I just got back from my vacation to Elkton Maryland from Daytona Beach, Florida. I took my dog Mario and had to stop at every other rest area so either he or myself could pee. Mostly Me. I have a booster seat I got from Driving Comfort last year for Mario so he can be comfortable and look out the windshield. It was a great time visiting my friends in Elkton. We took one day and drove up to Quakertown Pa. to visit some friends on their farm.

2,108.5 miles

61.642 gallons of gas

34.198 MPG for the trip, at a cost of $188.47

Not bad considering I drove at 80mph most of the time up & back, had gridlock traffic in Washington and Baltimore on the way up. (stop & go for two hours)

Mario didn't care. He did not have to drive.


**************** I'm resting my eye's************************


**************Still resting my eye's**************************


************ I love my booster seat---I can see out the windshield****


I love Ronnie's Mini JCW and I love my booster seat "BUT" I also really like the person we visited because he had a Chevy Pickup truck with built in feet holders to keep me from sliding around while riding on the consol. It didn't take me long to discover this feature.


**** We stayed at South of the Border S.C. on the way home and it was the worst motel in the world. It was filthy dirty and run down. It was just awful. I don't think we will ever stay there again. I was waiting in the car while Ronnie was getting our stuff out of the crummy room.


** I will miss Tom's house in Elkton because I really liked his window sill**


** Oh Yea!!--We slso visited Mike's Famous Harley Davidson in Delaware**


** I'll miss just hanging out in Tom's very large yard***********

I guess we ain't going to Denver Colorado this year because we went to Maryland. Denver will be next year (Hopefully) It is twice as far out and twice as far back as Elkton and four or six motel stays instead of just two. It would be a great Mini trip though.

*****Our Mini Cooper JCW***********************************

Mario

 

I need to know if it was me or did anyone else stay at South of The Border in the past year or so. I remember staying there in 1997 and it was a great place. Clean rooms and a lot of fun stuff to see and do. It seems as though it has not been very well kept up. My room was so dirty I did not even take a shower. You would think with all of the billboards leading up to the place it would at least be stayable. They gave me a voucher for a free breakfast but the resturant was closed.

If anyone stayed there and liked it please let me know why.
This is a picture I forgot to post in my original posting.

You can see Mario in the car window.

 

Sounds like other than that one night you guys had a great trip!

Hope you can come out next summer for MINIs in the Mountains in Colorado. It's a terrific and fun event, and if they have it in Winter Park again, the area is very Mario-friendly!

We took the Mini-Poopers with us this past summer and had a great time - we stayed at the Vintage, it's the dog friendly one and very nice.

From Daytona it's 24 hrs on the road to KC, and another 10 from there to Winter Park - so definitely a few motel days depending on how far you can drive per day. Google says 31 hours drive time, FWIW.....

 

I wanted to go out to the event this year but I had so many doctors appointments spread out it was impossable. I wanted to do Mini takes the states on the way out. I have friends in Denver that used to be my best neighbors here in Daytona. It would have been nice to go but I still get tired from my cancer treatments so it was probably best to wait another year anyway. I sure ain't going anyplace without my best friend Mario.

It was a great vacation and I did not let South of the Border get me down. It got Mario down because I would not let him have his "KONG" on that dirty carpet. I did give him a bite of my Pizza though.

This is his "KONG" at Tom's house. You put a milkbone in it and he rolls it around on the floor biting it to get the treat out. He loves his "KONG"

There was no way I could let him have it on that dirty motel carpet.

 

We've got those for the Mini-Poopers too, they will spend hours working on getting that treat out of there!

We have this version...



I understand about the treatments, we went thru that with my wife a few years ago - the good news is she's still here and cancer free. Hope you're doing as well!

We've had good luck staying at Hampton Inns on long trips, but we did have one letdown in Rochester NY on one trip - first time I've ever complained to the manager about a hotel room, so he comped our stay. In our case it wasn't dirt, it was a broken bed that squished us together in the middle. I almost got up and slept in the chair it was so bad!

 

I thought I would get him something different because He can empty the regular "KONG" in less then ten minutes. He found he could just bite through the ribs on that model. I had to get him the black super Kong that is supposed to be indestructible. He has not destroyed it yet. He figured if he bit hard and rolled it "end over end" the crumbs would fall out faster. Shari's dogs just roll it around on it's side and give up after five minutes or so. They just don't think like my Mario.

 

Love dogs and MINI stories, it looks like Mario is great traveling companion. The motel looks a bit suspect to me but you never know until you get inside. Once many years ago at midnight in a snowstorm we were forced to grab a room in an ''auto court" in Boise City Oklahoma. You had to sit on the john to use the wash basin and the shower was a hose which attached to the basins faucets. There wasn't any hot water so it didn't matter, we slept in our clothes because the room temp was about 50. As to the floor it was hard surface wood with a 3 foot strip of asphalt tile down center. The worst place I have ever stayed in the US, some foriegn abodes have been worse but they have an excuse.

