Whoa! We Sure Didn't See This Coming!

Read on dear friends, for the big reveal at the end of the story of our tour of The Golden Isles of Georgia. It's all Lynn and Glenn's fault, as usual.  They told us how much they liked Blythe Island Regional Park, near Brunswick, GA, and talked us into camping there for our traditional Thanksgiving dinner together. And, as usual, we had a great time with them, and except for the mosquitos, Blythe Island was a great place to camp. (Yes, there were too many trees to use the satellite dish, but we lived.)

Sites 87 & 88, Blythe Island Regional Park

Apologies for this post being a bit outdated (like over two months) but a lot has been going on (keep reading). In the few days we were there we managed to squeeze in lots of adventures, including Fort Frederica and Southern Soul BBQ on St. Simon's Island, and a bike tour of Jekyll Island. 

Beautiful oak alley at Fort Frederica

St. Simons Island was the site of a battle between the English and Spanish in 1742 that determined Georgia as an English colony.  After that battle the Fort and town were abandoned, and today the National Park Service maintains the area with the ruins as a beautiful park. 

Ruins of the Fort

After a stroll through the Spanish moss draped live oak trees we headed over to the heavenly Southern Soul BBQ at the recommendation of Lynn & Glenn's friends Diva and Scott. Excellent choice! Everything, including the friend green beans, was delicious. We'll be going again, I'm sure.

Rib sandwich

Prime rib sandwich

Southern Soul BBQ, St. Simons Island

Scott, Diva, Glenn & Lynn 

Another day we drove out to Jekyll Island, about 20 minutes away from Blythe Island.  The bridge below is named for Sidney Lanier, who wrote a lovely poem entitled "The Marshes of Glynn County" that captures the unique beauty of the low country.

The beautiful Sidney Lanier bridge from Brunswick to nearby Jekyll and Blythe Islands

Here are some of those salt marshes, a rich ecosystem that comprises much of coastal Georgia and South Carolina.  It's a look that grows on you.

"The Marshes of Glynn County"

Once on the Island, we unloaded our bikes and started our circumnavigation along the west shore. The bike trail runs around the entire island, though we pooped out about 2/3 around.  See a map here.

A tiny bit of the island's fascinating history: Jekyll Island was the exclusive and private home of a "club" of millionaires at around the turn of the 20th century.  During the Great Depression their mansions were abandoned, and in 1947 the state of Georgia purchased the island at a steal, and it is now a state park. Development is strictly regulated by the state, and limited to only 1/3 of the island. The grand homes and the Jekyll Island Club Hotel remain, in various states of repair. There seemed to have been a brief housing boom in the 1960's and 70's, resulting in several neighborhoods of nice, but modest homes from that period, and there are a handful of hotels along the ocean. Since then development slowed, until recently, when a town center with several blocks of commerce, a Westin Hotel and a conference center were built.

Within the state park, some of the old homes are restored and open for tours.  Two thirds of the island is a historical and nature preserve and cannot be further developed. 

Moss Cottage within the Jekyll Island Club

The residents pedaled around the island on these "red bugs" for fun and exercise.

Rick and Glenn get serious again, this time about cars, thus the helmets.

The Jekyll Island Club Hotel is grand and very traditional. In the photo below there are actually some people playing croquet on the lawn. It really is like stepping back in time when you visit.

The Jekyll Island Club Hotel

The historic Faith Chapel within "The Club"

Also on the island is the Georgia Sea Turtle Center where in addition to caring for sea turtles, they will treat any injured wild animal that is found on the island.

Georgia Sea Turtle Center. Here they examine a snake that was brought in by the man on the right.

At the Center there are about eight large tanks where injured sea turtles are rehabilitated so they can safely return to the sea.

They also raise a certain number of turtles from eggs.

Wee baby sea turtles with numbers painted on their backs, for the big race later on??

Near the golf course, modern day "red bugs" are available for rent.

Along the bike trail we visited the Horton House, historic ruins of the earliest white settlers on the island:

Driftwood Beach is a must see on the northeast side of the island. 

The gang of four on Driftwood Beach

Driftwood beach

As we pedaled along the ocean side of the island, almost back to the truck, we passed a new development of condos.  We didn't think too much about them at the time, except to admire their location and think what a cool place this would be to live. 

