In September 2017, in celebration of our 10th year together and 6th wedding anniversary, we decided to embark on a 1 month cross country road trip with our dog, Bubbs. The last time we did such a thing was when we moved from Sarasota, Florida to Los Angeles in 2009, when Bubbs was just a puppy and we were flat broke and hauling ass (and our record collection) in my old 2 door Honda to make it across in 5 days. That was not the fun adventure that I’d imagined (for many reasons), and almost ended in me pushing Eric out the car door during a particularly bad argument somewhere in that vast stretch of the west Texas desert where he’d be left to be picked apart by crows and rattlesnakes (true story…thankfully everyone lived to tell the tale, and we actually got married after that fateful drive).

Aside from a few drives up and down the coast, we’d never spent a considerable amount of time all together in the car, and I was definitely a bit nervous as to how it all would work. I spent about a month carefully planning our route, with the intention of stopping to visit places we’d wanted to go and people who had played an important part in our relationship over our 10 years together.

To keep everyone sane, I wanted to keep driving days no more than 8-10 hours (with the exception of one 12 hour day) and had the following stops planned for the West to East portion of our trip: LA to Sedona, Sedona to Santa Fe, Santa Fe to Austin, Austin to New Orleans, New Orleans to Fairhope, Alabama. From Fairhope, we would do a tour of Florida, stopping through and visiting loved ones in St. Petersburg, Sarasota, Fort Myers, then Gainesville. After the Florida tour, up to Charlotte, North Carolina, followed by Asheville. I didn’t plan the route back until we were in Florida, as I wasn’t completely sure how long we’d stay in Florida and wanted to have a little flexibility there.

We started the trip 2 days before our wedding anniversary, so it was important to me to spend the first 2 stops enjoying each other without visiting anyone. We’d never been to Sedona or Santa Fe, so that seemed like the perfect places to visit!

Traveling with food allergies and a dog can be complicated and definitely takes a little pre-planning. One of my best hacks is a portable plug-in car cooler (we’ve had great success with this one), and mapping a route to stay in places with a great food co-op or Whole Foods (because I can always count on finding good local food ingredients, if all else fails). Staying in Airbnb or VRBO rentals has become a crucial part to traveling with food allergies and a dog, because having a kitchen is essential, and so is having space for the dog to roam around. I also love the Bring Fido app for searching out dog friendly hotels for places where Airbnb gets outrageously expensive (and searching out dog friendly restaurants with a patio – couple that with using the Find Me Gluten Free app – definitely pre-planning is key). Thankfully Bubbs is an old man. He’s not too picky, super well behaved, and easy. He doesn’t need to stop every few hours, and LOVES car rides – he’s happy as a clam just laying on his bed in the back seat, watching the world go by, and never minds being in a new place. 

 

SEDONA

Our first stop, Sedona, did not disappoint! The drive from LA is super easy – only about 7 hours (give or take). We packed up our VW Tiguan “Stardust” and left around 5am to get a head start on beating LA traffic, which put us into town around 2pm, giving us plenty of time to explore and settle in. We planned 2 nights in Sedona at the Red Agave Resort – super dog friendly with amazing hiking trails right in the back yard. What this place lacked in interior charm it made up for with stunning grounds and spectacular views. It came equipped with a kitchenette and an outdoor grill (which we learned how to use after figuring out that you actually have to turn on the gas – city folk, friends) and had these magical fire pits to sit around at night and watch the stars. Bubbs loved wandering the trails and the pink rocks made for a spectacular backdrop.

Sedona Highlights/Places to Visit:

• ChocolaTree Organic Eatery – Great paleo options, super cute, incredibly slow service (we had to remember we were no longer in LA – a great lesson in slowing down)
• PaleoBrio – A full paleo-friendly restaurant! This place was amazing and everything they had was absolutely delicious (it is in a strip mall of sorts, and the interior is strange and dark – hence no photos – but equally delightful in it’s own way)
• Garland’s – Someone had told us that this was a must visit, and they were right. So many amazing indigenous arts and crafts local to the area. We wound up purchasing 2 Hopi Kachina dolls and I wanted to take home all of the rugs, but they were a bit out of our price range and would have been a pain in the ass to travel with.
• Whole Foods – This was, hands down, one of my favorite Whole Foods I’ve ever visited. Everyone was SO nice, and their local pasture raised meat selection was amazing. We stocked up on road snacks and picked up ingredients to make a delicious pasture raised ribeye dinner on the grill (I travel with pink salt, olive oil, coconut oil and spices so that I’m always ready to cook up a feast).
• The variety of Alien inspired stores, crystal shops, and roadside memorabilia stores everywhere – overpriced, but still fun.
• Most importantly – the NATURE. That’s what Sedona is known for, and what had the greatest draw. We were ready to pack up and move there after our first night (this is a pattern in my life – I want to move almost everywhere I visit).

