Tag: Youkilis

Different

Today marks three months since Youk crossed the Rainbow Bridge.

We still absolutely love our full-time RV lifestyle, but things are different now.

We’re slowly adjusting, but we do have our moments when a small reminder can overtake us with emotion.  That’s the way that grief works, though.  You never get over it.  You never outgrow it.  You never heal from it.  You simply evolve through it.  Grief is like the ocean waves.  One day they’re calm, the next day they can be rough, no matter what, they’re ever constant.  Whether a pet, a family member, or a friend.  They take a piece of us with them when they leave, but they also leave a piece of themselves with us in the form of memories. 

So much of our lives over the past fifteen years revolved around Youk.  Before we traveled full-time, and even more so once we started traveling.  Anytime that we went anywhere, we first had to make sure that Youk would be safe while we were gone.  Running the generator so that we could turn the air conditioner on for him if we were doing something that he couldn’t do with us.  Always checking to see what places were pet friendly so that he could experience it with us.  It’s just what we did.  Anyone with a pet, certainly understands what I’m talking about.

Our life is still great, but now it’s different.

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Dan and Sandy – Three Becomes Two

This was probably the most difficult podcast that I ever had to record.

In this episode of “The Journey of My Mother’s Son” podcast, Sandy and I talk about our travels through California and the loss of our best travel companion, Youk.

The end of April was very difficult for us and we’re still working through the grief process.  Youk crossed the Rainbow Bridge on April 24, 2024.  It was certainly the most difficult thing that we’ve had to deal with since we’ve been traveling.  Youk brought joy to such a large part of lives.  We literally planned our life around his schedule and well-being.  In return, he gave us unconditional love and countless memories that will last the rest of lives.

He was a larger-than-life personality who impacted the world in ways we never could have imagined.  Countless people from all over the world have reached out to us since his passing to let us know how much they loved our best-selling author pup.

In addition to Youk, we talk about our travels through several national parks in California (Joshua Tree, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Yosemite, and The Redwoods), our project at the Southern California Railway Museum, our night under the Golden Gate Bridge, our Pacific Coast Highway Adventure, and of course, reconnecting with friends.

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Youk’s Last Ride

It was a hot day, but we were very excited to be on a volunteer project again with many of our fellow RV friends.  Mainly because of my book signing schedule, we hadn’t worked a volunteer project since September of 2022, so this had been a long-time coming.

As Youkilis has aged, he really minded hot weather.  He would lay around on hot days and not move much at all.  This is the way that he was when we arrived at the project.  It was the third day in a row of pretty hot weather, so Sandy and I really didn’t think much of it.  We just told him that tomorrow would be cooler.

After we had our volunteer meeting and tour of the project facility, Sandy, Youk, and I went over to sit and talk with our friends, Jennie and Eric, who we’ll be traveling through Canada and Alaska with this summer.  Youk got his customary pets and love when we first got over to their rig, but it didn’t take him long to just settle and lay down while we chatted.  It was starting to cool down, so I thought that we were on the home stretch and he’d be back to his old self soon.

When we started to pack our chairs up and head back to our rig for the night, Youk couldn’t get up on his own.  I helped him up, but again, didn’t think too much about it and just figured that he was still just beat from the heat that we had experienced over the past three days in the desert on our way to the project.

Monday morning when we woke up, he was laying in the exact same spot where he was when we went to bed.  Normally, he would change locations during the night.  If he went to bed near the hallway, many times he would be sleeping by the couch in the living room or in front of our bathroom door in the hallway when we got up.  That was just his routine.  When I told him to get up so that we go potty and eat breakfast, he tried, but could not get up on his own, just like the night before at Eric and Jennie’s rig.  Now we were starting to get concerned. 

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Happy Birthday to Me!

