Van life with Scout: August 2023 recap
A high level of what we’ve been up to in August! (More detailed daily sharing usually happens on our Instagram.)
It took me a little while to recover from the absolute high of our Alaska-Canada trip—but we still visited beautiful parks, caught sight of some incredible creatures, and spent time with loved ones this month, too.
TLDR: Top August highlights
We got to spend a bunch of time with both of our families! Sean’s parents invited us along to stay at a friend’s condo in Aspen, and then we drove to Wisconsin to see my little niece Olive.
I was lucky enough to meet up with a few dog friends in Colorado, too.
Sean got summoned to North Dakota for his work to scope out a testing site. (He’s part time with a company trying to minimize natural gas waste in the oil drilling process.)
We’ve been reliving some of my most nostalgic, golden childhood memories in the Upper Peninsula and Mackinaw area of Michigan. It’s lovely to show Scout these places (even if I can’t explain the sentimental significance to her).
Van life: The midwest still feels like home
While we still drove more than two thousand miles this month, August’s destinations were far more familiar than July’s were. Sean and I both grew up in Wisconsin. To this day there’s something about being in the midwest that just gets my heart going.
I also stand by the fact (at the risk of sounding like a very annoyingly broken record) that a converted van is the best way to travel.
Some favorite August destinations included:
Driving through the Grand Tetons and marveling at their picture-perfect, iconic mountain shapes
Hiking to the Maroon Bells with Sean’s parents outside of Aspen, Colorado, and enjoying so many delicious meals in Basalt
Enjoying a perfect visit to my childhood hometown, complete with plenty of time with all three dogs, my ten-month-old niece, my sister, and my parents
Camping in the north unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park after Sean was sent nearby for his work—I think this might be the most underrated national park we’ve been to so far
Reliving childhood memories in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and showing Sean around Houghton, where my parents met way back in their college years
Tasting the first signs of fall in the Keweenaw Peninsula
Heading to Mackinaw City, where my family used to camp every single summer when I was growing up, and taking a day trip to the island
A full roundup of where we slept:
11 nights in parking lots (like rest areas, Walmarts, public parks without overnight restrictions)
7 nights visiting family (3 sleeping in the van in the driveway of Sean’s parents’ Aspen condo, 4 sleeping at my parents’ house)
7 nights at campgrounds (traditional developed loops or free primitive spots)
5 nights on some sort of public land (national forests, BLM, etc)
1 night at a Harvest Host
What’s new with Scout specifically this month
Scared us by acting sick for a few weeks
Early in the month, Scout stopped eating normally. She seemed more sore than usual, too—she’s been on joint supplements since we first brought her home and previously had hip x rays to rule out dysplasia (she doesn’t seem to be “built right” in her read end), but it’s usually much more manageable.
Her discomfort culminated in correcting Sean’s mom for very gentle petting, something she’s enjoyed in the past. When we visited my family just a week later she was hesitant to ask for affection, too. We handled things as well as I think we could have… but I was devastated all around.
Of course, Scout has seemed generally less interested in direct interaction from people who aren’t me and Sean over the last few months—I’ve done quite a bit of writing about this lately—but this was a whole new level. We got in contact with her vet to see about getting her in earlier than her upcoming annual in December. We also took things as easy as possible, opting to have her spend a lot of time resting inside the van (her familiar home space) instead of pushing her to be around my parents’ house.
The entire time she remained playful when we asked… but it was obvious she wasn’t feeling right. Instead of throwing her toy at us for endless games, she’d tug or fetch for only a few minutes before lying down. Her touch sensitivity was an all time high.
Long story short: I was beyond worried.
Thankfully, increased rest, extra bone broth, and patience seem to have done the trick. Our cattle dog seems fully back to normal at the time of writing! She’s begging to romp on forest roads, sunbathe until she fries, and tug as long as possible We’ll continue to keep an eye on things—as much as I hate to admit it, she is getting older, and behavioral changes often have medical components—but for now we’re letting out sighs of relief.
Did better than ever with my family dogs
Even though Scout wasn’t feeling her best when we were in Wausau visiting my parents’ house, she did so well with my family dogs and the neighborhood canine chaos. I could not be more proud.
She handled being surrounded by seven (!!) barking dogs at once on a neighborhood walk, three in a yard and four on the road with us.
She hung in the backyard with Margo completely naked! (Margo was leashed because we don’t have such great verbal control with her.) Both dogs got to play and run while making good decisions.
She kept her head on when a neighbor dog came within a few feet while she was playing tug with my sister in the front yard! (Disengaged from the game but otherwise looked to me for direction and followed us to the other side of the driveway to jump right back into play.)
She and Margo saw each other through the baby gate we use to separate them multiple times with very reasonable levels of arousal.
It’s hard to remember that her fear-based dog reactivity used to be such an issue when we visited my parents’ house. It was so… simple this time around.
