In January 2021, my husband G, myself, and our 3 bulldogs drove from San Diego to Toronto (through Austin), and then back to Texas. We thought we were going to move to Canada (I’m from Toronto), but very quickly realized that Texas would be a way better option to start our businesses and family together. If you want to hear the story of why we decided to do a full U-turn back to America, click here. In this post we’re discussing the road trip itself and what we learned along the way, so that hopefully you can make way fewer mistakes, and remember a couple good tips!

Before The Trip

• we sold all of G’s furniture and most of his belongings on OfferUp.
• we got our truck serviced.
• we made the mistake of booking every single night for our whole trip. We didn’t make it to three of these and had to double book.
• bought a camper for the truck to make a cozy cabin for our three bulldogs. 
• bought camping supplies from Walmart, including the handy gas stove.

 

Day 1: San Diego to Tucson

Freeway: I-8 | Duration: 6 hours | Stopped in: Yuma 

The first mistake we made was leaving San Diego at 5 pm. We highly underestimated our packing time. There was little to see along the way through Arizona, but it was quite beautiful with the moonlight, the mountains, and the star lit desert! We arrived at our cabin at the Tucson KOA at 2:30 am, which was nice, comfortable, and cute. There was one border security checkpoint along the way. 

PRO TIPS: 

1. The earlier you leave the better, you get to spend more time stopping at the sites along the way, and don’t have to start the next day off so tired. 
2. Love's was a great gas station to stop at, they had good snacks and decent coffee. Some of them even had a small fenced dog park.

 

KOA in Tucson

 

Day 2: Tucson to Fort Stockton

Freeway: I-10 | Duration: 7.5 hours | Stopped in: Las Cruces KOA

We slept in till 10, then headed straight to our next stay in Austin (13 hours away). We stopped at a KOA in Las Cruces to let the dogs out when we discovered two massive, runny, poops in the truck, which had soiled 2 sheets, a towel, a pillow, and 2 pillow cases. After a big clean up and dog walk, we drove 100 miles straight through the desert. We got off at the first exit and grabbed some fast food, and fed the dogs in an empty and dark Walmart parking lot. Not very charming. 

We drove another 5 hours until we got to Fort Stockton at 2 am. G was exhausted. We were still another 5 hours from our booking in Austin, so we decided to take a little nap in the camper before the last leg of the trip. It was pouring rain, cold, and super uncomfortable. G decided it was too much for us all, and drove to 3 different hotels before he found one that allowed dogs- but only 2 dogs max. Desperate to find a place to sleep after 10 hours of driving, cleaning poop out of our camper, and with three sleepy and confused bulldogs, he got the keys and we quickly tried to shuffle the dogs in the room. As soon as we got in, our dogs peed and pooed immediately. We cleaned it up as much as we could with our cleaning products. Had a shower, got in bed, thankful for that madness to be over. 

 

 On the road and ready for Texas!

 

PRO TIPS: 

1. Do not change your dog's food before leaving on a trip. Our dogs eat raw, but for the trip we got them kibble for easy storage. By day 2 they all had explosive diarrhea, and were pooping left right and centre, including on the bed.
2. Only plan to drive for a maximum of 8 hours, 7 is even better. Give yourself time to enjoy your stops along the way and settle in at night.
3. Sometimes pre-booking your entire trip will cost you if you can’t make it to your booking and have to get a different room. 
4. Do your research on which motels allow dogs- most don’t, and pretty much none allow more than two (even if they’re as cute as our dogs).
5. Your dogs *will* poop or throw up in the car- it’s not their fault, the drive is long! Make sure to bring extra towels/sheets/blankets, ideally ones you’re not attached to so that when they get soiled you can chuck em and replace. 
6. Cleaning products, paper towels, and baby wipes are life savers!

 

  We took some time to explore a Bass Pro Shop. Super fun, super Texan!

Day 3: Fort Stockton to Austin

Freeway: I-10 to the US-290 E | Duration: 6 hours

The first part of the drive was just more desert, but as we approached Austin some greenery appeared, there were horses and cows, and beautiful ranches. Even though at this point we had no idea we would end up moving to Texas, G said “I love these ranches so much I could just stay and start a mattress store here!” We laughed it off and kept driving to Toronto, only to drive back 6 weeks later..

We arrived at our KOA in Austin at 6 pm, but it was already dark, cold, and pouring rain, and unfortunately we had booked a tent site. With enthusiasm running low, we set up the tent and cooked some ramen noodles on the portable stove. I ate mine in the camper with the dogs, when at the worst possible time, our boy Kimbo decided to have an episode and attack our bigger dog Gorda, knocking the hot ramen on my lap and all over the camper. I just sat there, jaw dropped, staring at the ramen noodles dripping down the window wondering why we thought it was a good idea to do camping. G never lets me sit and pout, he jumped in with his ‘it’s not so bad’ positive vibes, cleaned up the noodles, and then let me finish his.

Moments before the ramen spilled all over the truck

We got three hours of sleep in the tent until the violent thunderstorm began. The heavy winds kept blowing the sides of the tent inwards, knocking our heads. The dogs went wild barking for about ten minutes, then got used to it and calmed down. Neither of us could sleep again. Our 6 month old bulldog puppy barfed on a pillow and peed on the mattress topper we were sleeping on. G switched with sides with me so I could have the nice, non puked on pillow and the not peed on mattress side. 