Always try to make people smile and feel happy. You never know what they may be going through.
Don’t bite when a bark will do.
Always make time to take a walk, and get into nature.
Anytime is a good time for a nap.
You’ll get more treats when you’re nice.
Take time to smell the roses, as well as anything else that you can smell.
Always make time to play.
Be grateful.
Live in the moment.
Enjoy the journey.

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I’m a Salty Dog!

I’ve been in the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and the Great Salt Lake.  This summer, when we go through Canada and Alaska, I’m even going to get to see the Artic Ocean.  Daddy says that the water will be too cold for me to dip my paws into it, but I sure hope that daddy is wrong about that.  It’s going to be in June, so I hope that it isn’t too cold.  I hope that mommy and daddy let me get my paws wet.  Even if is too cold for me to dip my toes in it, I’ll still be happy just to be able to see it.

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These Paws

I put this in my book, but I don’t think that I can ever stress it enough, so I am going to put here again, and hope that more people take heed to my rules to live by.

Always try to make people smile and feel happy. You never know what they may be going through.
Don’t bite when a bark will do.
Always make time to take a walk, and get into nature.
Anytime is a good time for a nap.
You’ll get more treats when you’re nice.
Take time to smell the roses, as well as anything else that you can smell.
Always make time to play.
Be grateful.
Live in the moment.
Enjoy the journey.

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Time to Adventure Again!

Wednesday was a really great day at Knoebel’s because a lot of people came up to visit me that day!  Matthew and Rebecca were still there and Jason, Rebecca’s boyfriend was there.  He actually came to see me on Tuesday, but stayed until we all left on Thursday.  But on Wednesday, Sherry, and Stephen, and Alex and his girlfriend, Kaylynn, and Lizze, and Stephie, and Lillian, and Lillian’s friend Kelsey all came to Knoebel’s just to visit with me!  It was an awesome day!

After Knoebel’s, we were headed back to Matthew’s house for the weekend before starting our next adventure.

I’m really excited for our next adventure!

We’re going to be headed to Colorado for a book signing tour for me and daddy.  I’m not 100% sure if I’m going to be able to sign with daddy, but I should be able to.  I’ve never seen the Rocky Mountains before, so I can’t wait to see them.  It’s going to be really exciting.  We haven’t been that far west since 2021 and I really loved seeing that part of the country back then.

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Bonjour! I’m officially an International Traveling Puppy!

Bonjour means hello in French.  I learned that when we went to Canada this past week.  In Canada, they speak French and English, so I learned how to say, “hello” in French.

We went to Niagara Falls, and it sure was amazing.

But before I tell you all about Niagara Falls, let me tell you about what we did before we got there.

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Four Paws and Six Wheels Pre-Sale Starts Today!

I really worked hard to write this book, but there were other people who helped me do it too.  I had my friend, Rachel Wertz illustrate the book for me. She’s a really good artist.  My other friend, Mikki Murry did the editing to make sure that it made sense for everyone who read it.  She’s really smart, my daddy uses her as his editor too.  My mommy and daddy helped me too.  It was really a team effort.

I’m going to be donating a portion of the proceeds from my book sales to the Delaware Valley Golden Retriever Rescue (DVGRR).  They are a great organization that helps puppies like me.  As a matter of fact, they helped me too!  They rescued my mommy from a puppy mill when I was still in her belly.  I don’t know what my life would have been like if they hadn’t rescued my mommy, but I am pretty sure that I wouldn’t be traveling around the country in the house on wheels with my mommy and daddy.

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I’m an Author!

I don’t know what my life would have been like without DVGRR, so I am going to be donating a portion of the proceeds from the sales of my books to them.  They are such a wonderful organization!  The more money that I can raise for them, the more puppies they can rescue and find great furever homes for, like they did for me.  I can’t even imagine what my life would be like if it wasn’t for DVGRR.

But because DVGRR rescued me when I was in my mommy’s belly and my furever mommy and daddy were able to adopt me from them, I get to travel all over the country with them in our house on wheels.  My book will tell you all about our adventures!

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