SANTA FE

From Sedona, the drive to Santa Fe was super easy – only about 5 hours – and SO PRETTY. New Mexico is, just as their license plates say – the land of enchantment. From the first rest stop on the AZ/NM border nestled into the side of a beautiful rock formation, to the roadside motels and neon signs of Gallup, to the small quirky reservations and beautiful nature all around, I knew this was a place I’d want to visit often (and of course try to convince Eric to move to – as I do).

We rented a super charming Airbnb in a historic Adobe (which is sadly no longer listed on Airbnb) that was walking distance to a great local grocery market Kaunes (I collect canvas grocery bags as souvenirs when I travel, and got my favorite extra large one from this place!!) as well as walking distance to The Plaza.  To say we fell in love with Santa Fe is an understatement. Bubbs really loved it too! The whole town is so dog friendly, with many stores welcoming him in and giving him lots of puppy love.

Santa Fe Highlights / Places to visit:

• The Plaza – this refers to the central area of town – so much amazing architecture, so many charming stores, and the local native market with artists selling their wares is just so special.
• Kakawa Chocolate House – beautiful handmade chocolate, some completely paleo friendly! Their chocolate drinks are amazing!
• Ten Thousand Waves – so many friends told us to visit this place, and so glad we did! We rented an amazing private outdoor hot spring pool nestled up in the mountains under cedar trees, complete with a private sauna and cold plunge. We went at night time and being out in nature, soaking in a hot pool under the stars in the cool air of fall in New Mexico is such a special experience. Seriously. So worth it.
• Modern General – Such a cute little free standing store with amazing local farm to table food
• Palate – Great local/organic restaurant with easy to modify paleo options and a beautiful dog friendly patio. We were able to meet up with one of my old mentors there (who strangely wound up getting engaged to one of my college professors and relocating to Santa Fe from Sarasota) and had the nicest time hanging out and eating under the beautiful trees.

AUSTIN, NEW ORLEANS, AND FAIRHOPE

We only got to visit Santa Fe for two nights, and then it was off to Austin to visit one of our dearest friends (and former LA “den mother” who relocated there a few years back). Our only other trip through Austin had been on our initial drive moving to LA, (there’s a whole story I could tell detailing that disaster, but I’ll have to save that one for another time) and we were excited to have a better tour guide for this adventure. After a super long 12 hour drive through southern New Mexico and then northern Texas in the rain (wet dog on a long car ride – not the most fun) we got to Brandi’s house, stopped by a local cafe, and went to sleep. The next day we did a whirlwind tour in the rain of so many places, got to hear live music, got to live out our Guy Clark dreams of having “mad dog margaritas” at the Chili Parlor Bar (and stuffing our faces with non-paleo but still gluten free Texas Chili) and walked through the city getting soaked and having the best time. I wish I could give more details or show pictures, but we wound up just enjoying ourselves and there aren’t any photos to show for it. 🙂 I will say that Austin is extremely health friendly (if you know where to look), super easy to eat Paleo, and seriously – it’s the WholeFoods mecca, so that needs no explanation. Everyone is nice, and it was so green! Subsequent trips there since this adventure have made me love it even more.

The drive to New Orleans from Austin was long, and the rain was pretty intense at times (it was still hurricane season, and Houston had just gotten nailed 2 weeks before we got there). We were fascinated by the quantity and diversity of road kill in this area (gators, opossums, raccoons, deer, various birds, armadillos – I think we lost count once we hit 40), but decided that it had to do with all of the drive-through liquor stores in Louisiana (definitely an odd concept). Rural Texas and Louisiana don’t seem overly impressed with long haired hippies with California plates and a dog wearing multiple scarves, so we didn’t do much stopping. Our visit in New Orleans was short – one night – and we wound up staying at a LaQuinta (super big dog friendly and fairly consistent) in the heart of the city, just off Bourbon Street. Had we had more time, I definitely would have booked a cute Airbnb, but we were just stopping through. The touristy part of New Orleans was exactly what I would have expected. I loved the architecture, and we did find a super cute old absinthe bar just off Bourbon Street (not Paleo) to pop into, followed by eating at this amazing farm to table spot Restaurant R’evolution  that wound up being fairly paleo-friendly and had the most delicious house made charcuterie. Next time we’re in town, we’ll definitely be going back there!

