Traveling The World with my humans

We woke up because it was so hot in the van. The sun was shining and heated up the van although it was cool outside. The heat wasn’t the problem but the humidity. In the desert in Nevada we had about 5-9% humidity and here we had more than 70%. My humans got up quickly to open the windows and get some fresh air in the van. As they weren’t sure if they would meet with some balloon artists in Minneapolis today to show my master’s software they decided to have a shower. There is no way to take a shower at Walmart but at the truck stops you can get this. But the truck stops charge $12 for one person to shower and you have to wait in line. So my humans decided to stay on a campground for the night where the shower is included in the price and we would have power too so that my mistress can publish what I am writing. I am good in telling my story but my mistress has to write it down for me and publish it. We stayed in St. Paul for about two hours to find out if there was somebody that wa...

The plan for today was driving as far as possible. Remember, the van – Lupoloon Mobile – is old, to be exact it is 30 years old and the engine already made almost 370,000 miles. This means we have to stop every 100 – 150 miles to check on the fluids. And who checks on my fluids? I clearly would prefer ice cubes over water but I only get water, warm water to be precise. We left Grand Island in the morning. After a short while we left Nebraska and entered Iowa. Iowa is between the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. There are a lot of cornfields here. Somehow the navigation of my master made us leave the Interstate and we drove through the countryside. One time a turtle was crossing the street. It was on the other lane and unfortunately a truck came that way a few minutes later. I hope that little turtle made it safe to the other side and wasn’t run over by the truck. Later on the Interstate we saw a deer next to the street and a lot of dead deer along the road. At lunchtime my humans...

I had a very good night and I had sweet dreams. You humans got up early. The weather wasn’t too good and it was very windy. My humans stopped at one of the Rest Areas and there was a nice lady, Judy that gave my humans some information about Nebraska. Nebraska lies in the Great Plains and the Midwestern. The tribes of Indigenous peoples that lived in Nebraska originally included the Omaha, Missouria, Ponca, Pawnee, Otoe and various branches of the Lakota (Sioux), some of which migrated from eastern areas into this region. The Lakota was the tribe that fought at Little Big Horn. Back in the 1800 were a couple of trails going through Nebraska From 1804 to 1806 the Lewis and Clark Expedition took place. This was the first expedition to cross the western portion of the United States. It started in in St. Louis, passed through the Continental Divide of the Americas to the Pacific coast. Lewis and Clark were Captain Meriwether Lewis and his close friend Second Lieutenant William Clark ...

This morning my master had another look at the car as they found out that one light of the Van did not work. He repaired it. After that he went to Walmart to wash his hands and he saw one of the security people talking to two kids. To my master it seemed like these kids did something wrong but instead of calling the police to report them he talked to them, explained them why they should not do this and asked them that from now, every time they come in this Walmart they should come to him, greet him and tell him how they are. He couldn't help hearing all this as they stood right next to him and he couldn't step away. My master was impressed by this as to him this seems to be the right way to deal with these kids. And he told that the security man. His name is Chris. They talked for a short time and my master told him about my blog. After they had breakfast my mistress started the car. It didn't sound right, something was wrong but they couldn't figure out what so the...

This morning my humans were busy with their phones. Something about meeting some balloon artists in Denver, My humans took a shower and luckily they didn't want me to take one. We left Grand Junction and we had to cross the Rocky Mountains. I remember we’ve been in the Rocky Mountains exactly one year ago with Brooke but the Rocky Mountains in Canada are way more beautiful than here in the USA. Is there more than one Rocky Mountains? The van had to climb the hill a lot today. It didn't like it and we had to stop a couple of times. Today the highest point was 3537 m / 11604 ft. And the lowest point was 1310 m / 4298 ft. As we had to make so many stops to let the van cool down my humans were late for their appointment with the balloon artists. When we arrived in Denver Laura the balloon artist with the shop they wanted to meet at had to leave due to an emergency. They said they would meet later. I think I told you that my humans and Ken made a software for balloon artists w...

This morning we woke up from all these trucks that were leaving. My humans didn't sleep well as they were worried about the repair of the van. I don’t care - when I'm tired I sleep nothing in this world can be as important as sleeping, food and being near my mistress. First thing in the morning my master went to these people that ran the truck stop and asked for a good and trustworthy garage. It turned out that there was one just up the street. It was too early to call or go there so my humans had breakfast first. One good thing about traveling with my humans is that I get some of their food which I normally don't get. They had muffins for breakfast and my mistress couldn't finish her lemon muffin so I got what she couldn't eat. Mmmmh that was very yummie! After breakfast my master walked to that garage and he came back in a car with someone. That someone was Jim from Red Hills Truck and Auto Repair. Hep had a look at the car and it turned out that a screw tha...

My humans weren't too ich in a hurry this morning to leave. It was nice not too have hot temperatures but a chilly wind. We drove the I-15 North for another 50 miles and turned on the I-70 East. When we turned on the I-70 it was only one lane due to road work. When we went downhill finally after a couple of miles something hit the car from underneath . There was a broken tire next to the road and probably a tiny little piece was on the street. It made a big bang and it sounded like something was underneath the van. My mistress pulled over and stopped on the shoulder. When they looked around the car they could see that they lost break fluid. After they opened the hood they could see that one of the belts was broken and got caught inanother belt that was twisted. No wa we could go on. My mistress is smart and she made sure that she has internet access with her phone and could make calls. Well, if only there was reception. I could feel that my mistress and my master too were...

