Leo and Dawn working in the Tricks Class with Melissa Millet at Clicker Expo 2026 in Tarrytown NY

Wow, what an adventure!!! Leo and I are back home and recovering from a three and a half week long adventure traveling from Oregon to New York by car to attend Clicker Expo. Here is part one of our journey! Getting there, about our adventure filled drive across the country from west to east, that included trying to outrun storm Iona!

We left Oregon in the wee hours of the morning in our new car Pearl, the amazing Subaru Wilderness Outback we brought home only a week before the trip. It was an incredibly beautiful drive for our first leg of the trip. We skirted along the border of Oregon and California on a little two lane lonely highway, after we left Klamath Falls I think we saw maybe 3 cars total until we dropped down into Nevada. Then along the salt lake once we hit Utah. It was a very long travel day ending in Salt Lake City Utah! 728 miles 11 & ½ hours, plus we lost an hour with the time change. I decided I would rather just bust out the long day to start as there is NOTHING between here and SLC 🤣. The weather was beautiful and we stopped several times on random desert roads so we could stretch our legs. Leo is a champ when it comes to long road trips, he just snoozes most of the time. Pearl and her fancy upgraded seats treated my bum kindly, and she drives like a dream. I started the audiobook Project Hail Mary, highly recommend! Perfect choice for a long road trip. When I found myself tired at all I switched to Sirius XM Dateline channel ☠️ nothing like some twisted murder mysteries to wake me right up and wrap me in. There are NO restaurants or really any stops for most of that drive so I had myself well stocked with hot tea, cold drinks, lunch and snacks.

I use the IHG membership app for hotels. I like that they tend to have decent hotels with a range from affordable to really nice and list if they are pet friendly and since I was going to stay in so many hotels figured I would use the same app to get a bunch of points. So I had already booked my room before leaving for us to stay at a holiday inn near the airport. When I book hotels I always look up the hotel on google maps so I can see what’s around the hotel and try to choose based on access to green spaces to walk Leo. So after we checked in we took a walk, the hotel, while right off the freeway and super convenient that way, was in an area with tons of walk ways around ponds and lawns so we had a nice long walk before settling into the hotel.

My plan for day two was to continue along I-80 through Wyoming and then drop down to Boulder Colorado to stop for a meet up and stay with a dear friend. My friend warned me to watch the weather as they have high wind issues that often closes the freeway through Wyoming. Sure enough when I checked the forecast they had warnings for not only high winds, but also snow with possible white out conditions. So I re-routed and headed down to I-70 which was great because it took me through the stunningly beautiful southern Utah! We even managed to swing down to Arches NP near Moab on our way through!!!

Bark Ranger Leo reporting for duty at Arches National Park in Utah

The drive was another just gorgeous day! Southern Utah, and into Colorado just stunning. We stopped at the top of Vail Pass so Leo could meet the Colorado snow people much to his delight! Compared to the first day driving only 536 miles in 8 and a half hours seemed like a breeze. My plan was to do those two big days so I could spend an extra day in Boulder so we could explore and have a meet up to meet in real life with our Hiker Pup Community which was held at Red Rocks Amphitheater. Wow, so such a stunning place! Definitely need to come see a show here sometime!

One thing I will add about getting away with being able to do these long drive days with Leo, I always start with a dog that has been on a big hike before we leave and then I find places along the way where we can explore. So the day before our trip Leo and Julia went on a long hike so he would be ready for a rest day. Then staying at the hotel with the access to the walking path he started the drive day after a long walk in the morning before we left, then walking around Arches where he was allowed, then the snow romp at the top of the pass. When we arrived at my friends before he came inside I took him for a walk in a nice park across the street. I save time by packing all my food, so rather than me stopping to eat, I eat while driving and our stops are for fuel and for longer walks.

Besties touring Celestial Seasonings Tea Company

Leo making friends with Anna, wondering why we didn't share our fries.

We had a great time in Boulder and we certainly need to go back sometime soon! It is such a cool place to explore and of course now I know even more cool people that live there and of course to spend time with my favorite human ever, Neven. In planning to leave Boulder my plans once again got a bit in need of adjusting as a HUGE storm was in the forecast in the coming days that would be hitting in the exact time and place we were planning to be!

So Great to see Melinda again, IG to IRL bestie.

The first day went as planned, we drove to another friend’s place outside of Kansas City. Melinda treated us with a delicious dinner and it was so wonderful to see her again and meet her sweet pups. We dashed out SUPER early to try to outrun the on coming storm! Originally I was to stop in St Louis, which would have been a nice short 5 hour drive have another meet up and stay with Hikerhubby relatives. But after talking to them with the forecast they recommended we not stop and keep going to see if we could get past the area forecast to be most impacted. It was a solid decision as they checked in with me from their basement as the tornado sirens sounded and I was already past them. It was a bit of a harrowing drive! The road was SO BUSY, I am sure with many drivers doing what I was, trying to beat the storm.

