Isn’t it ironic? (Don’t cha think?) For the past few years, I’ve been entirely focused on moving my in-laws, and then my own parents, out to Seattle from their respective homes, and you haven’t heard a peep from me or Chloe. Now the parents are settled…and this dreadful virus is upon us, and no one is traveling. But Dog Jaunt Nation is resilient, and hopeful, and we can share tips and stories and look forward to better days.

First things first: Chloe is absolutely fine. She’s — well, let’s call it blonder — than she was, but she’s full of pep and bounce. Thank you to all of you who worried about her during this downtime, and forgive me for not writing back with reassurance. Here she is, in my husband’s arms, on one of the many, many cross-country road trips I’ve taken over the past few years.

Utah was astonishingly beautiful, by the way. I managed to cross the country on all of the major east/west routes, but on the last trip, I chose to leave Route 66 even before Gallup, New Mex-i-co and get my kicks in Moab instead. It’s that good.

You’ll hear a lot more about road trips with Chloe, but I’m starting my re-entry with updates to Dog Jaunt’s useful travel charts. So far, I’ve brought the chart of U.S. airlines’ pet polices and the chart of international airlines’ pet policies up to the moment. We can all gaze at them wistfully, from our living room couches.

I really want to hear what you’ve been up to with your own travel buddies! Many of you have left comments for me (thank you, faithful ones!) and sent e-mail messages ([email protected]), and I’ll be looking at them and sharing them, with your permission. I’ll also be firing up the Dog Jaunt Facebook page, but as always, recall that comments here on the blog are forever, while on Facebook they just scroll away.

The thing I valued most about Dog Jaunt — and this is odd, coming from a textbook introvert — was the community we created together. Especially in this anxious time, it’ll be a great source of comfort to be back in touch with Dog Jaunt Nation.