October 27. Must get to D.C. With 5 dogs. One suitcase. One camera bag. One backpack. Enter my 2020 Subaru Outback. I bought an Outback simply because of the Subaru commercials. Subarus are made for dogs. I have 5 dogs. Therefore, I needed a Subaru. And, indeed the Subaru Outback worked out quite well. Everyone fit comfortably in the car for the drive to DC where the dogs would spend the next 30 days.
You may be asking yourself why I chose to drive to DC with the dogs rather than board them close to home. For me, it was an easy decision. My dogs are my family. I was not going to leave them for 35 days without leaving them with someone I trusted absolutely with their care.
So at 3am on October 27th we were all loaded up for the 10 hour drive (before stops) north. Everyone went to sleep except Spike (pictured above) who could not handle being in the back with the other pups. He continually tried to climb into the front seats, so eventually, I moved him to the front seat and he immediately settled. With the exception of some rush hour traffic in Charlotte, the drive was uneventful (except for wrangling 5 very excited dogs at rest stops for their bathroom breaks).
That said, all of my pups definitely have their own car personalities once they were awake. Scout (top left), slept the entire way – at one point I lost sight of her in the rearview and she was not responding to her name, but I yelled “treat” and up she popped like a prairie dog, to get her treat and go right back to sleep! Shep (middle top) tried to attack every 18 wheeler that passed. Spike – right top – (slept in the passenger seat unless I got out to get gas or go to the bathroom, then he moved to the drivers seat and stared out the windshield until I returned. Barney (lower left), tried to climb up the doors to get a better view and wiped his face (and drool) all over the windows. Penny, stared out the back window and occasionally let me know that she was not happy with this whole road trip idea.
Next it was off to the Dulles Airport Westin, my home for the night. I got a room with 14 days parking included. At way.com (Pro-tip: great for off-airport parking btw, I booked the rest of the parking I needed for just $4.00 a day -about half what the hotel would have charged directly). As a Marriott Ambassador member (yep, that’s right, I’m Marriott royalty 🙂 thanks to an extended stay during the height of Covid last year), I was welcomed as a Platinum member (2 levels below where I actually am 🙂 and the agent proudly let me know I had been upgraded to an Executive Room from the base room I had booked. At this hotel an executive room is exactly the same as a normal room….except….wait for it…it’s on the top 2 floors of the hotel. I was also given a “lake view” room (actually a drainage pond) as opposed to a street view or a parking garage view. And, I’m glad I had so much amazing scenery to greet me when I woke up the next morning. 🙂
Next: The trip truly begins with Qatar Airways IAD-DOH-JNB. Also known as the start of why y’all are reading this thing anyway.
The Kahn Man 