Roaming About

A Life Less Ordinary

Category: Dog Life (page 3 of 3)

Our 2019 in Review & Happy Holidays!

If you are a regular reader, you will probably remember most of our journey through 2019. If you are new to our site, I invite you to browse and click around a bit for stories and photos about our past adventures. The links in this post give you a glimpse into some of those experiences.

Driving part of historic route 66, AZ

January

Mark and I explored the Borrego Springs area in the California desert, flew to Newburyport, Massachusetts to see doctors, friends, and family, and did a short repeat house sit in San Diego.

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Volunteering at the Biggest No-kill Animal Sanctuary in the US – Guest Post on “Do More Be More”

I am honored to have been invited by Gabby from the travel blog Do More Be More to contribute a guest post about Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah. As a fellow traveler, photographer, and dog lover, she was curious about our lifestyle and interested in our volunteering experiences. 

Gabby lives in beautiful and diverse Australia and has an adorable bulldog. In 2010, she hooked up with the Bali Animal Welfare Association to photograph and fund raise for the street dogs of Bali, Indonesia. She believes that many small acts by conscientious travelers can change the landscape of tourism for the future – and for the better – and is always on the lookout for ways we travelers can give back to the world we enjoy so much.

Comments are closed here, but feel free to share your thoughts on Gabby’s blog.

Volunteering at the Biggest No-kill Animal Sanctuary in the US: Best Friends in Utah

As the fur-less mum of an old lady bulldog and a supporter of street dog welfare in Bali, I was excited to talk to Liesbet Collaert, a fellow animal lover, about her experience volunteering at Best Friends in Utah.

I know from first hand experience that volunteers at any animal welfare organisation is hugely appreciated. There is never enough funding and there is always too much to do. Every spare hand is another step closer to better health or permanent homes for the dogs, cats and everything in between.

The best thing about volunteering, is that anyone can do it! You don’t need a qualification in most cases, just a big heart.

This was Liesbet’s first volunteering opportunity, one very close to her own heart.


Liesbet tell us a little about yourself and your travels.

I was born in Belgium with an oversized portion of wanderlust. Yearly family vacations to the Med didn’t satisfy my sense for adventure, so, at 16, I hitchhiked to Italy with a boyfriend.

In college, I traveled across Europe during holidays and avoided culture shock on a five-week trip to India. After graduation, I grabbed my backpack and explored Southeast Asia with friends for about a year. Two years later I headed back to SE Asia with a hop-over to New Zealand and Australia.

Then, I taught at the same school in Belgium once more, for two years, before I flew across the Atlantic Ocean for an open-ended journey in an RV with my then American boyfriend. I’d met him Down Under. Fate has a funny way, as I never moved back to Belgium after our 18-month-long travels throughout the lower 48, Canada, and Alaska.

Instead, I met another guy, obtained another truck camper, and adventured throughout Mexico and Central America with him and his two rescue dogs. This was preceded by a failed sailing attempt of ten months and followed by a two-month stint in a tent and a Toyota Tacoma. In 2007, we bought a 35ft sailing catamaran in Maryland and cruised down to Florida, before crossing the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas. The idea was to return in a year, but, eight years later, we found ourselves in Tahiti, in the Pacific Ocean.

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Monthly Expenses – October 2019

Expenses - image

Every month, I post a report of our expenses to show that it is possible to live a comfortable, exciting, and adventurous life without breaking the bank. The less money you spend, the less you need to make. 🙂

This report includes ALL of our expenses, in US$, for the two of us. Under groceries we incorporate food, produce, and non-alcoholic drinks predominantly bought in supermarkets. Toiletries belong in that category as well. Dining out means eating at a restaurant/event or purchasing take-out food. Since June 2019 – we adopted Maya on June 4th – we have a dog section as well. The health category covers non-prescription medicines and vitamins/supplements; medical contains prescription drugs and doctor’s visits. Because of our income level, Mark and I are eligible for free health care within the state of Massachusetts. For check-ups, we both return to the East Coast.

