Another Week In The Tropics Of Southern Indiana

Well I am feeling better at least this morning, I feel like writing, so this might be fairly long blog post covering a lot of different things. I'll explain later but I have not been to the dentist yet, I do have an appointment for Monday morning. The pain has ranged from zero to extreme, not every day. I'll explain after the hound photos why it took so long for an appointment.

But first before I get started, you might like the 'visitor' we had the other day in back eating the green grass that is growing back in the hay field. I had let the dogs out and had just finished hooking Sadie up to her 80' anchored rope. Glancing up I saw something out in the field but couldn't tell what it was without my glasses on.

I ran back inside to not only get my camera but swap out lenses to the 55-200mm. I took a lot more than those posted  here but these have the best focus, my arms must have been shaking when I didn't know it. I was surprised she was by herself but she was having a good time.

How did my hound do? You know the one with the best nose of all canine's? Sadie didn't even know about the deer, smell or glanced at the 'visitor'.  In the past when deer have been in the field she has taken off in a sprint for a long long aerobic exercise, and coming back home a very happy and proud bloodhound. Winston? All he did was lay in the grass and enjoy the sunshine.

Just another day in the life of a basset hound

Here's our visitor on Wednesday taken with my 200mm lens.

Since we are talking about hounds, I am a little surprised in the food change for Heidi. It's been two weeks tomorrow and her skin issues have gotten worse this week. With improvement in her coat and stools, I think her skin issues are due to environmental allergies. I do not think the change in Heidi's skin is due to the new dog food. I like the Earthborn food and will probably continue to feed it to her. Her coat has always been soft and shiny but the new food has made it softer and shinier. That tells me the ingredients are being used. Her stools are normal now. I THINK I can feel some fat (bulk) coming back in a possible weight gain but will not know until I use the vet scales this weekend.

What is disappointing are her skin issues but I know that it will take almost 4 months before there is any possible changes to her skin, after making a change in her dog food. Regular blog readers will remember this quest for a skin rash solution started last October. Her last steroid shot for allergies lasted only a week before the next hot spot showed up from her chewing her feet in September 2014. Since last October 2014 we have tried the following:

• 2 different vet offices, 2 different ideas, treatments ... no solutions
• October thru December - first new vet. Tried Atopica pills. After more reading, found the side effects to be too much. She was constantly lethargic. Had the best improvement. Once the pills were cut from daily to every other day ... skin condition went back to bad.
• January - changed to Merricks no grain food .. pork and sweet potato. Tried a baby diaper cream with zinc oxide.
• February - a new vet where based on his studies felt it was more of environmental allergies instead of food allergies. Still he suggested no grain food as duck, sweet potato or venison, sweet potato as the next choice. He gave me a bottle of Zinc Oxide liquid with a couple of his own additions.
• February thru April - Weekly shots of RESPIT, developed based on your specific location and environmental allergies. Slight improvement, then Heidi would have a flare up to go back to the original bad condition.
• May - stopped all medications, shots and no grain food. I went back to food with one protein source basic formula. Improved skin but was continuing to lose weight and had an UTI.
• June - One week of traveling, skin rash about the same but no raw spots. Digestive system having problems, loose stools. Had lost 13 pounds since September 2014 and 7 of those 13 pounds were lost from April to middle of June, after the trip.
• July - blood in stool. Changed food by vet recommendation back to no grain food. The vet and Fromm Dog Food had found that chicken and grains to be the leading causes of dog food allergies. Currently eating Earthborn Great Plains Feast with bison and lamb meal ... no potatoes.

As of yesterday her skin issues are no different than last October when I took her to a new vet. There has been improvement since March where hair is growing back in places the 3rd vet said the skin was so damaged that hair would not come back. He was surprised and happy to see that hair was growing in those spots in June.

New hair continues to grow back but as of Wednesday these are her latest photos of her problem areas. The only thing that has changed in her environment is the hay field in back was cut and baled plus any summertime pollens. She went on 3 different walks through that field for the first time in many many months.

So like I have asked myself before ... is it a food allergy or an environmental allergy?

These are photos from last Wednesday. Her skin was showing improvement but this flared up in just one day. Looking back through her photo file "Heidi's Skin", where photos are dated as their title ... there is very little difference from October 2014.

