Deek and I have been across the country many times now, in many different ways--car, train, and plane. On our car trips, I've noticed Deek has to do a lot of work to arrange and rearrange all the stuff in the back of the car when we stop at hotels. So, I decided I'd do what I do best--research--and find ways to make this trip easier for him.
I found this website that talked about breaking your clothes up into daily bags so you don't have to haul in a whole suitcase. Brilliant! Upon researching, I found these bags, which hold a lot and have handles.
It worked perfectly! In addition to these, we had a "go" bag--which we filled with items we might need (ie: tennis shoes, an extra set of workout clothes), basically anything we *could* need but didn't want to pack in the every day bags--and a toiletries bag. Three small bags. That's it. SO MUCH EASIER!
If you're not looking to spend money on Ziploc bags, grocery bags work just fine. We had more days on the road than bags, so we used grocery bags for two days. Those did great too.
To hold these little magical no-suitcase-required bags, I found this item.
It has two compartments, one for used clothing bags and one for unused. Plus, it has a ton of little pockets.
Deek and I packed all of our non-road clothes (since we were spending a week with his family) in a suitcase. The suitcase got put in the very back of the truck and never moved from that spot. We placed this little beauty in the very front of the trunk for easiest access. We'd pull a clothes bag out at night, and put it in the used clothes compartment the next day. Easy peasy.
I also used this awesome diagram from Stuffed Suitcase to lay out the car. It helped me put things in logical places, which made the trip that much easier.
https://stuffedsuitcase.com/pack-car-road-trip/ For example, when I opened an
FBomb (keto fat bomb) and it splashed on my light blue shirt, I grabbed some baby wipes from the armrest compartment and wiped it right up. There was never any evidence it was even there!
Our little man, Gus Rhew, came with us across the country. He is not a huge fan of the car, so we got him a little bucket seat to make him feel more comfortable. Despite the terrified look on his face, this is Gus *more* calm than he normally is in the car. LOL!
We also got him collapsible bowls which we could easily carry around. Since we spent half the trip in the southwest, we wanted him to have access to water constantly. Thankfully many of the places we went were very dog friendly, especially Tombstone.
Gus likes to sleep in a crate. They trained him that way at the shelter, and he's a small dog. The world is very big to him, so he likes to feel like he's safe and secure when he sleeps. The only problem is...his at home crate takes up a lot of space. So, we decided to get him a travel crate. I cannot rave about this thing enough. It folds up *really* small and is easy to put together. Gus loved it!
While he wasn't a fan of the car, Gus really enjoyed the trip. He liked visiting with family in the PNW, and he liked exploring all the new places and hotel rooms. And we liked having him with us. He's truly the sweetest, calmest, most gentle pup, and he's an integral part of our family.
Gus in Roswell, ready to see some aliens!!
For those of you who are considering car travel for long or short distances, I hope this blog will help you organize your trip! I was so glad I put the time in on the research because it made things so easy. We were in and out of hotels in a jiffy, which is what you want if you're exploring or spending a long day traveling.
Stay tuned for my next blog where I talk about the first leg of our trip--the South to the PNW via the northern route!
