Mookie’s Big Adventure in Dallas

This is our 16 ½ year-old Havanese Mookie lying in his crate at the Holiday Inn Dallas Market Center.

We have to take Mookie everywhere with us. He has both a kidney condition and a heart condition that require him to have a special diet and medications so we just can’t leave him with a pet sitter. It would not be fair to Mookie or the pet sitter.

Last week we went to Dallas RV show and, of course, took Mookie with us. The Holiday Inn is right across the street from the Market Center where the show was held, so, if necessary, we would be able to check on him periodically. Fortunately that was not necessary. The hotel was very nice and the staff very friendly. Unfortunately, from a Mookie perspective, it had marble floors in the lobby so I had to carry him out of the building when he had to go.

After checking in we all went to Reverchon Park, a park that leads to the Katy Trail and restaurants.

The park is only 1.8 miles from the hotel and, theoretically, you can walk to it in 20 minutes. The truth is that the Dallas traffic is insane and the city is not pedestrian friendly, so walking was not an option. I think the 1.8 mile car ride took 20 minutes!
The "wagon" you see is the Creative Outdoor All Terrain Big Wheel Universal Cart. You can get it on Amazon and a lot of other sites. It sets up and breaks down quite easily. We take it off road a lot and even to the beach.

Donna scouted out restaurants that let you take your dog with you and that made life a bit easier for us. The first place we went was the Katy Trail Ice House, a restaurant that serves up pretty good food and has an extensive beer selection. We had three different beers—the Pecan Porter (a dark porter), the Real Ale Fireman’s #4 (a blonde ale) and the Ugly Pug (a dark, German-style lager.  You can tell by the picture below that Mookie appreciated the beer selections because I will dip a fingertip in the beer and let him lick it. One or two licks seem to satisfy him.

I had a burger which was really awesome. Donna had the tacos, which were also awesome. The serving sizes were pretty big, so we had to go for a long walk. We put Mookie in his wagon and walked along the Katy Trail, a paved trail that people use for jogging, walking, inline skating, and bicycling. The trail runs through Dallas, following the path of the old Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad.

I think we walked for an hour and a half before returning to the hotel. All that fresh air got to him.

Note the crate and bowl next to the chair. The bowl is collapsible and folds down to about one inch high. The crate is the Petsfit Portable Pop Open Crate.

It provides a lot of space for a dog Mookie’s size and, better yet, folds down to about 1-2 inches.

It also has a cover that we used to put Mookie’s food on so he wouldn’t get any on the carpeting. Traveling with your pet is getting easier with products like these.

The next evening we went to LUCK (Local Urban Craft Kitchen) restaurant, another place that accepted dogs. Donna ordered steak that was really, really good.

Shockingly, a few little pieces of her steak made its way to Mookie, as did a couple of fingertips of a chocolate porter (called “The End of the Weak”) I ordered. Donna ordered a beer called “Somethin’ Shady,” a Texas porter.

After dinner we took a walk on the Trinity Skyline Trail, a paved trail that follows the Trinity River. Again we took Mookie in his buggy.

Somewhere along the way he decided that he didn’t want to be in the buggy and actually tried to get out. So we let him out and he walked quite a long way, sometimes chasing after the buggy as though he was saying, “Come back. I changed my mind!”

Needless to say he was exhausted at the end of the day.

Oh...we actually saw some RVs that we liked but still have not made up our minds as to what it is we are going to buy. After driving along I-35 toward Dallas we’re not sure we want to haul a trailer behind us. Do they ever stop working on I-35?  
If you have not seen them already, you can find videos of our dogs here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL2ob-p59lb6jIOv6bu4hsA