Having just come back from an hour bike ride with the dog alongside, I’ve had a good day of exercise - with several walks during the day and a lot of fresh air.  Some days are better than others on the road.

We are traveling in the Southwest with our truck and Airstream. At least, with a relatively flexible schedule and carrying our own food, you can eat healthy and take breaks for walks and stretches.  You are not trapped in airports with fast food all around.  When camped, there are plenty of options available -- and quite a few rv travelers do a good job staying fit.

I miss my weights and exercise equipment.  I met one couple who frequent gyms along the way which seems to work for them -- but I’ve not seen many gyms in most of the rural areas of Texas we frequent.

On the exercise front, it often boils down to walking the dog -- which isn't aerobic (unless she slips her collar) but is one good alternative. We take two or three ten minute or often longer walks per day just to keep sanity -- for her and for me.

I've written before about biking with Penny. I did it long before we started traveling and have used a Springer system which works well for me. I was riding a high-end mountain bike until last year but the geometry was too radical for a 70-year-old back -- so I sold it on Craig'slist last Spring. My friends at Onion River Sports -- one of the northeast's best bike shops -- sold me a hybrid which is comfortable and perfect for riding with the dog. 

Penny, our Vizsla, is well-known in most of the state parks we visit as we make the rounds.  I walk her and as often as I can, let her off leash and hike.  We went five miles over some rough terrain a couple of days ago and both came back pooped.  I have to carry extra water for her.

Exercise while traveling the way we do comes down to the same basics as at home:  put it up high on the priority list and use a combination of routines.  We start early -- after a walk -- and try to get set up with plenty of time for a bike ride or hike before dark.

Diet-wise, we are not into fresh vegetable season here but did get several weeks of glorious Texas oranges down in the Valley.  I cook the same types of meals we have at home -- and aside from some back-sliding with Ben & Jerry’s, we eat quite healthy.

We brought a kayak with us but with the wind we’ve encountered and earlier, the colder temperatures, we haven’t made the effort to assemble it.  Perhaps next week at Goose Island State Park.

So, between our birding walks, bike rides, dog walks, and just strolling through the parks, we are hanging in there exercise-wise.  I could use more aerobic workouts and need to add that into the routines.  It’s a challenge but in the land of chicken-fried steak, it’s been good to feel good about diet and exercise.

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The Vermont weather is downright miserable -- cold and rainy with little sign of spring.  It's too cold to bike or paddle, there's no snow for xc skiing, and the back roads are too muddy for running.  However, if you pick your trails, it's a good time to hike.

I've been out with the dog every day this week on a hike of an hour or two.  Earlier in the week, the ground was frozen and the wet areas were passable.  Today, I picked an area called "Irish Hill" in Berlin which has a series of hiking and mountain biking trails that are well-drained and suitable for early season hiking -- or at least they were today.

 It's wonderful to have protected land (this is within the City of Montpelier's watershed) so close by and to have them so interesting.  Forested and steep, this is an area which has been hiked for decades.

It was raining lightly and the temperature was 35 degrees but the dog didn't care, nor did I once we got climbing.  I followed the mountain bike singletrack which serpentines back and forth up the mountain -- lost it a few times, but could easily keep oriented by the highway noise for I-89 not too far away.

I had my binoculars but no birds were about -- I heard a purple finch and flush a ruffed grouse and had a few blue jays commenting on our passage.  Penny got a great workout, as did I, and we were both surprised to meet four hikers and their four dogs as we neared the trailhead.  

 There's a trail to the summit with a couple of lookouts and a geological item called a "roche moutonnee" or "sheep rock", a landform sculpted by the "Big Ice."  We'll go that way next time.  

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Penny, our Vizsla, is my canine companion who hangs with me - or not, depending on what other possibilities might attract her attention, on outings both in the truck and in the woods.  We've had adventures with moose, coy dogs, porcupines -- you name it.  She's not the greatest help in my birding efforts.

