided by the maximum hours the dogs and I are capable of being trapped in a car, which is 8. Now I knew how many days we will be on the road and when we need to leave. We have a specific date we must arrive for my cousins wedding reception and I gave us a just in case buffer of a day and a half. I rented the car. I stared at the map. Now what?
 A Daunting Task |  Three Eager Travelers |
First I thought about places I wanted to see. The Badlands in Montana! Chicago! The Grand Tetons! A lot of what I did next was trial and error. And if you have been following my trip planning, it took a few weeks. Once I decided we would be camping, I zoomed in on the map and began to look for campgrounds. along the route. At first I thought we'd do a light drive the first day. I know the route to Spokane so well I could practically drive it blindfolded. I also know the area. That would be a comfortable way to begin. But that short drive didn't factor in to the total trip plan. So I followed the route farther, plugging state park or national forest names along the way into Google maps (in another tab) until I found one or two within our 8 hour driving day range. There may be an easier or more efficient way to do all of this. I will admit that I researched a lot of driving across the country tips but none about how to plan the route. So this is how I did it. Inefficient but fun.
One tab zoomed in on our route, one tab for searching distances to campgrounds
| When I found a park or even a town that was the right driving distance, through my inefficient trial and error system, I began specific research. In a third tab, I did a Google search for campgrounds. Once I found out there was a campground at the park I wanted or nearby, I either searched the park or campgrounds website for their pet policy or did a Google search for that campgrounds pet policy. And in a fourth tab, I checked reviews of the park and campground. If I could not |  Two Map Tabs, Two Research Tabs |
find the pet policy or it was unclear, but I liked the reviews of the campground, I would start looking for a site and then call the park or campground before reserving.
I made a pretty big deal out of picking the campsites I reserved. Were I not traveling with three dogs, I would have just picked a site, maybe a number I liked, or the right distance from the bathroom and be done. But, despite what very good and seasoned campers 'R' Blood on the Tracks Boys are, they bark at passers-by, noisy fellow campers, squirrels, pine needles falling from a tree, etc. They usually quiet down on command. Usually. So in a effort to ease our brief stays at the campgrounds along the way, I made sure to reserve quieter, corner spots, as best I could. I compared campground maps to satellite maps to make sure the spots I reserved had privacy and were not near busy pathways or worse, roads.
I made a pretty big deal out of picking the campsites I reserved. Were I not traveling with three dogs, I would have just picked a site, maybe a number I liked, or the right distance from the bathroom and be done. But, despite what very good and seasoned campers 'R' Blood on the Tracks Boys are, they bark at passers-by, noisy fellow campers, squirrels, pine needles falling from a tree, etc. They usually quiet down on command. Usually. So in a effort to ease our brief stays at the campgrounds along the way, I made sure to reserve quieter, corner spots, as best I could. I compared campground maps to satellite maps to make sure the spots I reserved had privacy and were not near busy pathways or worse, roads.
 Reserve American Campsite Map |  Google Maps Satellite View |
And there you have it! One totally inefficiently found campsite reserved. This is why my planning took a while. I like feeling that I am very familiar with each campground we are visiting which helps with my nervousness about keeping the dogs happy on this trip. I also feel quite familiar with our route so when one or all of us need a stop, we can take one, and it will likely be somewhere spectacularly beautiful. I hope that this planning advice will help or inspire you in planning your next short or long road trip with a dog or two or three. Perhaps you'll learn from my inefficiencies and find a more effectual way to plan or maybe you'll just travel the virtual roads. It's surprisingly fun!
Are we there yet?
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