Hi. 🙂 My name is Angela. I am 33 and live in Salt Lake City, Utah. This blog exists to chronicle my journey from buying a motorhome, through fixing it up, and to living in it on the road. I am looking for the place where I want to settle down. I believe that place exists somewhere between Northern Cali and Washington. I am originally from the Bay Area, but would like to end up among the trees.
I am a vegetarian who plans to do a lot of cooking/grilling/BBQing along the way, and include the recipes here, just for fun. I enjoy reading, writing, music, crochet, cross-stitch, training dogs, tie-dyeing, and the outdoors (among a pile of other random things).
I have been making hand-braided dog leashes out of military strength 550 paracord for almost 10 years now, and my goal is to set up a way to sell them online – both individually, to the public, and in bulk, to pet stores. If you have a specialty pet store and would like to carry the leashes I make, please contact me! If I can figure out a way to make a living off the leashes while I’m on the road, that would be amazing.
The white-faced dog is Kedric. He is my current partner in crime. He is a sweet, cuddly, sensitive boy. He turned 12 in December. He is Shannon’s son, and a good boy. He lives to please, and his feelings get hurt very easily if I show displeasure with something he’s done.
The black-faced dog is Shannon. She was my first Border Collie. I lost her in April, at almost 16 years old. Although she is no longer with me as a high-strung, driven, sheep-obsessed, water-chasing demon, she will be with me in spirit until the day I join up with her. She was a feisty, spunky, dominant little bitch, and I will never again be without a Border Collie at my side because of her.
The red dog is Rowan. She had no socialization and no training before she came to me at 5 months old, so she has a pile of issues. Her biggest hurdles are fear, insecurity, and reactivity. We are making progress, but it’s going to be a long road there. She just discovered fetch, and fancies herself an acrobat. She is hard-headed and stubborn, but also sensitive, so that makes training interesting. 😛
To read more about the journey, and what got me to this point, please read the first entry in the blog, which you can find here:Â Link!
Tide-Eyed 
Your love for your dogs comes through loud and clear. Makes me tear up to remember my own darlings over the years. I’ve had two Collies, but never a Border Collie. They seem so very smart and playful.
Thank you. 🙂 Border Collies are a totally different animal. Not like any other breed I’ve ever known. Most of them are wildly driven, to the point of being obsessive, but with correct training, they can be the best dogs you will ever own. My new girl is a testament to what happens when you raise a puppy wrong, but I’m hoping that with time, consistency, and training, she will someday be close to normal. Now that I have the puppy, I get woke every morning by my old man, who wants me to throw the ball for the puppy so he can run around her in circles with his toy. He’s such a nerd. 🙂
Smart is an understatement. If you can channel their brains into something productive, you’ve got a winner on your hands. If you never figure out how to harness their drive, they can be just a trainwreck to live with/handle (which is why so many end up in shelters). Luckily for humans, most of them really want to please you… even if they have to figure out what you want because you have no idea what you’re doing. Some of them will definitely take the reins and step into the alpha position in the house when they realize you’re clueless though, so matching yourself with the right dog is critical, if you’re not at the top of your class with training skills. 🙂
Thank you for the note!