 

I think that the next time I get a motel room I will ask to see it before I plunk down my credit card. That way I will know if the room is usable or not. We had a great room that was less expensive on the way up and I actually got my complementary breakfast.

Mario has been a pain in the butt since we got home. I can't walk into the garage to do laundry without him laying next to the Mini's door wanting to go again. I created a traveling monster.


**** this is from last vacation but you can see he loves to go****

 

Great post Ronnie. Your dog is very cute. As for South of the Border. They obviously spent all their money on all those billboards . That place is a dump. I ate at the Mexican restaurant there one time on my way back from Florida not good at all. Even the gift shop there is a dump.

 

The last time I stayed there it was 1997. I do not think that they bought new sheets or anything for the rooms since then. I guess they spend all of their money on billboards. They have a website but you can't get through on it to complain about anything.

I'm sure Glad the restaurant was closed for breakfast because I probably would have got food poisoning.

The next time I go up I will stop at the tourest center and file a formal complaint.

I'm happy I drove down to Dillon to get my Pizza for supper. The best six miles of the night.

This was our bed at Tom's house. Mario loved it.


He went to bed super early that night.

 

ronnie, I'm glad to see you and Mario had a great adventure (except for the one motel, but I guess that was part of the adventure, eh?)! Love the pictures of your travelin' man; he looks super-happy to keep you company in the MINI! I hope your cancer treatments are successful and that you get to take Mario even further next year! Thanks for sharing your roadtrip story and pics with us!

 

I just went to your post to view the pictures and read some of the threads. Your dog is great.

I won't know if the cancer is gone for another 4 1/2 years. The big problem I have had was all of the Doctors appointments stretched out that did not allow me time to go anyplace. I also have some lung problems as well as bone degeneration in my right hip & lower back. I'm not complaining because the VA has been taking very good care of me. All except the stretched out appointments.

I want to go out to Denver so I'm trying to save up the $$$$. The Mini in the Mountains sounds like a great adventure for Mario and Me.

I know what you mean about the Milk bones. Mario goes to my lap when we go to the drive in bank because they give him a milk bone. The problem is when we stopped to pay a toll on the way to Maryland he thought he was going to get a treat so on my lap he climbed at both toll stops.


Here he is when Tom went to the bank when we were in Maryland. The lady in the window is the bank manager and she has a Corgi and also A mini. Of course he got a treat!


Talk about your Ted wanting an armrest. Tom's truck has two cupholders on the front of his consol. Mario discovered that if he puts his feet in them he won't slide around. Now they are called feet holders.

 

Ronnie and Ted, you both seem to be dog people, have you seen the unstuffed animals sold by Crazy Critters? I never buy stuff advertised on late, late night TV, but I saw this item and knowing how my Peke-Poo, Ellie, loves to chew things and play tug of war, and based on their claim of long life of the toy, at $10 for 2 critters I made the call. They claimed it would be my dogs favorite toy and they are right. She played with it and, only it, for 2 days. That was 3 months ago, now it down to 90% of the time. It is still in one peice, she hasn't been given the second one yet, and she loves it, comes to bed with it every night. This is a dog who has chewed her way through 2 Kongs, 3 hard rubber ***** and every stuffed animal or other type of rope or cloth toy.

The gal who answered the phone tried to sell me a bunch of stuff, finally had to shut her off. I haven't seen the ad for a while but still have the shipping info, if your interested PM me and I'll give it to you.

 

Great to read of other dog-navigator loonngg travel adventures...

Mario looked very at ease...have you taken him on "twisty-road rallies much"?

My wife and I took our two travel companions, Siobhan (collie) and Cerise (goldendoodle) from PA to CO for MTTS this summer...and there wer no incidents of carsickness, heat sickness, or "accidental deposits" in any of the La Quinta inns enroute!!

They are also very comfy rallying with us, and as for a long haul...I did Kansas City, MO to Eastern PA in one long day with the two of them in the back seat wondering when this trip is over...my wife was meanwhile flying home from Denver and missed the joy of sleep deprivation and constant dehydration/over-watering that we shared!

Here are some flickr photos of our trip:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/2307208...7624719263042/

and yes, you must get to MITM next year because Winter Park in the summer is awesome and so are the MITM folks!

packimocity

 

I went to your site to view the photographs and I really want to thank you. I see what I missed this year and if everything goes better timewise I will be at the Mini in the Mountains next go around. Of course I would not even think about going if Mario was not with me. He is a traveling fool. He does not get sick, He does not bark in the motel rooms and he just loves stopping in the rest area's to walk ,sniff meet other dogs and do what dogs do.

