Paul and Nancy
We’re two wanderlust travelers living the average suburban life who started looking at all the various “Tiny House” TV Shows and said, “We Can Do That”. After a while, the big lightbulb went off in our heads and we realized we needed a home like that, but with more mobility. That kickstarted the RV research obsession! We purchased an older Winnebago to get our feet wet, fixed her up a bit and did some local travels and fell in love with the feeling of freedom.
Thinking that this lifestyle would work we were off looking at every possible RV related content we could find on TV, YouTube, Magazines and around the Web. We visited pretty much all the dealers within 50 miles of the San Francisco Bay Area, and during our last fall vacation to Utah, we took a 300-mile side trip on the way home and stopped in Pomona, CA to see the big California RV Show with over 1000 RV’s on display. Surely we could nail it down there.
It was 108 degrees during that show so we did not accomplish much besides finding the RV’s which had the AC running, and cold bottled water. We came home and like many others before us, we weighed The Good, The OK, and The Bad from Class A, Class C, Fifth Wheels and more…Finally realizing after more months of debating that there is no perfect RV, they all have compromises but finally, we could not deny the look, quality, and history of the Airstream trailers….so now let the adventures begin.
Maci and Jake, our 2 Corgis
We have two dogs. They are both Welch Pembroke Corgis. Maci is our 13 year old female and Jake is out 6-year-old male. We have had them both since they were 8 weeks old.
We picked up Maci in PA after we chose her from a litter of 14. She was the one sitting by herself waiting to cuddle. She was the perfect pet for my daughter. Nicole is an only child so they became inseparable.
Fast forward seven years to when my sister gave us Jake as a Christmas present. She thought that a young puppy would keep Maci running around and staying young. Getting a puppy at that stage of my life was a lot more work than I remembered, but we loved him and loved the way he fit into our family.
When Maci was about 10 years old she started to fall over a little when she walked. I took her to the vet and they told me that she was in the beginning stages of Degenerative Myelopathy, which is a progressive disease of the spinal cord in older dogs. www.caninegeneticdiseases.net Research has identified a mutation in a gene that greatly increases the risk of developing this disease. Which means it could be avoided when breeding.
She started in her K-9 Cart www.k9cart.com for the back legs only when she lost movement in her hind legs about 2 years ago and has progressed to all four legs being supported in the cart. K-9 Carts is a wonderful manufacturer of all types of devices to aid a dog in need of support. They have helped her with her progression from para to quadriplegic with different adaptations to her existing cart.
Due to the fact that Maci cannot propel herself in her cart anymore, we have also acquired a pet stroller to be able to have her accompany us on our walks with Jake. I actually think she likes it more because she is now out in front of us instead of being pulled from behind us and the stroller puts her higher than before which is great for viewing her surroundings.
Maci is with us every step of the way in our travels and adventures and will be as long as she wants to continue. As we all know, pets let us know when they are done.
Jake is a spunky little boy that loves to cuddle and play. He was raised with Belgian Malinois and horses on a ranch in Colorado so he kind of looks at short dogs funny because he thinks he is tall. He will be a great companion on our hikes all over the US in the future. He is young and strong but it is funny how he still knows that Maci, even in this stage of her illness, is still the boss around the house.
If you see us out and about in our travels, please stop and say hi. Maci will be the one in the pink pet stroller smiling from ear to ear and Jake will be the one pulling her along with his leash.
*******UPDATE November 2017******
We had to say goodbye to our girl Maci at the beginning of November. She fought an unbelievable battle with Degenerative Myelopathy but it finally was too hard for her to hold on anymore. We will miss her forever but we know that she is now able to run as fast as she can again which is what she liked to do, which gives us comfort. Jake is still our wonderful boy but did have a bit of trouble understanding that she wasn’t here anymore. He will continue to travel with us for his sister. Love you Maci!
If anyone has any questions about the disease that took Maci please feel free to contact me. www.degenerative-myelopathy.com
“Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole” – Roger Caras
The Rig And The Tow Vehicle
We now drive a 2017 Ford F350 Diesel Super Duty Dually and we live in a 35′ Heartland Landmark Syracuse 5th Wheel
We started with a 2017 Ford F250 Diesel Super Duty and we live in a 30′ Airstream Classic 30J (previous setup 2017)