For most of October, Mark, Maya, and I were based at my in-laws in Newburyport, Massachusetts; the first week with my parents. From the moment they returned to Belgium, Mark and I got busy with camper projects. They were many and they were expensive. Some of you might remember the ordeal we had with our windshield in Santa Fe in the spring of 2018.  Well, that nightmare lasted for over a year, as we soon noticed new and reoccurring rust spots as a result of a job poorly done by Extreme Twist.

We tried everything short of a lawsuit to get our money back – emails, photos, Better Business Bureau, Attorney General of New Mexico. After heaps of time, frustration, and determination (and the issue becoming even worse), the company finally reimbursed us the US$1,100. Unfortunately, that was not enough to get the body work redone and the windshield replaced in Massachusetts. Without the new windshield, which was covered by our insurance, the body work there cost U$1,500, so we spent an extra $400.

Another biggie was the side window project. The purchase of a new window was already accounted for in a previous month (the people at Extreme Twist were responsible for damaging the old window – and other things on our camper) and we planned to install it ourselves, like everything else… But, the project proved much more difficult than expected, making this our first failure. I’ll spare you the details, but it was a stressful time, especially as a rain storm was to arrive that night and we had a huge hole in the side of Zesty! It took the window specialists three hours and three bulky men to accomplish the job. $165 well spent!

Mark did all the rest of the maintenance himself: replace the brake fluid, another oil change, remove and clean the RV heater, and replace a glow plug and a few other things in the engine.

Our other costly “item” last month was Maya. After continued itchiness and trying whatever we could to determine the cause, we took her to the vet, who prescribed antibiotics for her healing wounds and Apoquel, a wonder drug for itchy dog skin. It did a great job for two weeks, but is now wearing off.  A big bummer. We also compared and tested two GPS tracker systems for her and decided to keep the Whistle. We’ve had a lot going on and our expenses reflect it.

October 2019 Overview:

Camper (rep.: $816; fuel: $131; reg.: $50; tolls: $40; park.: $8):

Dog (vet: $284; supplies: $235):

Groceries:

Clothing (3 pairs of jeans):

Dining out:

Utilities (phone & Skype):

Medical (co-pay scan):

Alcohol:

Gifts:

Household (electric heater):

Computer (hosting fees):

Camping:

 

TOTAL:

 

$1044

$519

$196

$67

$42

$40

$37

$34

$34

$30

$18

$0

———

$ 2061

Snapshots from Newburyport, MA

For the last month, Mark, Maya, and I stayed with my in-laws in Newburyport, Massachusetts, where we have a comfortable room above their garage. The summer is the time for us to deal with doctor’s visits, catch up with friends and family, and get work done. Here are a few glimpses of our recent “sedentary” life.

Maya feels right at home on the porch

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Missing Dog! – A Story about Distress, Support, and Community

A Dog with Separation Anxiety

Having a new dog – with anxiety issues – means you have to take it slow, so the dog gets used to different situations. In our camper, Maya seemed OK alone for up to three hours… that one evening in Iowa, pre-fireworks. During subsequent tries, she always got in trouble, somehow.

When we arrived at “our room above the garage” in Newburyport, Massachusetts a few weeks ago, it was another new situation for our dog. Leaving her downstairs on the porch while we ate three meals a day and cooked dinner, proved to be a non-issue after a few days. Once she was comfortable with the bedroom as our base, Mark and I increasingly left her alone, filming her behavior in real time with Skype. Whenever she jumped on the cabinet or scratched the door, we corrected her behavior, remotely.

While we saw improvement, we didn’t feel comfortable leaving her for longer than a couple of hours. That was an issue, as we had a fun evening with friends planned at a restaurant, two-hours away; four hours of just sitting in the car, without counting our social time. For days, we contemplated what to do. It would be too hot to leave her in the camper van on the parking lot and check in every hour or so. We’d be gone way too long to leave her home…

A Pet Sitter We Know

The solution: the three of us would drive to a friend’s place, join them to the gathering on Friday evening, and have teenagers (their responsible son and three friends) watch Maya. I even happened on a translation project that day, to tip our dog sitter. Before we left, we took Maya for a walk around the block and gave the kids instructions. I worried. Our small group of friends left to join the others. The plan was a good one… in theory.

Before leaving Maya to go out with friends.

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