Your pictures are all great and really show the fun you must have had. I'm so surprised that so many Mini owners always take their dogs (Best Friends) with them. When I had my Corvette and went to events I don't ever remember seeing anyone with their dog except me. I guess the Mini owners are more dog friendly or something.


*****Here is a sample of meeting dogs in a rest area.*********

Thats Mario & Me on the left, Mario is the short guy.

************This is another rest area stop******************


*******Always people in these rest area's walking their dogs.********

 

Your dog is adorable! I really like the booster seat you got him. How much did it cost? My girlfriend has a Pomeranian I'd love to buy one of those. How old is Mario?

 

I got the Booster seat from "Driving Comfort" and it was $119.95 plus the $5.95 they charge for shipping.

They are at www.drivingcomfort.com

They do sell a smaller one for small dogs. I got the large one and put it sideways on the seat. It is just the right size for Mario.

They are a good company to deal with. I also bought my car cover from them. It does have a sleeve in it for the antenna.

As you can see, Mario sure loves his booster seat. He goes nuts as soon as he see's me getting it out of the spare room and taking it to put in the car.

 

We had the Mini-Poopers with us at MITM too, this pic was taken on top of Mt. Evans - it sure was windy up there! You can see the harnesses they wear in the car, that way we can attach them to the rear seatbelts and they can move around freely, but if I stop short they can't go flying.

 

I really loved reading about the adventures you and Mario had, I am such a softie when it comes to Corgi's and Coopers (I'm also slightly partial to Corgi's since I have three that own me)! I love the way that the cup holders are just the right size for his paws! I also got a kick out of seeing him standing on the window sill, in my experience most Corgi won't jump up to a ledge like that with the exception being my youngest one, she loves to climb up on the back of the recliner and rest, I call it her "parrot perch".

Umm, you do know that these are critters that eat many nefarious things (dead mice, deer scat, ect) without suffering harm, right?

It sounds like Ronnie has the same problem with Mario that I do with my one Corgi, they have the jaw strength of crocodiles! Dudley J can chew up and destroy just about anything short of armour plate (and I haven't gotten any of that to test him on). I purchased one of those so called "virtually indestructable" toys and Bubba had it reduced to random threads and stuffing bits within 15 mins. He is also the dog that converted our adjustable bed into a fixed bed by chewing up all of the control wires before we knew what he was up to. This Corg is such an avid chewer he has worn down his upper and lower fangs so that they are almost even with his other teeth (and he is only 4)! This pup does live to fetch but he will destroy a tennis ball within two weeks. I had to switch to to a ball made from a tougher rubber that seems to work pretty well, it's lasted him almost 5 months now. I also have purchased some lighted ***** for use at this time of year when daylight is scarce and they work well for about three days until he manages to pop the plug holding the battery/LED module in and everything falls apart. Fortunately (if he doesn't loose anything) I can get it back together fairly quickly and it will last an average of 10 more throws until I have to repeat the process.

Ronnie, I hope your chemo stuff works out well, I had to go through this with my wife a few years ago and I understand how dibilitating the treatments are.

 

Looks like you guys had fun! The South of the Border signs always crack me up, I didn't think anyone would stop there though...best bet (as you now know) would be to stop at a Holiday Inn or something off an exit.

 

When I stayed at South of the Border in 1997 it was great. I had my dog Midgi at that time and the room was very nice, very clean and at that time it was only $29.95 and included breakfast.

I really do not think they have done much except maybe change the sheets since then. I think the bedspread was the same one from 1997. It was awful.

Mat J Monk, Thanks for the kind words. The Radiation treatments are over and they know the tumer is gone. I'm hoping I'm cancer free but won't know for sure for a few more years. At least I have the few more years to enjoy my Mario & My JCW.

Dave, your dogs are really great. I think I already said that on another post but I'm saying it again.

Our next trip will be to Denver Colorado now that the cancer treatments are done. All I need to do now is "Hit the Lotto" and "Hit the road"

 

I love your Corgi!!

 

I have the same car seat for my Papillon, Phoebe. This is her on a trip back from the mountains, just couldn't keep the peepers open any longer.

 

I'm sure she loves her car seat as much as Mario loves his. It is really nice for our friends to be able to look out the window. Mario likes to lay his head on the dash to relax while seeing where he is going.

I do hook the seat belt so the chimes don't drive me crazy and because of the very low weight the passenger side airbag turns itself off. The computer thinks there is a baby seat or very short person riding shotgun.