A few weeks ago I finally found an old friend I had looked for off and on for the past 20 years. I found out later he had been doing the same, looking for me. I found him by searching on Facebook and since he has an uncommon last name, plus spelled differently than others with that last name, he showed up on Facebook on my first search. I don't know why it took me so long to decide to use Facebook as a search.

Anyway he knew I was a fan of hounds and always had a basset since 1987, he asked "how many hounds to you have now" ... Long story short, he has a Mastiff from a rescue service that had skin problems much like Heidi's. He sent me a small tub of K9 Klear Up to try. He said it worked great for his Mastiff's skin problems. Yesterday was day one of the trial.

Here is what we are trying for Heidi ... K9 Klear UP

In the meantime the temps have dropped to the mid 80's, sunny every day except a day full of rain yesterday. It doesn't matter ... Winston continues to sleep his day away, he has always been a hog of the couch and won't move.

From the time he was huddled with his litter mates, to riding on the VW Bus bench seat in front, laying on a blanket or laying on the couch ... he HAS to be in the CENTER of it when laying down to sleep.

Center Of The Basket

Center of the Couch

Center in The Winter

Not Left or Right of The Rope ... Center

Center Of The Carport

Center Of The Tent

Center Of The Tent II

As you all know I am addicted to Excel spreadsheets. I lived with them for my job but I also had many of them for life outside of work. They range from dog food analysis, electric usage, tracking every penny I spend and where it goes, even one comparing trailers. Really anytime I have a problem or am trying to make a decision it usually ends up with a spreadsheet. I can see all the information in front of me, a better visual of facts.

So after blogging last Saturday a few things happened concerning my dental problem. I finally made contact with my old friend from college who is the semi-retired dentist. A friend stopped by with some great books and ideas to help with the pain in my jaw ... both of them explained why that pain was occurring and what I could do when it flared up. The 3rd thing that happened "paintracker.xlsx" was made.

After implementing some things my friend gave me ... UNrefined Salt mixed in water 2x per day, and the pressure technique to the jaw vortex to relieve that muscle spasm ... I spent 4 straight days with little to no pain. I DID find out the culprit. By accident I bit down on a baby carrot on that lower left molar ... the carrot was suppose to be on the right side of my mouth ... how it got to the left side I don't know but I had pain like a knife blade, where you feel yourself elevating through the roof of your house, not just your mouth.

The next night by accident I bit down on a soft fresh cherry ... on that tooth again, same result. Monday night I decided to test that tooth. I intentionally placed some crab meat on that tooth and bit down slowly ... same intense paint, instantly like a knife. After the pain went away I spent the rest of the night sleeping without interruption. Yet, I can brush my teeth on top and each side of that tooth with no pain. When I swish mouth wash afterward in that area, no pain.

Those days and nights of no pain continued until Wednesday at 1am ... when I woke up with severe pain in my jaw and lower teeth. After some ibuprofen, some Orajel and an ice pack to my jaw ... the pain subsided and I slept the rest of the night with no pain.

I had little to no pain, unless it was self inflicted, Saturday thru Tuesday.

By Wednesday at 9am ... that no pain theory disappeared and severe pain blew in with a fury ... I spent the next 24 hours in what I called "severe jaw and teeth pain". No meds, no pressure points, no ice packs, no warm packs ... nothing worked.  I finally get to sleep around 3am on Thursday, spent all day and night yesterday with no pain but some soreness in my jaw.

I sit here this morning after two cups of hot coffee with zero pain ... go figure.

When I talked to my friend, the dentist, on Saturday .. I told him everything that had gone on, everything that I had either taken or done to relieve the pain. Now remember he is doing this diagnosis as a friend over the phone ... nothing official. He did say he would like to see the xray later on. He told me no matter what an xray would be needed before the dentist would go to the next step. He also said it will not be a quick fix as they might have to do the same process I am doing, "process by elimination".

Still, by my description, he feels I might have a "vertical partial fracture". It will not show up on a normal xray. Also, it will not cause more damage than what is already there and I could live with this for 4-6 months if I needed to ... but I can't handle this for 4-6 months.

He said he had the exact same thing but due to his circumstances at the time he could not fix his for almost 4 months. He also said a good dentist will be able to figure out that it is a vertical fracture and will probably put on a crown instead of an easier root canal.

I have a good dentist ... one that I do not want to leave. The problem is, when I retired I bought my own dental insurance where my dentist was listed AT THAT TIME .. this past week he was not listed. So while my pain subsided earlier in the week ... not only did I look at all of the different dental plans for people that didn't have a plan through their employer ... but I also READ THE FINE PRINT this time.

