Dog on a Year-Long RV Adventure with His Family Has the Sweetest Smile You’ll Ever See

Lucas the Schnoodle clearly has a passion for the outdoors

Last summer, Luisa Carrion quit her banking job in Melbourne, Florida, and started traveling the country in an RV — along with her husband and their 4-year-old Schnoodle, Lucas.

“He’s so happy when he’s outside,” Carrion, 41, tells PEOPLE of Lucas in an interview from a stop in Durango, Colorado. Her son is 23 years old and now lives in Seattle, so when she quit her job and started traveling from Florida in an RV in August, the goal was to make it to Seattle before it snowed.

Along the way, she posted a picture of her smiley Schnoodle (a.k.a. a schnauzer-poodle mix) wearing his hiking booties, and it was so popular, she started him an Instagram account @lucas_hiking_schnoodle.

Carrion actually bought Lucas his boots when they were visiting her sister in a new home, for fear he would scratch the hardwood floors. But now he wears his signature footwear when they go on rough terrain, too.

Related: This 4-Year-Old Climbed 48 Mountains, All More Than 4,000 Feet High, and Scored a Record Along the Way

“The majority of his pictures, he has a big smile,” she says. “You can tell he's really happy, even from behind. It's so funny."

Carrion got married when she was 16 and her husband Eduardo Lopez was 19. “We’ve been hustling since then,” she says. “We decided we needed to start building memories, good memories, because not everything is about working and life goes by without doing the things that you really want to do. I thought it was a good opportunity for me to make a big change.”

The dog has adapted quickly to RV life, too.

“He's so happy when he's outside,” she says. “It's been such a change since before we lived in an apartment. Looking and seeing that transformation in him when he goes outside, he goes crazy. It's so funny because he's so happy."

Related: Soldiers Reunite with Stray Dogs They Fell in Love with During Deployment and Are Now Adopting as Pets

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“Every time we tell him, 'vamos,' which is 'let's go' in Spanish, he gets super excited,” she continues. “He cannot hear the words, 'let's go hiking,' because he goes nuts. That's something that really brings joy to us. And being able to discover and all these new amazing places and share that with him.”

“We love seeing him being so happy,” Carrion adds. “He’s living his best life ever.”

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