My plan was originally just see if I could get through Indiana close to Ohio, but when I checked the weather when I stopped for fuel it showed they too were in the severe storm range and would be getting hail and possibly tornadoes. So I decided I would just drive as long as I felt safe to do. It was already so windy and dark skies following behind us and I shuddered to think of Pearl getting pelted by hail! The second half of the drive was whoa. I passed several trucks and a couple RVS that literally just blew over as they drove on the freeway. It was SO windy. I can’t believe those truck drivers were even trying it, they were whipping in that wind. Each time I had to pass one I was nervous. Pearl was a dream though, she handled that wind so well! You could see many trucks were pulling over on the exits and pull outs ready to ride it out as every exit was lined with trucks on the sides, all the rest areas and truck stops full.

I drove and drove and drove. Across Missouri, across Illinois, across Indiana, across Ohio all the way to Pennsylvania! 881 miles, over 14hrs of driving, and driving that took all of my focus. Stops were super short as it was so windy and with that storm nipping at my heels I didn’t want to linger long and have it hit while I was on the road. I got to the hotel I planned to stay at in Pittsburgh two days early 😂, luckily I was able to use the app to change my reservation when I had stopped for gas once I knew I could make it. The whole drive I was like “get Pearl to the parking garage” as my motivation to save her from the hail, and also because looking at the forecast that would put me east of all of the tornado and severe thunderstorm range.

We checked into our hotel, safely tucked Pearl into her parking garage and took a short walk, I was beat and Leo was a champ for understanding and was happy as could be just chilling in the hotel. We stayed in a Kimpton, my favorite hotel chain when traveling with dogs. They are great, they don’t charge pet fees and they don’t have size limitations, they are super welcoming and the the rooms are always very comfortable. The storm, storm Iona, was due to arrive the next day so I went ahead and paid for two nights and looked forward to exploring the city before the storm rolled in and grateful to have a safe spot for Pearl to ride out the storm when it did hit. Looking at the forecast at this point there was no more outrunning it, and it was forecast that the areas east of us would get more than where we were so it was a good spot to hunker down and ride it out.

The relatives and friends in St Louis checked in and everyone was ok, they had lots of warnings and thunderstorms but no tornadoes hit them. They were getting ready for the ice and super low temps that were coming in behind the front that brought all the unstable tornado conditions and were happy to know we made it safely through.

Leo and I spent the next morning exploring downtown Pittsburgh, our hotel was super close to everything so we could walk everywhere and leave Pearl tucked in. My butt was also very happy to know it didn’t have to sit in a car either! I was SUPER happy with myself for packing Leo’s Nonstopdogwear Fjord Raincoat. We tried to get all our sightseeing and walking in before the storm hit, but we did get caught in it and put our raincoats to the test.

Leo Point State Park in Pittsburgh Pa, the storm about to roll up on us.

I was born in Pittsburgh and haven’t been back since I was a kid, it was so fun exploring as an adult. I of course had to have Primanti Bros for lunch and it was so big it was also leftovers dinner. From our cozy room we watched the storm roll through, lots of wind and rain. It was a lovely excuse to cuddle in bed and watch movies for the rest of the day. I was so tired from driving so it was great to just rest. Leo is so good at entertaining himself and chilling, it was right about now I was super grateful Julia was at home as she would not have been so understanding about staying in after so long in the car the day before. But Leo was happy to cuddle and the morning walk met his needs.

We watched from the window as the sheets of rain switched to snow, blanketing the buildings around us. The wind howling through the buildings. It was really quite beautiful since we were safely tucked in. Inches already piling up as we headed out for Leo’s last potty break of the day. That raincoat earning its place in the car for this trip!

Already piling up, sneaking in a wee before bed, almost no photos while we were out there, because y’all it was COLD AF. My hands were busy hiding in my pockets.

Tucked in for the night all warm and cozy watching movies as the snow piled up.

I opted to head out early the next morning to try to make our way the rest of the trip before the morning traffic kicked off. I figured the snowy roads would not help matters with more snow due to keep coming in and we had a little clear window to sneak off in. Pearl earning her AWD adventure vehicle stripes as we navigated the snowy icy streets to exit the city. It was snowy with continued blizzards as we crossed PA until midday. But they had the roads mostly de-iced, plowed and Pearl handles like a dream, literally made for this. We traded snowy roads for TRAFFIC as we neared NYC.

By midday we arrived at our destination, a full day early 😬, thankfully my room was available a day early so Leo and I could get settled in and have an extra day to rest before Clicker Expo got underway. I spent the day getting Pearl a bath, her oil changed and hitting the grocery store to restock our road snacks. The Subaru dealership was amazing, squeezing us in and getting Pearl all spiffy and clean again after her big adventure.

Pearl getting her spa day in White Plains NY after getting us safely across the country.

Leo and I took a LONG walk, a nice LONG walk along a hiking path along the river and then found another trail system near a lake. Both our bodies were ready to do some quality moving after all that sitting.

I found the folks putting on the conference to see if they needed any help setting up since I had arrived early and spent a few hours stocking the swag bags. We stuffed 570 of these things!! It was nice as I also made a few new friends.

Stuffing swag bags for 570 Clicker Expo Attendees.

We walked a big walk again after dinner. There was a castle next door to the hotel that had amazing grounds to explore.

Clicker Expo Cross Country Adventure Part 1- getting there!

Part two: Clicker Expo!

Clicker Expo Cross Country Adventure Part 1- getting there!

Part two: Clicker Expo!

Happy Holidays