I've cranked up my interest in birding in preparation for our Southwest Trip, purchasing some new guidebooks,  Birdseye (a neat birding iPhone app,) and some new binoculars (so that Mary and I can each have a pair.) Today, while downtown, I stopped near our ball field to let the dog get some exercise.  I noted two waterfowl swimming on the North Branch of the Winooski and grabbed my binoculars.  Penny was off exploring smells and tracks and I got a chance to study the pretty birds as they dove and fished in the frigid waters.  Then the Vizsla was there and very interested.  Even though she's supposedly a pointer, with birds she's a chaser and down the snowbank to the stream she went, barking like crazy.  The birds just paddled, seemingly knowing that she was not coming in the water.  I watched them some more, made mental notes of their markings, and soon they got sick of the dog and just drifted downstream.  Penny decided it was too dicey to follow and deigned to come back up toward the truck and soon we were on our way home.

I wrote up my notes, checked my bird books, and found that they were a couple of female hooded mergansers (Lophodytes cucullatus.)  Fairly common but new to me and another addition to my life list.  

When we have to keep Penny on a short leash, the challenges of bird observation are going to be very interesting.  Binoculars in one hand, leash in the other -- picture it.  Stay tuned.

photo by  mikebaird

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I’m cruising down the ski trail behind by my dog Penny -- the rope between us is taut and her ears and my ski poles are flying in the breeze.  The Karhu’s sing as they skim along the snow --the Vizsla and the skier partners in an effortless Vermont skijouring run.  That’s the image I keep visualizing.

But then, a red squirrel crosses the path and with a lurch, we’re headed out through the pines at breakneck speed.  Or, Penny stops abruptly to investigate a fresh deer poop and we collide in a tangle of harness and ski poles.  That’s the scenario my spouse, kids, and anyone who knows Penny visualizes.

Yet, skijouring is a sport that has intrigued me for years.   I am a decent XC skier and have a strong energetic Vizsla who is always ready to run so it seems, on the surface, like a good mix.  A good mix for disaster.  Penny’s training is not exactly ready for prime-time.

Skijouring involves one or more dogs hitched to a cross-country skier by a rope.  The skier wears a belt harness and the whole rig can be purchased for about $200-275 US.  Skiers use either diagonal stride or in the cases of races, skate technique.  You very well may have to help out the dog on the uphills and slow down to avoid overrunning on the downhills.  Many of the commands for sled dog racing are used and you are advised to train on foot before snow falls.  Most any medium-sized to large dog can be used if they like to run.  They respond to voice commands (that’s a problem for us) and should be socialized with other dogs (another problem).  Here are some training techniques and commands.

We were watching a special on Vermont Public Television recently where a reporter tried it out and actually competed in a low-key race up north.  It looked like fun but the dog she “borrowed” was well-trained and patient.  When she fell, he waited quietly instead of, like my dog, coming over to lick you and get tangled up in ski gear.

So, I guess I need to practice my gees and haws with my red dog.  I know she’d love it - she loves running alongside the bicycle with a Springer attachment.  So for now, I will just visualize skijouring with Penny.  Now, if I could just get her to visualize pulling in a straight line, responding to verbal commands, we’d be all set.  Perhaps this winter.

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The Vizsla needs a run -- she’s been waiting patiently all day and the rain has let up to a fine mist.  I’ll grab my poles and take a hike (nordic walk) up in the woods.

We start out on the loops on our land, which we walk several times a day, and she’s off on her “check the new smells” romp.  I’m caught up in thinking about some publishing issues I’ve just struggled with -- missing fonts in older documents because they were done on older computers.  I’ve been trying to create some ebooks using pdf and it’s a hassle -- I’ve got 900 fonts but not a couple we used five years ago.  So, let it go and enjoy the early fall afternoon.

The leaves are turning but mostly yellow here.  We’ve got soft maples and they seem to get speckled with brown -- although some will get red later on.  Higher up, there’s lots of red showing on the mountains.  The ferns, chest-high in spots, got frosted and are bronze.  The asters and daises, often head high, are untouched but soaking wet.

