Not every dog can be as lucky as the pups on the front cover — these dachshunds love to travel!
By Lisa Merrill, F512570
December 2023
The “weenie herd” with their humans, Lisa and Kevin.
Hello, fellow RVers! We are located in the heart of the beautiful Ozark Mountains, about 30 miles south of Branson, Missouri, and very close to the Buffalo National River. We have lived in Harrison since 1988 and have owned a vehicle repair shop here for the last 35 years.
Our full-time RVing journey started a little over three years ago. In December 2019, our daughter, son-in-law, and grandbabies moved from Arkansas to California. It really rocked our world at first. We went to see them that following May and stopped in Springfield, Missouri, to buy a 36-foot Type A diesel pusher. We started traveling in it right away and loved it so much that we began to talk about becoming full-timers. My husband, Kevin, was preparing to serve as a district governor for Rotary International in July 2021, and we had talked about how cool it would be to do our required 79 club visits in an RV. Our Rotary district is a large one, and we thought that would be the perfect way to build relationships with all the club members. We had the best year doing just that!
Hendrix checks out the camera.
In October 2020, we purchased our current RV ˛ a 2020 43-foot Newmar Dutch Star ˛ and it has been perfect for us to live in full-time! We sold our “sticks and bricks‚ home in May 2021, but we had been living full-time in the RV before that. We continue to own our business with a great staff that keeps it going when we’re on the road. When we’re in town, we have full hookups there and do a little “work camping!
We are blessed to be owned by the four cute dachshunds that are featured on the cover of this issue of the magazine. We like to call them the “weenie herd.‚ Sadie is our 12-year-old diva. She loves to go to the B-A-N-K for special treats. Ellie Mae is 8 years old and is the bossy one. Rusty is 7 years old and is our happy camper. He has some back issues and has used a special wheelchair several times in the last few years. This gains him lots of attention from the little girls in the RV parks. Thankfully, he is walking very well on his own right now. Hendrix is 6 years old and is a scaredy-cat that can usually be found hiding somewhere. All of them are rescues, except for Ellie Mae. They quickly adjusted to the full-time RV lifestyle, and it’s been fun to see their reactions whenever we arrive at a new place. On travel days, they like to be in their crates on the couch. Once we get settled, they love to run from one end of the RV to the other while playing with their toys. They generally get lots of attention at the RV parks we stay at, and we have met many other dachshund owners during our travels.
Sadie is the family’s 12-year-old pup.
We have been fortunate enough to spend time in 29 states so far, and we look forward to exploring many more. We recently secured an RV site in Hot Springs, Arkansas, for the total eclipse next April. The RV park will be having an eclipse-watching party, which should be great fun. We’re also looking forward to a Jeep adventure for RVers in Moab, Utah, next May. In addition, we hope to travel to Alaska in the RV in the near future. We attended the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California, with our Rotary RV fellowship and got to park our RV right on Colorado Boulevard to watch the parade go by. Last year, we were at the 50th annual Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with a Newmar group, and that was an amazing experience.
We enjoy going to rallies and getting together with our fellow RVing friends. One of our favorite places to gather is at Treasure Lake RV Resort in Branson, Missouri. Whenever we pull in the gates there, it feels like home.
The Merrills attended the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California.
We are often asked where our favorite place has been to travel, and that’s really a hard question to answer. There are so many beautiful places in this country to see, and we haven’t even scratched the surface yet.
We hope to be full-time RVers for a long time to come. We absolutely love this lifestyle and have met the greatest people while out on the road. We document our travels on a Facebook page called “Rolling Merrilly Along,‚ and we’d love for you to join us there on our adventures.