Tribute to Travel Buddy Trit

Today would’ve been Trit’s 17th birthday, but we lost him exactly one week ago. He was our only baby at home, after both of our kids grew up, married and ended up moving away for jobs. Trit was a Jack Russell, so he was very firstly and territorial until the last several years when he began to slow down. 

It was at this time, as he mellowed, that he became the best little travel buddy on road trips with us. He was losing his sight and hearing which attributed to not caring/noticing that other dogs or people were in his ‘space’. Ha ha He inspired us to do more road trips and was the sweetest thing to travel with. These road trips happened to have coincided with Covid travel restrictions, but worked out well for us. We were generally doing outdoor activities that he could be a part of and we were picking up a lot of curbside meals that we ate in the car or parks with him. 

We would put his bedding in the back seat, carry food/water etc for him and take off. At his age, he was sleeping a lot, and seemed very content with miles and miles of road tripping. 

We went to New Mexico

Carlsbad Caverns was the only place we kenneled him. He did great while we toured the amazing canyons and was sleeping when we went to retrieve him. They have a nice kennel set up here for those traveling with pets.

Another stop for Trit was Santa Fe. It was beautiful and I loved all of the colorful flowers and outdoor eating space.

Painted Desert and Petrified Forest did not disappoint with the vividly colored landscape. Trit even became a Bark Ranger at the Visitor Center here. He was pretty low key about it. Haha

White Sands National Park in New Mexico was so awesome! We were amazed at the beautiful white sand in every direction. The bonus was we arrived at almost sunset. Gorgeous!

Roswell, NM had an out of this world feel as we toured around. Loved all of the aliens and alien references here. Trit was a curious about the little green men.

We went to Arizona

Grand Canyon was a fascinating stop for us. It is very pet friendly around the South Rim and we enjoyed sharing this experience with Trit. There were nice shady areas for us to stop and let him eat/drink.

We went to Palo Duro Canyon

Back in Texas, we stopped at Palo Duro Canyon, arguably one of our best State Parks. We did a lot of exploring and a little hiking. Bud ended up carrying Trit for part of the hike.

We went to Memphis

Arrive Memphis Hotel has become one of my all time favorite hotels during our travels. Trit didn’t have any complaints about this comfy and colorful rug in our room either. We loved visiting Memphis!

We went to Missouri 

Gateway Arch National Park in St Louis was such an incredible experience. Bud stayed down with Trit while I went up into the arch. Definitely happy to see my boys waiting on me when I returned from the top!

21cMuseum Hotel in Kansas City was another very cool hotel that we’ve enjoyed staying at. The hotel has art exhibits all through the lobby and framed art installed on every floor. The entrance is actually a lighted art display.

We also just happened to be in Kansas City on game day for the Chiefs, so of course everyone and everything was sporting the red and gold.

We went to Canton

Canton First Monday Trade Days is very dog friendly. This is a massive flea market that is open the weekend before the First Monday of each month. Always lots of dogs here and treasures to be found.

We’ve covered lots of miles together and will, no doubt, miss our travel buddy, Trit, on our next road trip. We are so thankful for all of the trips we were able to take together and grateful that we had our companion for almost 17 years! He’s taken the ultimate trip now!

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