I’ve got my new LL. Bean slicker on and with the poles and climbing, find it pretty warm.  Robins are flocking up in every clearing -- they’ll likely be heading south on the next cold front winds.

We head up on to abutting forest and Penny flushes a couple of partridge.  She doesn’t point them, just chases them.  No wonder she flunked out of hunting school years ago.

I’m reminded of a time years ago when I was working on one of my mountain bike books and trying to tape record the ride description as I rode along.  I was climbing up this rocky trail, gasping into the mike about it, when a whole covey of young partridges exploded out of the weeds near my front wheel.  I wish I had saved that tape -- it was a breathless  “the trail gets more technical .... S.O.B...” accompanied by the beating of a dozen wings.  It was funny to hear when I was transcribing later on -- and still makes me chuckle as I remember it.

Then my mind veers to the photos I used to try to take on these rides.  You don’t meet riders on most of the rides I was doing and rather than just taking another photo of the bike against a trail sign, I’d try to set up the camera and use the timer.  I’d set up the small tripod I carried, set the self-timer, and then run back, try to hop on the bike and ride toward the camera.  What a joke -- it was either out of focus, or I was half on the bike, whatever.  I don’t know that I ever got a usable shot.

The rain has picked up a bit and I’m glad for the slicker.  It’s loud on the leaves and all I can hear is Penny’s periodic shaking to dry out.  She’s loving it, ranging back and forth, nose to the ground.  There are still some stone walls to check on the way back -- where she remembers critters from former walks.

We’ve been out a little over an hour and it feels great -- the trail is soft due to the rain and the temperature is perfect.  My hiking shoes and jeans are soaked.  We’ll head back and dry out a bit -- and Penny will smell like ferns all evening. 

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Penny and I went for our first bike outing yesterday and like the bike adventures I outlined in March, it was exciting.  First of all, the disc brakes on my mountain bike, which I took apart this spring replacing rusty discs, need adjustment. (I miss my bike tech son, Rich)  So the initial downhill was a little faster than I'd like.  Got to learn how to bleed those brakes.

 My system is called the Springer and it works quite well.  The dog has room to run and a big spring tends to absorb most of the lurches and spurts -- but it does help if you're an experienced cyclist.  So we launched down the driveway and down our dirt road and cruised up the rather flat dirt road that runs along the brook.  Full of energy, she pulls like crazy and I hardly have to pedal.  After ten minutes, we slowed down and I found a shady place and let her drink out of the clear water flowing down the ditch.

I've watched my Vizsla run a lot -- too often away from me ignoring my calls but that's another story -- and dogs tend to run in spurts.  They cruise, sometime gallop, but then stop and sniff and explore.  I try to simulate that activity by not running her continually -- but varying speeds and stopping fairly frequently for a break.  I also stick to dirt roads or if on pavement, ride so that she can run on the shoulder.  One of my favorite places is our local airport, during periods with no activity, where I can ride the edges of runways or taxiways and she can run along on the grass.  (I'm a pilot so folks let me be)

Here's a picture of our camera shy Hungarian hound before we launched today.  The Springer is hooked up and ready -- and while she doesn't look interested, once I put the iPhone away, she was raring to go.

On our normal route, the initial downhill ends up being a climb at the end of the workout. Penny slows down and walks and I have to pedal and half-pull her up the road.  It's probably funny to hear me panting "come on, girl -- here Penny" as I try to coax her into a faster climb.  What I need is a hot dog on a stick to hold in front of her -- we'd make it back up in record time.  

For me, cycling with a dog is not really a good workout for me but it's a good way to get her some aerobic exercise.  Dogs seem to love it and it's really is a lot of fun to fly down a dirt road with your canine buddy stretched out in a flat run.  Carry water and a collapsible water dish and "bike like a dog."

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