Well, long story finally made short, we returned back to Jekyll Island a month later, after the holidays with our family, and bought one.  Settling down was not in the forefront of our minds by any means. But if we stay open to possibilities, these opportunities show up in our lives and we just have to pay attention.  Now we can hardly think of anything else. Our new home won't be available to us until Fall 2016, so we will have time to travel up and down the east coast before we have to wrap our heads around moving in.

So, our full-time RVing lives will be changing later this year, but we hope to keep the RV and keep traveling for vacations. We'll just work that out as we go.  

People often ask us if we look for the perfect place to settle down as we travel around the country, and I have to say we don't do that too much. Occasionally we find places we really love, but they aren't necessarily places we'd like to stay, or we aren't ready to stay. I've come to believe that there is no perfect place. There's just the place you are. Another time, Jekyll Island might not have captured us the way it did now. Another place could have captured us instead.  For whatever reason, we've been captured and captivated, and we look forward to loving it all.

How a Puppy Changes Your Full-time RV Lifestyle

I realized our myopic vision of the last month or so may need some explanation...

So many people live with dogs (of all sizes) in their RVs (also of all sizes). We’ve seen folks unload their tiny Airstreams at campsites with three German shepherds, or their motor coaches with six chihuahuas! We even met a couple who took out their couch to put in two extra large crates for their malamute show dogs. Hard to imagine, but people love their dogs and they make it work. 

Living without a dog is definitely easier in so many ways, and cheaper. But living with a dog somehow makes us more human. Certainly more humane. The care we need to give her often makes us take better care of ourselves too. We can’t take excruciatingly long day trips without stopping to let her out and so we have to stretch our legs too. At home we can’t get too comfy in front of the TV or the computer for too long without going for a walk. The love and attention we give her gets reciprocated. What goes around, comes around. 

We’ve been living with Honey now for almost 2 months and I thought I’d share some experiences of how living with a puppy has effected our lives. 

Space

When we lost our golden retriever Kona in 2013 we debated for quite awhile whether to get a dog her size again, or look for a smaller breed. One full sized golden, at about 70 lbs, takes up a sizable chunk of floor space when stretched out. But we love the breed, so we stuck with it. A smaller dog would really be easier.

Kona didn’t have a crate when she traveled with us, so we never had to consider where to put one before. Honey initially had a tiny crate that fit easily between Rick’s recliner and the dining table and chairs. 

Well, she outgrew that one in about 15 minutes and now has a larger one in its place. It’s a tight squeeze. We hope it will be the last one we need.  

Puppies also love to be underfoot, all the time. It only takes one or two close calls to increase one’s spatial awareness to include the floor all around your feet, all the time.  Eventually, dogs find their places and become a little less unpredictable that way. But a puppy wants to be everywhere you are.

During waking hours, we are very fortunate to have a small living space to keep our eyes on. At first we kept our bedroom door closed so that at least one of us and Honey were in the living room at all times, except overnight when she slept in her crate. This makes it so much easier to monitor her explorations and it made house training faster too I think. Because we were always with her we learned her signals faster and she got a sense that everywhere inside was her home, and not a place to go potty. 

Now that she’s house trained she has the run of all of the RV, (all two rooms of it) except the bathroom and the closets. One of the benefits of full-time traveling is that we don’t have a lot of stuff lying around for her to get into. Basically everything is put away in safety-latched cupboards, closets and drawers. We don’t have to worry about her getting into dangerous things or places. The puppy rule - "what’s on the floor is hers" - works well in our house.

Time

Puppies need to be attended to almost 24/7 for the first few months, maybe longer. At first they don’t sleep through the night, so sleep is disturbed for awhile and nighttime potty breaks are usually a necessity.  In an RV park you’ll never be able to just let the her out in the nice fenced in backyard and tell her to go potty. It always requires a leashed walk. Many times a day at first. Because we can’t leave her home alone yet, everything we do is tag-teamed. We take turns doing everything. Parents will recall this from the days of young children. We were very fortunate to have puppy-godparents who puppy-sat for Honey occasionally during the first few exhausting weeks she was with us. As much as we love her, what a blessing it was to get away for an afternoon together without Honey!