I was amazed what that fine print would not pay for. I'll not go into it but basically if my issue is what my friend described, most insurance companies will not pay for the type of crown material he suggested. Some companies will not even pay for a porcelain crown. I realized the fine print was the reason I spent months and months fighting over the phone with Delta Dental in 2008 trying to get my dentist bill paid after an emergency on that 2008 Saturday morning.

Luckily his office was only blocks from the IU football stadium, he was not only a season ticket holder and wanted to see the game I was on the way to see ... but he is also the team dentist for the university athletic teams and coaching staff. It was actually my best experience ever in a dental chair. That is the reason I do not want to change dentist. I'll change insurance first.

That leads to a "waiting period" that most insurance companies have for major dental work. They do that so when people like me sign up needing immediate major dental work done, will cancel their policy after the insurance company pays for only part of the bill. So, some companies will have a 6-12 month waiting period before they cover major dental work. Yes, some will waive that waiting period but I had missed the cut off date to use a waiver.

What did that lead to ???  LOL ... you're right ... if you have read this far ... the "DentalPlanAnalysis.xlsx spreadsheet. I listed many different companies, sorted them by total cost which included deductibles, all the different kinds of dental work for a total cost. After that I did an estimate of the type of work my friend thinks might take place, plus the exam, xrays and cleaning.

The sad thing is ... unless you have constant, like annual MAJOR dental work, the premiums paid are either the same or more than what it would cost to do a one time major dental procedure. In some cases the "free" preventive maintenance like exams, xays, cleanings and fillings would cost less than the premium they would require. Like the insurance companies I have had to work with the past 5 years ... they LOVE your premium payments but HATE paying your bills when needed.

Anyway .. in summary. I have a dental appointment on Monday morning. I can decide at their office what kind of insurance I want if I change my mind and sign up on their iPad before I sit in the dental chair. I still do not have any pain to deal with today but I know it can rise up at a moments notice. When it happens, thanks to my friends, I know the causes and what to do to relieve the pain.

BTW ... my spreadsheet showed that my intense pain took place most of the time between 1am-4am fop the past 6 days. Only Wednesday is when I had severe pain all day and night ... I rarely had any pain after 12 noon on those other 5 days. I was able to mow the yard this week, no pain. I was able to drink coffee every morning except Monday and Wednesday mornings. I was able to sleep thru the night uninterrupted 3 out of the last 6 nights.

I know this may be a weird topic (dental) to blog about but it's just "another week in the tropics of southern Indiana".

Another Reason Also Prevented Travel .. Me

There was another reason why I couldn't travel besides waiting to see how Heidi would improve the next 30 days after her vet trip. During the week I was waiting for the blood work to come back from the vet, I woke up one morning with some intense pain in my lower left jaw. At first I just thought I had slept in a bad position but I soon found the pain was coming from a tooth.

That should be an easy quick fix. Most likely an old filling was in need of repair or replacement. The problem was as the day moved on, the pain increased and moved up to my cheekbone and below my chin along the side of my neck.

I will say from the start that I do not go to doctors unless I am barely surviving. Luckily I have had very few health problems in my life that led me to a doctor, I've been lucky. As far as dentists, I go annually to get a checkup and cleaning and that is about all it amounts to.

I can usually find the solution or a fix by researching on the internet and I can say that 99.9% of the time, what I read about does fix the health issue. For example, the issue I had with acid reflux almost had me going to the doctor and even suspecting possible heart issues with a family history to make it a concern.

I found out by changing my diet, which I am still following and starting my 4th month today, fixed the acid reflux problem ... I haven't had any, zip, nada since that time. Plus no trip to the doctor to be told what the cause was.

So when I felt the pain move to a different part of my head, I thought it might be more than just a possible cavity or a filling that needed replaced. From my past accidents I realized it could be not dental at all but more of a muscle or joint problem.

I actually thought and I still think it might be, a problem I had from a car wreck in my 1963 VW Bus I had at the time in 1979. Friends and I use to spend a lot of weekends at the Rosarita Beach Hotel in Baja. Cervezas and Tequila were consumed in large portions and sad to say, driving did take place.

To make a very long story short, since that wreck in 1979, dental x-rays have always picked up an object that looked like a cavity, with it being in my cheek area and not on a tooth. It confused them until I would tell them the reason for that "spec" looking similar to a cavity on x-rays. Over the years that piece had moved down my jaw to just above my left upper tooth line from the corner of my left eye.

