Read Our Story

This website reads like a book, illustrated with pictures, videos and little anecdotes. You can read the story from start to finish by clicking the chapters in order, or click anywhere you want to go
directly to a page.
Introduction
 
 
 
 

Chapter 14 – Road Trip!

Gabby loved to go in the car, and she loved road trips!

I took her everywhere I was allowed to take her.  She was extremely well behaved in the car, either sitting on the passenger seat or sleeping in my lap.  Every once in a while she would stand on my lap with her front legs on my arm and watch the scenery go by.

I brought dog food and treats for her of course, but on long trips I would sometimes get some fast food and give her a little bit of it.  Usually it was a piece of a plain hamburger with the bun, fed in very tiny pieces, or her favorite, an Arby’s Junior Roast Beef!  I washed the roast beef in a cup of water though because I knew it had a lot of sodium in it.  
 

The video above was taken on a pit stop from a 2001 road trip to South Carolina to see my mom. This was shortly after Gram passed away and I inherited her Camry, which you saw in pictures in pages before.  There isn’t much action here, but it is wonderful to see my little dog when she was so young and this footage reminds me of all the trips me and Gabby took together.

Road trip and Red Roof rules and romp

For some reason, different sleep and play rules applied when we stayed in hotels, and sometimes, at friend’s houses. Perhaps it is because we spent so much time in the car the same day.

This started with our very first road trip together in my Miata, which was to Michigan to see a friend. She was about 10 months old. I slept on his couch, with her at my feet. 

At about 6 am she jumped down, got her toy and put it on the floor by the couch. She went to the other side of the room and started doing the happy dance and wagging, anticipating the throw.  I was barely awake and not in the mood.

When I did not throw it, after about a minute she came up and grabbed the toy, jumped up on the sofa and dropped the toy right by my face, then got back down on the floor and started looking at me, doing the happy dance and wagging again.

Needless to say, she won that one.

redroof

We stayed at a lot of Red Roof Inns because of the pet-friendly policy. When we stayed there it could be 3 am in the morning and she would start pawing me for a belly rub.  She was quite determined, and kept it up until she got it!

She would also jump off the bed in the middle of the night, get her toy, jump on the bed and drop the toy, then jump off the bed again.  When I woke up from the activity around me, when I opened my eyes she would start doing the happy dance in the dark, telling me, “Throw the toy, throw the toy!”

nightvisiongabby

Night Vision Gabby!

Once I was testing a Sony video camera with NightShot and had it with me when me, Gabby, and my then-girlfriend Kim were staying in a hotel on a road trip.  I used it to take the picture above and the video below.

She was very restless that night and wanted to run around and play!  I think she was the most playful dog I have ever encountered.

One of the nights she was most playful and kept me up almost all night for play and belly rubs was we were staying at the Red Roof in Ohio near Doc Slobody’s veterinary center. She had a minor surgical procedure scheduled the next morning.  I just shook my head and said, “Girl, get some rest…  you would not be so happy if you knew what was happening first thing tomorrow!”