From New Orleans we went to see my childhood best friend and her family, who live in Fairhope, Alabama. We only got to stay for a night, but fell so in love with this super special little coastal town. It’s one of those perfectly kept little secret spots, so charming, and fairly open minded/health conscious, especially for the South. I can’t wait to go back and spend more time there – it was one of the true surprises of this trip!

Once we left Fairhope, we made the trek down into Florida. The Florida portion of our trip was mostly filled with visiting family and friends, sleeping in guest rooms and on couches, and having one minor mishap with Bubbs face swelling to double the usual size after him sniffing through grass at my mom’s house. We still don’t know what caused it – could have been a grass allergy, could have been a bee sting – who knows? Thankfully, we were in my childhood home town and got a quick reference to an awesome emergency vet, who pumped him full of prednisone and a cortisone shot and sent us on our way.

Road life hacks/tips:

• You can’t always plan everything, so it’s important to be flexible and go with the adventure.
• Keeping healthy snacks in the car is crucial to avoid rural gas station food. Some things that travel well are nuts, jerky (soy free, pasture raised if possible), and dried fruit.
• Lots of water! We have a collection of Hydroflask bottles and I recently bought a portable travel water filter that I bring with me everywhere I go
• I travel with a stick blender and a jar, as well as this amazing LEAK PROOF travel mug. I know this sounds crazy, but sometimes it’s hard to find good breakfast options, and easy to make a “Bulletproof” coffee or Matcha on the road and then have a piece of fruit handy. I always have packets of coconut butter and coconut oil and ghee and keep a tin of matcha and packets of Four Sigmatic Adaptogen Coffee, along with manuka honey packets and roasted Dandelion tea with me on the road
• As mentioned earlier, a portable plug-in car cooler (we’ve had great success with this one) is essential for picking up pastured meats and organic veggies along the way. I also travel with zip loc bags (recently have switched to reusable silicone ones), parchment paper (you never know what the bakeware will be like in vacation rentals), a roll of paper towels, garbage bags, a thin cutting board, one good knife, and a set of camping enamelware and utensils. 
• Those canvas bags that I collect at co-ops? We hook them over the head rests of the car and fill them with things we need to access easily.
• Don’t forget to take pictures, but also stay in the moment. One thing I wish I would have done more of was pull out my fancy camera and take photos on certain legs of our trip. That said, I am so glad I was really in the moment, and not so focused on posting on social that I forgot to enjoy the adventure.
• Blankets are great to cover all the stuff in the car, so everyone doesn’t see you’re traveling with suitcases.
• We always have what we refer to as a “dog sheet” in the car. We cover the back seat with it, and it’s easy to take out and wash if there happen to be any puke or poop explosions (which we luckily didn’t face on this round, but we’ve encountered in the past).
• Bring your own pillows and spare pillow cases! Sometimes other people’s spare pillows really suck, and it’s nice to know you’re laying your face down on something that you cleaned and that you can guarantee is comfortable.
• Compression sacks – I love these and these! Compression sacks are great for when you’re traveling between seasons. We kept all of our winter stuff in one until we had to break it out, and our pillows in another. It really helps cut down on bulk and is a great place for the dog to rest his head. Plus, it protects things from inevitable road dirt and grime.
• Do a full car clean out mid-way. Seriously. This was the best idea that Eric had when we stopped at my Mom’s house.
• Take breaks in between staying with friends and loved ones to stay by yourselves. This is crucial to everyone’s sanity. Also, never stay with anyone more than 2-4 days, or you’ll overstay your welcome. I don’t allow it at my house, and I sure as hell don’t want to do this to anyone else. What’s the old saying? “Fish and company are only good for the first 3 days and go bad on the 4th.” Or something like that. I’m not the best with old sayings. 🙂

STAY TUNED FOR PART 2!

xo-Jenna