The dental techs or dentists were always freaked out when they saw the x-rays and would ask for the history of my head. I'd then tell them the story on what that was and how it got there. They were not concerned about any future damage. That accident like many other past accidents happened on a full-moon.

As I write this I have another tooth for the first time in the past few weeks now feels like it's the culprit of my pain. (Referral pain??) I know it's not, but the pain has moved today. I am also trying to sip a cup of coffee that I am craving due to my lack of caffeine and lack of sleep these past weeks, hoping that drinking that will not send me through the ceiling if that hot liquid happens to touch my lower left jaw area.

So where was I ... oh, the different pains. Some are intense, at all hours of the day or night. Until last night I have been sleeping in 45-60 minute intervals depending on when the pain wakes me up. Yes, I've been living on ibuprofen, aspirin, cold presses, hot damp wash cloths, face massages, "icy hot" cream on my cheek ... and starting this past Thursday morning I started using Orajel.

The meds not at the same time of course. Some times they work very well as all the other things I use, some times they seem like they are not there.

About the time I decide to go to a dentist or a doctor, on two separate occasions I have woke up after a couple of hours of solid sleep and there is zero amount of pain ... like it never happened. I've gone as long as 3 days straight feeling normal and out of nowhere the pain comes back ... always on the left side, lower jaw area and at times along the left side of my throat.

Through all of this I can brush my teeth over those same teeth suspected of giving me the problem, without any pain reflex. I can floss between those teeth that are painful with no problems. I would think if I had a cavity needed fixed or a filling needing replaced that brushing and flossing would let me know from the pain that is where the problem is.

So since mid-July sometime, after the vet trip for Heidi, I've been living with what I have described. Some times at 2am or 4am walking around the house in pain I have told myself there was no way I could be traveling right now and camping with my 3 hounds.

I have been playing phone tag with my old friend of 45 years that is a semi-retired dentist, hoping he can shed some light on the situation about what it could possibly be. Of course I imagine he will say I should have been in a dentist office weeks ago.

I mentioned heart issues in this blog. I don't have those but I did double check all the information I could find on the signs of cardiac problems with pain in the left jaw as a warning sign. From all the information I have read on medical sites, I don't find this being a cardiac warning.

So to end all of the rambling ... yesterday afternoon I was hit with the pain strike intense enough that it almost had me in on the floor on my hands and knees. Sadie took that as a sign that I wanted to play with her and she started by running and chest bumping me from the side ... lol

By midnight last night there was zero pain ... NONE whatsoever!!! Yet, ten minutes after laying down to sleep, intense pain. I get up and fall asleep sitting up in a big comfortable chair in the living room and sleep for a solid 4 hours. At 6:15am I get up to let the dogs out.

At that time the pain feels like it does AFTER you get work done at the dentist and the Novocain is wearing off. I go back to sleep for another 5 hours of solid sleep ... waking up with only a slight numb feeling in my jaw.

I just finished a cup of hot coffee and there was no change in the pain level.

So ... I was also a reason that traveling had been put on hold.

In the meantime some photos of the hounds. Winston is finding out that he likes air conditioning as much as he does the heaters in the winter ... thus this is his favorite position ... when not eating.

"I don't care about global warming ... I can sleep anywhere, anytime"

Of course Sadie doesn't care about how cold or hot it is, she likes it outside. With being a bloodhound and its hot temps along with sticky humidity ... that produces more drool ... lol

"Don't worry ... my owner will wipe it off"

Usually around 7:30 we head out just to sit outside or take a walk through the field. Sometimes Sadie lets me know by her look that sitting is not good enough, that she wants the daily walk ... whereas Winston is more than happy to sit in the shade in "his" soft grass.

"Lets go for a walk"

"It's great ... I'm not going anywhere"

As you can see, my project in April of digging up wild bushes, vine roots and cleaning out the area before I planted grass seems to be looking pretty good for a non-professional job after 3 months. Add in a historic month of rain in June breaking all rain records since 1865 in Indiana, I have a good amount of grass.

On a closing note ... before I could finish this post my dentist friend called me back about my jaw/tooth issue. I'll not go into it in detail but it will not be a quick fix. Once an dental x-ray is taken, there could be many steps in finding the source of the problem by dentists, endodontist or oral surgeons.