Around noon my humans got a call from Pete's Autoclinic that they made a test drive and uphill was not an issue any more. My humans told me that it turned that the problem was a combination of several things. Now they changed a couple of parts and it works. They even made my humans a great price for this. My humans are sure there not many car repair garages that would have done this, working a couple of days on the van and even come in on the weekend. My humans and I can't thank them enough. Listen everybody in PAHRUMP, NV - if you have an issue with your car or just need a maintenance or oil change, go to Pete's Autoclinic- the very best garage in the county. After picking up the van my humans got ready to leave for Canada. At first my humans were a little sceptical but the van ran up the hill as if there hasn’t been a problem ever before. We drove towards Las Vegas and on I15 North. We drove through Arizona and into Utah. In Cedar City my humans looked for a W...

My humans slept in and so did I. They knew the part from Las Vegas would not be delivered before 8 am and it would take a while to put it in and make a test drive. After 1pm my mistress called to find out that they got stuck while they made the test drive and that they did not put the fuel pump in to save my humans money. Now they had to wait till the truck was towed back. They sent the fuel pump back as they were positive they would not need it. Well, all this wasn't too bad for me as I could relax in the sun and play outside and tease the neighbor’s dogs. I love teasing them. When I go out in the backyard I go close to the fence to their property. And they come running and barking and fighting with each other. Meanwhile I pee and mark my territory in their direction. I just ignore them and walk to the other side of the property. They try to follow me but they can’t as there is a fence where their property ends. Oops, sorry, where was I!? Ah yes, the fuel pump needed to b...

My humans got up early to bring the van to the garage. They made a test drive and said that they would put in a new fuel pump. After asking my humans a couple more questions they had another idea what it might be and they started ordering parts. All these parts needed to be brought in from Las Vegas. This takes a while. My humans and I went to Walmart to get some stuff We waited all day long at that garage for that car to get finished. Later we went to Sonic to get something to eat. Thursday afternoon all these people that drive Oldtimers meet at Sonic and they were all there when we arrived. One man from the next table came over to us to pet me and talk to my humans. When we returned to the garage they told us that they were still waiting for one part as the one they ordered before did not work. Alex, that nice guy, drove us to our friend’s house where we spent the night. As the van was in the garage my humans and I slept in „our“ room again.

Yesterday evening my humans started to pack. I mean really pack, like everything. This morning they had an appointment at the bank to talk about a business account. What ever business and account means, it was boring. After we arrived back home they started loading everything in the van. Wait a minute what does that mean? Leaving the desert and going to Canada? I kind of like that idea. Although I will miss everybody here badly. At about 2pm we said goodbye and left. You must know that going from Pahrump to Las Vegas you have to go over a pass, a high one. Well my humans went towards Highway 160, turned onto it and …. the van behaved weird. It could not drive uphill. My mistress went off the highway the next possibility, turned around and went downhill. Everything was fine. They tried again to drive uphill and no luck with that. So my humans decided to go back to Pete’s Autoclinic. They checked, made a test drive and decided that the problem would probably be the air filte...

My humans are out of their mind! They seriously building a bed in the van for them selves and I am supposed to sleep on one of the benches. IN THE VAN! I deserve better than that, don’t you agree? This van is really big and there is plenty of room in the back so my humans decided to sleep in the van. But there is not enough room for me on that bed and so they prepared my seat as a bed. I am not sure weather I should like that or not. I do have a window to the right and to the left and I do have enough room to stretch out my legs but only the idea to have to sleep in the van is weird. I don’t like it. I prefer to sleep in bed with my humans although they don’t really like me to do so. I just sneak in during the night. See for yourself how my bed looks like. Do you think this is comfortable? And there is no vent, no a/c, nothing. It will be hot during the night. Sometimes I just can’t understand my humans. Why would you do something like that? At least we will stay one night a...

I think I never told you about my friend Cameron. He is a young boy, our friend Ken’s grandson. He is a nice guy; he plays with me and cuddles with me. Sometimes he does not let me sleep when I am tired but he does not speak my body language. He knows the basics but he just does not have the experience with dogs because they don’t have a dog. If they would have a dog he would easily learn dog body language. Cameron is very sensitive and he can feel when people or animals don’t feel good. When he found a mouse that was poisoned with the rat poison he took care of it because he felt so sorry for it. When he accidently hurt one of the pet rats of his sister he cried and made sure it will be ok. He is a smart little guy and he understands more than other kids his age. He might not be perfect in understanding dog body language but he is very good in talking his own language. The way he talks is rather the way an adult would talk. He likes reading that might be the reason for it. He e...

The last couple of days my humans took the van to the garage. They said the van needed to be checked if it is good to go to Canada. Is this something like a vet? First they went to the local Dodge dealer, as the van is a dodge. Is dodge something like a breed? I am Australian Shepherd/Golden Retriever but there is no vet just for my mixture of breed. My mistress told me that Dodge is the manufacturer of the car. Well, I am not manufactured, I am all natural. At that garage we had to wait quite a while. They said they would change the oil in the car and check a couple of things. This took a loooooong time. At least there was air conditioning in the room. That customer agent that took care of my humans did not recognize my humans or me. We just have been there 2 days ago to make an appointment. How can you not recognize me? I am very disappointed. Normally people recognize me because my fur is very unique. After almost two hours they were done with looking at the van. Zack, the c...