I’m having a Deja-vu with the April weather in Texas. I told Tammy that April and May are months we should probably avoid camping. Without fail we end up cancelling trips based on the spring weather here.

The complicating factor is Eva. If it was just Tammy and I camping, and it was regular thunderstorms not severe), that would not be a big problem. Eva, however, hates thunder and needs to be in the storm room at home in order to feel safe. It’s quieter in there. If you have watched my videos or read my blog, you know how I feel about Eva, or any of the shepherds we have had. They are family members.

Eva on the way to a campground

A travel trailer, as you all know, is a loud place during a storm. My job as Eva’s dad is to keep her as less stressed as possible during storms. It is sometimes a very hard job. We spent one night recently sleeping in the storm room. Needless to say, a travel trailer in a thunderstorm is no place for Eva.

As a result, we have cancelled our travel plans for the 12-17 of April at Mother Neff state park and moved it out to early June. The forecast for the original dates shows thunderstorms almost every day. On the 12th, thunderstorms are almost 100% likely. After that, every day is about 60%. Well, that’s a spoiler for sure.

Before I decided to simply move the trip to June, I tried to find another location in Texas where I could avoid the storms. I would need to drive almost to Marfa to dodge the storms. Or I could drive to Roswell, New Mexico. Both are longer drives than I want to take at this point. Although I am pretty certain we will be back in Marfa late this fall.

There are some folks that would suggest just drugging Eva. I really would like to avoid that at all costs. This is why we leave the neighborhood around July 4th. I’d rather drive four hours to avoid the fireworks than sit in the storm room with Eva all night.

I actually have a neighbor who posted a year or so ago, “We are looking forward to neighborhood fireworks…so drug your pups early.” They don’t own dogs. (FYI, fireworks in our neighborhood are technically illegal, though no one enforces it.) That comment really got under my skin. If your child was scared of thunderstorms or fireworks, would your first thought really be “Where’s the NyQuil?” Hopefully not. I’m not trying to be judgmental, but it feels like a very self-focused way of thinking—without much awareness of how stressful these things can be for others.

Dog owners know what I am talking about. I told my vet once, when my dog is sick, I feel sick. Her happiness is very important to me. So, we will happily postpone camping in storms to keep Eva happy. If we are in the middle of a trip and it happens, we just have to live with that. In this case it was avoidable.

Here’s hoping that every dog owner has a camping trip free from storms.