It was good to hear from him, what I have been doing with my self-treatment is good stuff.

I hope the issues Heidi and I are having will be fixed by the cooler temps of September where we can head west. That is the plan anyway.

Heidi Is On Medical Leave From Blogging and Traveling

As you can see, Heidi is as thin as the picture. As I mentioned before she was down 13 pounds from last September and 7 of those 13 pounds were lost since late March. A few posts back I wrote about taking her to the vet after we returned from our June trip to Utah. Her stools were too soft for too long, she was skin and bones ... although she had escaped any seasonal allergies for the first time that I can remember.

After a week of the vet recommended dose of Pepsin AC, then few a few days of pumpkin added to her kibble, I did not see any positive changes. The vet had ruled out parasites as the reason for her weight loss. He had no answers on why she had lost so much weight. She still had and has a huge appetite, normal basset hound energy but wasn't showing the normal amount of irritated skin this summer due to her allergies.

I had almost decided it was the food that I had changed to a couple of months ago, feeding it to her a month before our June 8 trip. She never had car sickness on that 3,000 mile trip. She seemed normal the week we were gone. She likes to rid in the car, always has. Still the vet and a few friends thought it might be stress from traveling based on her past history before I bought her through a rescue service.

I thought time would take care of itself plus a change in food would help her digestion problem. Since it was hot outside, I stayed inside and continued to look at our next trip possibilities. I was looking for places that were cooler than the Midwest temps and high humidity, and wasn't on fire. There were not many places west of the Mississippi River that fit that criteria.

Like always, things in life can change in an instant, even with the best plans sketched out. I had l just let the hounds out on a Sunday morning, the 19th, (correction ... it was the 12th) before I was heading up to REI in Indianapolis to pick up a Yakima Roof Top Storage Box. Both Winston and Sadie like to dump their tanks in the field but never Heidi. Since day one it's always been on the gravel driveway or a small corner in the front yard.

That requires me to operate a pooper scooper in quick fashion right after she is done. Only on this morning it was different. Bright red blood was showing up in her stool. Out of my 3 local vets in the area of this small town, only one was open for office visits on a Sunday. She happened to be Heidi's original vet from the time I bought her years ago until last October, when I went looking for other opinions on her skin issues.

For some reason this vet also did not want to see a stool sample to check for parasites. Both vets in the past few weeks had squeezed her stomach and intestinal areas and found no issues. Both said she did not have parasites. I thought it was strange they wouldn't check the stool but I'm not a vet.

By the time we arrived at the vet office and the vet had checked her out, it had been over 24 hours since Heidi had eaten anything so a blood sample was taken and sent off for analysis. I would get the results back the following week. I was pretty sure that blood work would answer all the questions we have had for the past few months.

That put our travel plans on hold. Yes, I was close to leaving for another trip. My house to-do list was complete and the urge to travel was too much ... so we were heading out.

Heidi's blood work results came back the following Thursday and everything was normal !!! How can that be after losing 28% of her weight when she wasn't overweight to begin with at 46 pounds? Why the digestive problems that had flared up in the past month of so? What about the UTI she had in May? But yes, the results of the blood work showed her red cell count was within the normal range, no liver or kidney issues as they seemed to be working normal. The tests did not show anything out of the ordinary. I still find that hard to believe.

The vet asked about her past activity, what food was she eating, basically a past history since last October, when I wanted to move away from steroid shots for her allergies. She suggested that stress might be an issue and yes, she may have been stressed out from traveling. You can tell by the photos I took of those trips, she never looked stressed out when traveling ... so I really didn't think that was the issue.

She suggested we go back to a no grain food, although from the photos I showed her on my iPhone, she could see the improvement in her skin after I had changed from a no grain food to a chicken and rice formula. She recommended something different on the no grain food.

She wanted me to make sure there was no chicken or chicken meal in the ingredients and also no potatoes. She did not recommend a brand. She also recommended keeping her at home for the next 30 days to see if she would start gaining weight with a different food high in protein and high in fat. During that time I could also watch for any other changes in Heidi. We set up a followup appointment for August 19.

I spent the rest of the day and night looking at different no grain dog food again. Something I had done in the past but I wanted the latest news of any changes. Only a day later did I find out that Merrick, a food we had used in January, had been bought by Nestle-Purina. It will be interesting to see if any of Merrick's dog food blends change due to the take over. As it were, Merrick was no longer an option ... no matter what.

