The Great American Road Trip, Season 2: The Adventure Begins

Saddle up, cowpokes! The Great American Road Trip is back for Season 2! This year, we’re heading to the Wild, Wild West(way) to photograph all the li’l doggies we can find!

Greg, Roxy, and I traveled so far and so fast last year that a lot of our trip seemed like a blur. We didn’t always have enough time to explore all the things we wanted to so we’re doing things a little differently this year. We’re taking it slow and steady to give ourselves the time we want to do a bit more adventuring around all of the places we’ll be visiting. We’ll be on the road for five months this time around!

Our first stop will be St. George, Utah, where we’ll visit Snow Canyon, Zion, Bryce, and Kodachrome. We’ve never spent time here and are so excited to experience the red rock landscape, go hiking, and fall in love with someplace new!

Next, we’re heading to Jackson, Wyoming — my heart is returning home! I don’t know what it is about this part of the country but from the moment I stepped off the plane on my first visit many, many years ago, I felt at home. The Teton mountain range is the most beautiful view I’ve ever seen (see my photo from our last trip below). We’ll split an entire month between Jackson, Grand Teton National Park, and Yellowstone.

If you’ve never been to Yellowstone, start planning a trip right now. But it’s just all geysers and hot water, Terran. Yeah, that’s what I thought, too, before I went. The grandness of it, the wide open wilderness, the wildlife — the wild wolves — it’s all just so unbelievably special and even after four trips, I can’t wait to be back there again!

After Yellowstone, we’ll make our way up to see my cousin and his wife in Montana for a few days! I’m so, so excited! We haven’t seen them in many, many years and I’m really looking forward to spending some quality time together! My cousin is an incredibly amazing chef and I’m secretly hoping he’ll teach me some super-yumma recipes while we’re together! I don’t do a ton of cooking but I truly enjoy it and find learning new recipes and techniques super-fun!

Next up are little jaunts to Glacier and Missoula, which we have never visited before. We hear Glacier is absolutely incredible and we’re looking forward to seeing a friend in Missoula! 

Our last big stop is Bozeman, Montana, which is another favorite city of ours. We love the cute downtown area shops and all of the great hiking and nearby wild places. We’ll also swing in to see our friends at West Paw! Roxy says she’s ready to help with any toy or treat taste testing that needs to be done. ;)

Master Planner, Greg, has been coordinating camp spots for months, looking for places where we can back up to the water or ones with the fewest trees for the best chance for our satellite internet to connect. He has stayed up late and woken up early to book spots the moment they become available. He has strategically worked out the calendar, travel routes, and everything in between — even mapping out when and where we can stop at Costco! Thank goodness he has the patience for all of it! I can plan a photo shoot down to the teeniest, tiniest detail but travel plans are definitely not my forte!

Little Miss Adventure Pup, Roxy, is ready to hit the road again. She’s 15 now but still loves to be outside, exploring the great outdoors. She doesn’t walk too far anymore but still wants long walks every day so we happily push her in her carriage. We just started her on Adequan injections (which we do ourselves) and it seems to be making a difference! She’s not a “new dog,” as many people experience, but she does seem to be in less pain with the ability to move easier. That’s all we can ask for!

While we are rolling out of San Diego toward the end of April, our road trip really started earlier this month! We’ve been working tirelessly to make some upgrades on Sibbie (that’s our Airstream) and Star (our truck) and get them all ready for the big trip! 

On Sibbie, I installed some super-cute wallpaper on one wall (three more to go!) and we replaced the hard, metal handles with soft ones. We kept hitting our heads on the hard handles and it really, really hurt so we found some gorgeous ones on Etsy and replaced them throughout! I also found bright, butter yellow duvet covers to add a little color to the space. Greg likes the white & gray but it’s my mission this year to sneak in some more personality! ;)

Speaking of Greg, he custom-made some mud flaps for the truck to help protect Sibbie from flying rocks. That’s important! He also customized and installed a new flagpole so our Starlink satellite dish could be raised hiiiiiigh into the sky to hopefully get over some of the tall trees so we can have internet. Trees were a major struggle last year with the dish on the ground — and they’ll be much taller with more of them this year. A weekend away without internet? Great! Trying to run a business from the road without internet? Not so great.

Before we left, it was important for us to spend a little time at our favorite place in all of San Diego: the family ranch. It was so green and the leaves were just starting to explode on the trees. The cows were so happy for all of the fresh grass , too! There’s always work to be done there so Greg and his dad fixed fences and did a ton of tree trimming. I helped drag the trimmings out to the brush pile but I’d say my contribution was minimal…oops. We spent time with family in the evenings, talking and laughing over dinner. We really miss our family when we’re gone and it’s the hardest part about being on the road for half the year. They are who get us back home, though!

In between the family visits, packing, and rig upgrades, we did a photo shoot for one of our trip sponsors, Wellness Pet Company! Boba was so excited to model for us! As soon as he realized he was getting treats and food just for smiling, he was all about the camera. He was such a little ham! We also photographed Boba’s best friend, Jinx, but you’re going to have to keep an eye on our Instagram for her photos! She was also an exceptional model and couldn’t get enough of the food and treats!

We hope you’ll follow along with our adventures this year on our Instagram, Facebook, mailing list (sign up below), or just right here on our blog. We are grateful for the support of our family, friends, and, of course, our three trip sponsors: Wellness, P.L.A.Y., and GoldPaw!

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Part 2: Southern Utah