Category Archives: General Commentary

Want to Rescue a Dog? First Rescue Yourself From Guilt and Pity


I originally wrote this blog 6 years ago and at a time in our life when we had The Perfect Dog!. Since today is the anniversary of our Dog Hank’s passing, I thought I would honor my buddy by posting this here. Miss you Hank! Adopt, don’t buy!

Written December 2012: 

My last blog focused on misconception, ideology and fear as it relates to dogs, dog rescue, and specifically pitbulls. In accordance with the theme of the blog, I am going to stick with misconception and ideology, but instead of human fear, I am going to take on its nearly as powerful antithesis – human pity and guilt.

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Elk Meadow. Isn’t It a Pity?

Had an amazing morning. Watched a herd of elk awake. Their heads popped up, one by one from the tall grass as the sun rose. I could hear the sounds of tearing grass even before I could see them clearly. Watched them eat their breakfast while I drank my coffee. 

Even if you are not somewhere like this, and no matter what you have going on this weekend, try turning off the news, putting away the phone and stepping outside. Even if just for a few minutes, who knows, maybe, just maybe, you will be able to see the beauty that surrounds you.? 

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My Personal Experience Healing Chronic Pain

I (Jeremy) original wrote a blog called “My Personal Experience Healing Back Pain” on a different site just over 4 years ago and only a couple of months after I experienced a somewhat miraculous healing experience with my problematic lower back. I am happy to report that my results have remained consistent for over four years and I am celebrating an anniversary of sorts. I decided this was also the perfect excuse to justify playing 18 holes of golf at my favorite course in Palm Springs on an otherwise random Monday morning.

Like I usually do, I decided to carry my bag on my back today even though a riding cart was included in the price and even though I have one of those push carts that I left at home and even though I did a 3.5 hour mountain hike yesterday. Considering where I was with my back just 5 years ago, I will never take for granted a completely pain free walk around a beautiful  course like this or any of the other ones I have been playing for the last four years. I felt a sense of gratitude with every single step I took. With that said, it also saddens me to see how few others are celebrating this type of anniversary these days. 

I also realize that writing a travel blog about chronic pain and mind body medicine may not be right up the alley of a typical reader of this blog. But, if even one person reads this, and it leads them out of a lifetime chronic pain it is worth losing any readers that don’t want to hear it but strangely decide to read it anyway. 

my story – the short version

I battled various forms and degrees of chronic pain for years. I have been formally diagnosed with Degenerative Disc Disease in my spine, pinched nerves, plantar fasciitis in my foot, a displaced bone segment in my shoulder from a broken bone that did not heal correctly and that rubs on other bone/nerves, a displaced bone segment in my foot that didn’t heal correctly and that rubs against other bone/nerves, and what I was told was significant neck damage due to a head-on car accident. I was told in no uncertain terms that my conditions were not curable without risky surgery, but that by working the rest of my life with physical therapy, strengthening and treatment, I could at least manage them to some degree. I spent the better part of a year working with a chiropractor, strengthening my core, stretching my muscles, changing my office ergonomics and getting regular treatments and yet my condition was only deteriorating.

Flash forward a few years and I discovered the work of Dr. John E Sarno and I read the book Healing Back  Pain, The Mind Body Connection. Within about 3-6 months I was able to eliminate every one of these painful symptoms from the most minor tendon stiffness to the most debilitating back spasms. I have remained pain-free for a period of over four years. The only thing I did was read and learn. Yes, you heard me correctly and no, I am not selling you anything. What I learned was that my pain was not being caused by the physical condition that I and my doctor were associating it with. What me, and a great majority of others, suffering chronic and even severe pain are experiencing is oxygen deprivation to the muscles and tendons surrounding the perceived injury. I understand that my personal experience and results are completely anecdotal, but I can also assure you that they are far from uncommon.  

If you are interested in hearing my story read on. If you are looking for RV info, or if you are starting to get angry about the basic premise, or if my personal experience is threatening to your livelihood, please click elsewhere. I am sure you can find a great blog about how to clean an RV black tank sensor somewhere but not in today’s blog. Ours hasn’t worked for 4 years so I got nothing for you on that subject. 