I asked some friends for suggestions. There is a lot of no grain food but a large percentage of those foods have potato, or sweet potato as a carbohydrate source. I also found that even if Bison, lamb or fish  might be the first ingredient, further down the list you would find chicken meal in some of the different brands.

I also emailed Fromm Pet Food customer service asking about what they would recommend, since I was feeding their chicken and rice formula at the time. They replied with two interesting comments about what they have found in dog allergies. I'll not go into detail but essentially they found that chicken and grains were the first and second culprits of dog allergies.

A friend suggested a no grain food made right here in Indiana. It was rated not only 5-stars by Dog Food Advisor but was also listed as 1 of only 125 blends of dog food after a thorough analysis by an independent reviewer.

This food is Earthborn Holistic. After looking  at a list of no grain foods I had made at one of the local stores I buy dog food, I found that this food was about $10-$15 cheaper with it's competitors. The store owner thought the price difference was due to shipping, since we were only 75 miles from Earthborn's Plant.

I must say that just after a week, I could see a change in Heidi's skin. She had some places where she was chewing again before changing the food.  It only took two days to see a normal firm stool. The first serving I cut her old and new food 50/50 but noticed the next morning of a much different stool. That afternoon I fed her 100% of the new food on her 2nd day. From that day forward she has had nothing but normal stools.

Her hair continues to grow back in all the leg, stomach and neck areas that looked destroyed back in February and March. Her skin condition was so bad at the time the vet said in March there was no chance of hair coming back to those areas. He was surprised when he saw new hair growing in the June.

I did take some "before" photos of her at the time I changed her food. I will take weekly photos of those same areas to track the results and post them in future posts.

She must be feeling better on this new food Earthborn Holistic Great Plains Feast. She now is barking daily at the time she wants to eat, huge difference. Plus for the first time in many many months she has gone on the daily dog walks in the early evenings. Over the 7 months she never went on walks when I asked. Yes, the hay field has been baled for the summer, so we are back to walking early in the morning or early evening when the sun is setting behind the trees.

Sadie and Winston making sure it's cut right

Monday morning

Otherwise nothing that is blog notable is going on. We are beating the heat, drinking lots of water, reading, and doing a lot of what Winston and Sadie do during the day ... photo below.

Winston on the couch ... Sadie under the table

It's Good To Have Options

I know I keep photographing the corn field across the highway and posting it here ... but it's just amazing how tall that corn is ten days into July.

An old friend of mine that was raised in flat northern Indiana was amazed when she saw the photo and how green everything is ... as she begs me for water via email and texts from Sacramento California.

So that farmer had options whether to work or take a day off (they never do). He decided not only to put fertilizer on his field before planting this year, he got it all in about an hour before it started raining.

Where a different farmer that bales the hay field behind my house, has not had the chance to cut and bale anything ... it's more than hay ... I'd say its mostly weeds now. Still, when the weather was nice and dry, it was not tall enough to cut. Once it was tall enough to cut, it doesn't stop raining long enough to dry the ground out where he can get his tractor and baler in the field. So his options are few.





Sometime after my blog post on Saturday I went full speed ahead on planning our next trip by looking at maps, roads, weather, camping spots, campgrounds and found about 100 different ways to get to my destination.

It's been mentioned here before by some readers, maybe the "planning" is the high I get instead of arriving. Or the driving, since I love to drive long miles without stopping. Of course with the warning of the local tv weatherman on Saturday night, that summer temps will finally arrive any hour in "the tropics", my thought was to get north as fast as possible, to cooler weather.

It didn't really matter.

When I plugged a town name, that was 988 miles north of me, into Wunderground weather for a current and 10 day forecast, I found out it is hot everywhere. Now for those that have a RV in any class and those with trailers that have generators, 30/50 amp systems, or solar panels ... hot weather may not be that much of a factor since you can run the AC at your leisure.

When you don't have an RV or a trailer ... a Toyota FJ and a tent, it makes hot weather a little different factor. Add in the built in "drooling" of a basset or bloodhound breed, especially in hot weather as they pant to cool off ... at times those strings of drool get longer and more dangerous.

So ... the hot weather is a factor in my trip planning. Not only for me but for the hounds as well. High temps definitely affect my hounds ... otherwise in the currently hot and muggy weather here in "the tropics" of southern Indiana (@10:28pm it "feels" like 98°) ... they would stay outside longer than just to use the bathroom. They sprint for the house and don't stay a second longer than needed to dump their tanks.