 

Screenshots from a video G took of me crying at the coffee shop..

The next morning we went to a local cafe, but not before getting soaked in the rain walking in the wrong direction for 20 minutes. At the cafe, I was so at the edge of my nerves, that when I got my fancy chai latte and it was cold, I pretty much broke down and embarrassingly started crying. G asked if I wanted him to book me a flight to Toronto, and that he could finish the drive alone. I said of course not, cause we’re in this together! And even though it was tough in the moment, we would have these memories and the bond that we’ve built through it all for the rest of our lives. I cheered up, acknowledging how silly I was being, how crazy our situation was, and that soon it would all be over and leave us with great stories to tell. We then tried to forget about it all and have some fun at a cool dog park.

Of course our ponchos would break immediately!

That night was New Years Eve, and we decided to stay at a hotel instead of the tent again. The next day we went to a friend's Brazilian Jiu Jitsu gym, John’s Gym in Austin, and rolled away our worries. We had such a good time catching up with John and his students, that we forgot about our stressful situation! We left feeling amazing, and took his advice to drive to Lake Travis. It was beautiful. 

 

Lake Travis after training, wearing G's sweater and XL gi pants - swag.

 

We decided to tough it out for that last night in the tent. While G set up the tent I did our laundry and organized the truck. I was wearing XL gi pants from our jiu jitsu class and G’s big black sweater. I looked like such a mess cleaning out our disorganized camper that a KOA worker came up and asked me about what site I was at, stating that they get a lot of homeless who come to use their laundry. I was slightly embarrassed, and told him that we were indeed staying here, but that we’ve just had a few very rough nights. He laughed at us for choosing to stay in a tent in Austin winter, and then wished me well. That night we got Texas BBQ, and had no accidents in the tent- score!

 

Texan BBQ- heck yea!

 

PRO TIPS

1. Make sure you take the weather into account when booking camping! It is no fun to set up a tent in a thunderstorm.  It may be better to book a cheap hotel.
2. Always arrive a couple hours before sun down when camping so you can set up your tent without stress. 
3. It gets surprisingly cold and wet in Texas in the winter. Rain boots, hiking boots, an umbrella, winter coats, or rain jackets would have been a total game changer for us- pack them!
4. There were dozens of dead deer on the road between Fort Stockton and Austin, be careful!

COMING BACK TO TEXAS

When we got back to DFW, we had no idea where we were going to live, and we didn't know a single person here. All we knew was that we were going to find a house to rent, start our mattress store, and join a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu gym to get back in shape and make some friends. Trust us, if we can move here in search of a better life with nothing but our dogs and the belongings in our truck, so can you! We arrived in DFW through North Fort Worth in Roanoke, and we loved it so much that we decided to stay right there. 

The day we arrived in Fort Worth, we knew we made the right choice!

 

A Cautionary Tale About North Side & Motel 6:

On our first night here we stayed at the Convention Centre Motel 6 in North Side (I know, Motel 6.. but they are one of few hotels who allow dogs!) I have never felt less safe- and even G, who is from Curitiba- a very dangerous Brazilian city, and is a Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt, legitimately feared for our lives within 10 minutes of staying here. It seems there was a drug/ prostitution gang that had taken over the hotel, with rooms that had ‘no trespassing’ signs in the windows, full face-tattooed men lurking around the parking lot in every corner staring us down as we entered our room. Shortly after a drugged out woman viciously banged on the door next to us for 15 minutes straight during my zoom call we decided to leave. As we were leaving we saw that the inside of the room next door had graffiti all over the walls and strobe lights. It was really creepy. Point of the story, do your research on the neighbourhoods before you visit or buy a house! North Side, South Side, and many of the neighbourhoods on the edge of down town Fort Worth are very sketchy and dangerous, but the suburbs farther out of the downtown core are very safe.

AMAZING AIR BNB IN AZLE

That night booked a last minute month's stay at an amazing Air-bnb in Azle. It was a tiny home guest house on the owners 2 acre land, which had about a quarter acre fenced off so our dogs had their own dog park! Oscar and his son were extremely kind and invited us to their family Easter party, becoming our first friends in Texas. 

Part of the air bnb property

How We Found Our House

Once we settled in our Air-bnb, we focused on finding a house to rent. Every realtor we spoke to said it would be impossible to rent a house with three dogs.. then G found a website called First Key Homes, and every single house on their site allowed 3 pets. On our second day of self-touring homes, we found one we liked in Haslet TX, and moved in two weeks later. Finally, something easy! 

We've been here four months now and are so happy we came. There are so many opportunities here, there is so much freedom compared to California and Canada, and the people have been incredibly welcoming. We know you will love it here too! 

 

Our daily drive through Haslet, lots of cows!

 

That's it! We hope you enjoyed our story. If you have any questions about our trip or how we are liking living in Fort Worth, please reach out to us on our instagram @mattressrepublic.co !

 

MOVING TO TEXAS?

Since you’ll be needing a good sleep after the exciting drive, visit us so we can set you up with an amazing mattress and hear your story!

We are giving a free delivery on every mattress purchase for those who visit us from reading our blog posts, it’s our “Thank God We’re in Fort Worth” promo, and it’s for everyone! Just let us know at check out, can't wait to meet you!