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We Said Goodbye to Our Best Friend Today

We said goodbye to our best friend today. Hank died peacefully at home and faced his euthanasia the same way he faced everything he ever encountered in his entire life and the only way he knew how – Head on and WITHOUT FEAR.

We were his rescuers and trainers, but Hank taught us far more than we ever taught him during the last 14 years.  About seeing the beauty in every new place. About never letting fear stand between you and anything. About unconditional love and loyalty.  About living, aging, and dying gracefully. And most importantly about how to live in the present moment and to be happy all the time no matter what!

Hank loved to walk, hike and retrieve more than anything and he could do it for hours and hours without getting tired. He was just as happy and confident navigating around broken glass in a rundown city neighborhood park as he was leading the way to the top of a 14,000-foot mountain in a pristine national forest in Colorado or strutting down the beach with the star’s dogs in Carmel, California. I can’t even to begin to guess the number of miles we logged around City Park in Denver which was probably his favorite place on earth. He was also about the fastest runner of his size that you could imagine, and watching him snatch a tennis ball or frisbee out of mid-air in stride was truly something to behold!

He also really loved to swim. Hank got to swim in the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico and in countless, swimming pools, streams, lakes, and catfish ponds in between. In fact, I like to think Hank is probably locked onto and treading full steam towards a floating tennis ball right now!

If you ever encountered Hank you probably remember his infectious spirit and love for every single person he ever met, even if the same could not be said for every single dog he ever met. His adopted brother Rufus was the unwavering exception. He will be missed by us all and our hearts are broken more than words can say.

If you have a good boy or girl at home, give them their favorite treat and tell them that one was from Hank.

Time at Home in Colorado and Finally Back on the Road

It has been a while since our last blog (well over a year!) and an eventful and non-eventful stretch it has been. We have been stationary for about 15 or 16 months and since this is a travel blog, we didn’t feel overly compelled to keep it up. For those that don’t follow our Facebook site, we had to make a slight change to the end of the 2016 snowbird journey. We were dealing with multiple pet issues including 16 and 17 year old cats with health in general decline. Having pets on the road is tricky but having geriatric pets and having to make five trips to five different vets in five cities in about six months was more than tricky, and as tough on us as it is on the cats. In addition, our old man dog Hank, now 14.5 years old, was having more and more mobility issues including a blown CCL (knee ligament) suffered while hiking in Flagstaff in spring of 2016.


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Life on the Links and the Farm – Part Two – Harvest Hosts

In the previous blog we introduced everyone to the two clubs that we joined that provide a network of locations that allow overnight RV parking at a business. Part one goes into a little more detail of both programs. Upon leaving the second of two RV Golf Club overnights we still had a few nights to kill before our reservation at an RV park in the Bay Area. We decided to try out our Harvest Hosts membership by staying at a few wineries. Per the policy of Harvest Hosts we are not going to publicly review each specific winery but rather share our overall experience and pictures in a general way. Once you join the club, which we highly recommend for RV’ers, there is a map/list with all of the actual locations across the country. You can research each one to read reviews from other members, what they offer, who to contact etc…  This post will be more of a review of our experience with the program overall.

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A Tale of Two Deserts – Part One – Boondocking in Kofa

By far the most common question that we get as full-time RVer’s is “What is your favorite place that you have been?”. I know from other full timers that we are not the only ones that get this question and not the only ones that struggle with it. Our answer is usually something like “It is not one place or type of camping that we like the most but the variety of places that we get to live and diversity of experience that we like the most”. Although that does exactly explain how we feel that answer usually seems to leave people a little disappointed. In this blog we will attempt to use “A Tale of Two Deserts” to better illustrate where we are coming from with this answer. Continue reading

We Got Solar!

We finally got around to completing the Solar portion of our RV power upgrade and it actually works! I have placed a dedicated page to cover this modification here.

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February in Joshua Tree National Park

IMG_5705 (1024x576) The real reason we were in Twentynine Palms in February was to visit Joshua Tree National Park. It was Robin’s birthday weekend and although we have had some pretty nice dog walking we had not done any real hiking in a while and she was looking to get out. Continue reading

Living a Life Less Ordinary – Moab, Utah

After Glenwood we continued west to another RV Resort in Moab, Utah. We sadly exited Colorado for the year, but we looked forward to exploring a neighboring state that neither one of us had much experience with. Continue reading