"that has to be a mole"

"is that a mole"

It does bring up an interesting question. At what temperature would it be too hot to travel with hounds in the car?

Sure the AC would be on when driving ... but while buying gas, making a run to the restroom, or going inside for a cup of needed coffee would leave them in the FJ with the windows down just enough where they couldn't jump out or couldn't get stolen and still get some kind of fresh air.

The more I looked at different routes and different towns on Wunderground, it was amazing just how hot it is all over the country. I have a few of these towns always loaded into my iPhone weather app that comes with the phone and it's easy to see at one glance what is taking place, temperature wise.

Some other factors I have while planning ... as we all know boondocking on BLM land is few and far between in the Midwest. So it's campgrounds or a Walmart parking lot unless I find a motel without bedbugs that allows drooling hounds .. for sleeping.

No ... I'm not miserable ... I just look that way

When I thought of sleeping in my FJ with the windows down in hot and muggy Midwest, I remembered our trip to pick up the Lil Snoozy trailer in Arkansas in September 2013 ... it was in the 90's that day. I had an H3 Hummer then and sometime around 2am, with two hounds panting and hanging drool from their jowls because it was too hot to sleep in the H3 ... we had no choice but to turn the H3 on and flip the AC switch to "on".

The third hound, Heidi, was sound asleep because that is what she does well ... she sleeps ... anywhere ... anytime.

I remembered what I thought of that hot and muggy night after midnight when I was trying to sleep without any success. I remembered feeling miserable. So basically it could be either a campground in a tent or a motel room with no bedbugs ... or drive straight through to the destination to bypass the heat.

Remember I said in my last post that I would not be driving straight through anywhere, so sleeping, setting up camp is going to be taking place a lot more than my last trip. I found a lot of good highways, with towns few and far between ... so the sleep question came up ... where?

I found plenty of camping and campground symbols on my McNally ... then I'd cross that information with a DeLorme map of that state. Throw in some Mapquest analysis and the options were tenfold ... hundreds to choose from.

But that one word ... HOT ... was still a factor.

After spending a lot of hours going over possible routes ... stuff that I love to do, I decided to research stuff after I would get to my destination. My friend that is a blogger and traveler with dogs, offered an itinerary ... I took my friend up on that offer and soon after I received a one page email of where to go. It was detailed enough to tell me where to camp, where to park, what to see and how many days to stay in each spot.

It was great information.

Along with that came even more options ... a lot of them. Now when it comes to options, I like them, at times I like a lot of them. Even though I have downsized a lot over the past few years .. I still like having three different browsers to choose from to move around the internet, two different cars to drive, different t-shirts to wear ... even three different hounds to talk to and pet.

So options are good for me.

I was so enthused about all of this research I couldn't stop. Why? Well one reason it's pretty obvious I get a thrill or a "rush" from analyzing ... always have. I like planning a route and possible places to stay but I don't put a day and time to it. It happens when it happens. The last trip I wanted to get to Moab before it rained, I did, but that meant I had gone against my normal planning and basically drove straight to Rifle Colorado before getting a night of sleep.

When I glanced at the clock on my monitor in the upper right corner, it was way after midnight by this time, and I was still wide awake from adrenaline and basically I had to force myself to turn off the computer, put the maps away, the highlighter, the red pens and try to get some sleep.

Only after one more thing. ... that one page email had a ton of places to see and I was curious enough to stay up a little longer. I had an idea that I had to try out just for my own curiosity otherwise I would not be able to sleep.

How long was it going to take in days, how many hours of driving time and how many miles .... all minimum numbers

So it was a matter of plugging in all the routes, even the short ones that got me from Point A to Point B, into Mapquest for time and distance. I listed all of those on my spiral 5x8 notebook. After that I read through the one page email from my friend, adding the days that were suggested to stay, and added the day(s) based on driving time.

So if I were to arrive at a campground and stay two nights .. that equated to three days.

When I finished, it's going to be a 27 day trip, give or take a few days ... 79 hours and 35 minutes of driving time, covering 4,550 miles. With the knowledge that a change in weather could be a factor in moving from one place to another sooner than listed .. such as smoke from forest fires.

After 5-6 hours of analysis ... a list of destinations ... and almost a month of travel ... there was still one word that was a factor ...

HOT