Every day we try to fit in some kind of training experience, whether it’s practicing simple commands like Come, Sit, Stay, Lie Down, Touch or Heal, or just learning how to take a civilized, comfortable walk. This definitely takes time but is SO valuable in the long run. You need a well trained dog to live in a small space together, and enjoy the RV community and recreational opportunities traveling provides. 

Traveling

Because our lives involve a lot of driving, we need our puppy to be a happy traveler. 

We started taking Honey for rides right away, and now she loves to be in the car or truck, and needs almost no attention once she’s in the back seat. She sleeps much of the time. If your dog does not adjust to riding in the car, you’ll have a hard time. Imagine if you had one of those dogs that has to have his head out the window, or barks at every motorcycle that goes by, or worse yet, gets car sick. 

One limitation that we deal with often is the hot car. We can't just stop at the store or any restaurant for lunch because we can't leave Honey in the car during the day. At night, it's possible. So we do more tag-teaming, or we use an app like Bring Fido to help us find dog friendly restaurants (and dog parks).

Puppies need to adjust to RV parks too. They need to be comfortable with people living and walking close by, and sharing community space with other dogs. They need to not be barkers when alone in the RV.  You’ll have unhappy neighbors if your puppy can’t settle down once you start leaving her home alone.

In 4 years we have found only one RV park that did not welcome pets of any sort.  99% of them say explicitly that dogs must be on a leash at all times, and must be picked up after (of course) and many request that you not tie them up unattended outside of the RV.  But I think it’s safe to say that traveling with a puppy will not significantly change the choices you can make about where to park your RV.  (I do think that RV park websites should make a bigger deal about advertising if they have a fenced in dog park. So many RVers would appreciate it. I'd think it would be a great selling point.)

Money

Yes, food, occasional dog care, grooming, vaccinations and other veterinarian bills are no small financial matter. They do add up. Puppies eat a tremendous amount for being such little guys. Well, maybe little breeds don’t eat so much, but Honey sure does. Since we don’t have a regular vet, due to traveling, we often look for vet clinics at Petco or Petsmart for vaccinations, which saves a good deal.  Just watch out for those toy and treat aisles while you’re in the store. (Geez, puppy toys are expensive!)  The good news is that if you are a full-timer, you don't need to get your pet licensed for any particular location. We plan on having Honey microchipped so that in case she gets lost she may be easier to locate.

Recreation

With a dog you spend a certain amount of recreational time attending to their interests and needs. With our last golden, who loved to swim, we did our best to find her water she could enjoy wherever we went, and that is easier in some locations than others.

So far, with Honey,  the focus has been on finding dog parks. (Again, Bring Fido has been a big help finding those.) She needs lots of play time with other dogs to learn good manners and burn off some of that puppy energy.  We've even found a couple of RV parks with great fenced in dog parks, but those are hard to locate.

The flip side of this is the change a puppy may make in your own recreational pursuits, be they reading, couch surfing or more vigorous styles of exercise like hiking, biking or kayaking. We’ve had to put some of our favorite pastimes on hold for the moment. We’re not going to be able to fit her in one of our new inflatable kayaks for very long. But she's eager to come with us, no matter where we go.

Honey is not a great walker just yet either. She’s learning, but it will be awhile before she goes on any hikes longer than 100 yards or so.  We know that when she's older she’ll be a great hiking companion. 

Note: Hiking with dogs is not possible in US National Parks, so looking for doggie daycare near any Park you want to visit becomes essential, and sometimes costly.

Socialization

Walking a dog, especially a puppy, in the RV park is one of the easiest ways to meet people. Everyone wants to meet the puppy! People with dogs usually like other peoples’ dogs too and are happy to meet and greet on the street. Same with dog parks. Sitting or standing around with other dog owners, watching the happy doggies do their thing is one of the most relaxing social experiences ever. 

...and this has a flip side too. Sometimes the attention can be a little overwhelming, and we've needed to find quiet alternative locations to take her for walks to do her business.

Bottom line...having a puppy in the RV is definitely doable, and takes patience and flexibility. But when things get tough, remember they are not puppies for very long and it's worth all the effort because they will be fun, loving traveling companions for the rest of their lives.