Off to Montana, 2008

With just a few minutes to relax in the a.c., I thought I’d bring things up to date.

I have been quite busy for the last couple of months getting dogs trained and getting my ‘nused’ trailer ready for my annual Montana training trip.

I found a gooseneck trailer for a really good price on craigslist a couple months back and have since been busy getting it ship shape for the long trip.  No trailer is ever ready I suppose as I am always trying to find a better way to do things.

This year, I have decided that the dogs will travel with airconditioning as opposed to previous years in which my trailer had large exhaust fans that keep the air flowing over all the dogs.  It worked fine but the dogs were still warm.

For a fair amount of money I found a nice new RV airconditioner and heater combo.  With the help (ok, I helped) of my friend Pete, we got it installed.  Since the goosneck already had a standard RV sized air vent in it, it was not too bad as the A.C. fits right into the same size hole.

Pete also installed (I’m a good helper!) new lights for the trailer so that with the flip of a switch, the entire area around the trailer is lit up.  That should prove to be terrific for those days when I arrive back to the rig with tired horses, tired dogs at the same time it is getting dark!

So the a.c. is set-up, the generator is working and it does a nice job!  I have a wireless thermometer I bought from Wally-World and have tested it out too.  For 17 dollars, it tells the time with alarm clock, monitors inside temperature at the base unit plus remote temperature.  This thing even has temperature alarms to let me know when it is getting too warm or too cold for the dogs back in the living quarters of the gooseneck as I travel.

The other day I had my a.c. running via my generator and within a reasonable amount of time, my carrier rv ac unit dropped the temp from 100 degrees to a cold 66 degrees.  

As I travel to Montana this August, the dogs are assured to have comfortable accomodations in the living quarters of the gooseneck.  But you never know when things can go wrong so as a back-up, I installed pop-up vents on the top and side of the quarters plus I have an inverter to operate high velocity fans which run off the goosneck battery.

My wife Debbie, whose father is a retired professional cabinet maker, made me a nice set of steps for getting up into the sleeping quarters.  It looks professional and store bought.  She also painted the inside ceiling of the quarters…her suggestion.  The living quarters came insulated but the paneling was dated and a bit dirty so Debbie made all the cuts on the new paneling / trim and I installed it.  Looks pretty good.

I decided to go with airline approved plastic dog crates for kennels at the urging of my good friends Jim and Mary Crawford.  They have a very nice custom trailer for their horses and dogs but use plastic dog crates in a special built rack.  Mary says it makes for easy clean up rather than installing permanent kennels which can be difficult to clean.  I agree.  I’d much rather pull out the plastic dog crate and hose it down OUTSIDE the trailer than try to clean up a stinkin’ mess INSIDE the trailer!

‘Nuff ramblin’ for now.  I better get back at it! 

Take care and give your dog a treat for me.

Dave