For the Huoppi dogs, Memorial Day weekend was the official start of the summer road trip season. It used to be that every year at the end of May, we’d load Remy and Barrett into the back of our CRV with all of our luggage and hit the road for Maine.

When gas prices started to rise, we decided that swapping ample cargo area of our Honda for the compact space of our Prius was a fair trade, considering we’d be using half the fuel. Now that we’ve had some practice, loading the car has become much easier.

Blankets, jackets and other compact soft items go in the footwells of the rear seat. The rear seat gets folded down and our suitcases go on top. Cover all that with a blanket, pile two dog beds in the back, and that leaves just enough room below the ceiling for two dogs to climb in and lay down.

Normally, we try to do all this packing on the sly. The dogs stay downstairs while we’re filling suitcases upstairs. Then we put them in the back yard while we stay just out of sight, carrying our bags out through the garage. Somehow, they always seem to catch wind of what’s going on, filling the air with their whines and yips until we let them take their places in the back of the car.

On this most recent trip to Maine, we discovered another drawback to the Prius. With the dogs riding up so high, there is very little shade for them. I’ve already learned to dress for winter on these summer road trips. The dogs’ fur coats and the lack of airflow means I need to blast the air conditioner for much of the trip. A comfortable temperature in the back necessitates an arctic blast of air from the vents that blow directly onto my bare arms. Even with the jet stream re-routed through my vehicle, Barrett refused to settle in the back seat after Remy claimed the one shady spot.

Barrett kept creeping closer and closer to the front until her head was resting on the console between the front seats. While she looked pretty comfortable, neither Jen nor I had anywhere to put our elbows. So we had to pull into a parking lot to reconfigure the luggage. With adequate shade for both dogs, we were on our way again.

I could complain here about this unscheduled stop extending our travel time, but it used to be much worse. Several years ago, there was no way their little puppy bladders were going to make it through a four hour car ride. We knew every rest area from Massachusetts north on interstates 95, 93 and 89. Those stops were real pains in the rear: wrangling both dogs in the rest area parking lot, parading them around the well-used grass of the "dog walk area," and distracting them from all the interesting smells. When I see them today in the rearview mirror, sleeping through most of the trip, I don’t miss those rest stops.

Just when we’ve gotten into a comfortable routine on these trips, life has thrown another curveball. The next trip to Maine will include a newborn baby and his accessories, making the Prius an impossibility. I can’t wait to see how the girls deal with sharing their domain with a new baby brother. Maybe having some company back there will keep them from trying to climb into the front seats with us.