Is that Laughlin calling our names?

First things first, Happy Birthday to my sister Brooks. Today is the 10th Anniversary of her 25th birthday! haha

Savannah got her wish this morning...she got to go all the way down the hill and even walk around on the main road some. I armed myself with some bear spray and my usual rocks but as we walked down to a certain part of the road, the hair on my neck was starting to stand up a little. I might have been freaking myself out (because I tend to do that pretty easily) but for some reason there was a part of the road that looked like it may have been a home to a coyote or ten...so we turned back toward the van.

[caption id="attachment_2547" align="aligncenter" width="300"] See Joon, way up on the hill!?[/caption]

We kept walking but then as soon we turned around the bend in the road, that RV sits right there, so I kind of felt a little trapped. All of this land and I can't go anywhere...damn! We walked back and forth down the main road about six or seven times until I got bored and Savannah started rolling in Donkey Doo!

We really are in a beautiful place so once we walked back up to the van I took some more pictures of our surroundings. I have a great program I have been using (when I remember) and it makes the pictures so much more clear...and it has some cool special effects that I like to mess with. Here, enjoy them with me...

[caption id="attachment_2549" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Reggae Joon[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2551" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Picturesque[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2554" align="aligncenter" width="300"] She does not like the camera[/caption]

After picture time, we did some stuff with Joon and cleaned her up a bit. We sat inside a little restless today...another day in the van. We started talking about maybe moving down back into town just to switch things up a bit. Almost within the same minute as our conversation we saw some pretty big machinery coming down the road; a motor grader, a semi with a flatbed truck carrying a track hoe and what looked like some mining equipment along with some work trucks in front of and behind the bigger trucks. It's so funny because anywhere and everywhere we go there's construction, in one way or another. I swear we could be on Mars and there would be construction!

[caption id="attachment_2555" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Really?[/caption]

Now our conversation was starting to turn from an idea into reality. We figured we came back up to the mountains for more privacy then we were getting in town and the day we came back that RV came and parked right down below us (and is still here) and now there is construction right around the bend. Weighing our options, we chose to move back down to town...mix it up a bit! So, we started packing up...wasn't too hard due to our clean-up this morning...go us!

[caption id="attachment_2556" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Times a wastin'![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2557" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Look how she's sitting! haha[/caption]

We were in town within about 20 minutes of our decision. It felt good to be back, for some reason. I think it's just the gypsy in us...feels good to move around, shake it up!

We parked at the Edgewater, we still haven't figured out if they really allow the overnight parking but we thought we'd give 'em a go and try it out. We took Nana on a potty walk, then put her back in and took a walk around the Edgewater Casino...it was still pretty early, something to do, ya know! It was definitely interesting walking through the casino 'after dark'. Every single machine had a butt in the seat, ciggy and drink in hand, in the zone. We wished them luck and kept walking. We don't have much water to cook with so we 'splurged' on a couple of dollar menu cheeseburgers at McDonald's (inside the casino) and hurried back to the van....that's where our drinks are! We are pretty much calling it a night now that our bellies are full, we have a good spot for the night and our TV reception is bomb! It's crazy, here in this parking lot we get channels from Las Vegas AND Phoenix but just a few rows over we don't get as many channels and they are all different...weird but we'll take it! Hope you get to watch something you enjoy tonight! For us, it's the X Factor...bring on the talent!!

PEACE

Free Water with Free Delivery! What a Ganga!

Today has kind of been one of those A.D.D. days. We started the day out with coffee as we do every morning along with a walk for Savannah, a little morning TV, chatting in the van, followed up by working for J' and catching up on posts for me. A little into the afternoon I got out to stretch my legs and mess with Savannah! hee hee What does she have to do anyway? The other day, J' was trying to see if she would do a new trick: putting a snack on her nose and seeing if she would stay and then catch it off of her nose. haha Yeah. It didn't really go down like that...that day. Today, I would spend a little bit of time with her and see if she could pick it up. She is a really quick learner and she's super smart so I thought I'd give it a go. Surprisingly, it didn't take her all that long to get the hang of it. I would hold her snout lightly put the "beefy" on her snout, then tell her to Staaaayyyyy... slowly take away my hand and she freaking stayed until I gave her the go-ahead. She's so cute and smart. The only thing I haven't been able to teach her yet is to Hi-five...she hates her feet being touched so I think that might stay a no-go!

[caption id="attachment_1323" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Cross-eyed girl[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1324" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Is she falling asleep?[/caption]

 After doing such a good job being our lil' Circus dog, I let her chew on a bone that daddy found in the desert (that I washed off)...probably a hip bone to an animal a loooooonnnnngggg time ago.

[caption id="attachment_1325" align="aligncenter" width="300"] What an animal![/caption]

 As we were watching Savannah gnaw on her new-found love and talking about her new trick, we heard our first 4-wheeler (at this spot). We peeked our heads out of the van and saw a guy on his 4-wheeler about to whiz by the van. He drove past us at full speed, waving as he passed, then we heard it coming closer again. I poked my head out again and there he was coming straight for us...oh goodness...what does he want? (You just never know what you're going to get when you live this lifestyle: people wanting something from you, telling you to move on, etc.) He came close to the van, but not disrespectfully close and yelled out, "Do you guys want some water?" I told him that we had fresh water and he said that he just had this bottle that was fresh and freezing cold and it kept falling out of his bag he had around him and didn't want to just chuck it, so I said, "Sure, why not. Thank you so much."

[caption id="attachment_1326" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Quite refreshing[/caption]

He was pretty cool and yes, before I took a sip I made sure that the seal was unbroken (my Russian friend would be so proud, haha). It was quite the refresher to have freezing cold water...it's been a while and today was a scorcher! I also told J' if something happened to me to take the bottle to the E.R. to run tests! haha Gotta cover your bases. When the afternoon started turning into evening and the sun was not so hot I took Savannah for a "potty walk".... and pictures of course. I just love how the sun hits the mountains in a different way every hour here.

[caption id="attachment_1327" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Day in the Desert[/caption]

Really just another day, but another great day and I learned two things: 1- Not everyone approaching the vehicle is coming to report bad news and 2- You can teach an "old" dog new tricks! We're just going to hang out the rest of the night, probably watch some TV since we now have four channels instead of one ...exciting! It actually is very exciting to us...haha

[caption id="attachment_1329" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Good-night[/caption]

Hope you have a great night!

PEACE

Ain't no thing but a chicken wing

When you are out camping for long periods of time...months for us this time, you will probably start some kind of tradition or "fun day or item". We used to look forward to getting ice cream when going to town but Sunday will be a different day this week. It's Football Sunday so we decided to get some chicken wings and blue cheese for dipping, we would grill them and it would be a fun day full of good food and 'foosball'!

[caption id="attachment_1067" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Ain't nuttin' but a chicken wing[/caption]

And they were good....but the only game we were able to get ended about three hours before it was "wing time" for us...they were still good!

[caption id="attachment_1069" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Yum yum gimme some[/caption]

 Monday was one of those days you "plan" on doing something and the more the day gets away from you, the harder it is to actually go get that "thing" done. We needed water. Bob & Miss Cheri invited us over for dinner and we told them we would go into town to get them water too before we came over. We didn't end up leaving until about 3 p.m. or so but it always feels so good to be stocked up on fresh water!!

[caption id="attachment_1072" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Water Boy[/caption]

See we got up this morning and J' started doing something to the van, instead of sitting inside working... and I cooked up some oatmeal for breakfast and one thing led to another after seeing the grill in that condition! So a few hours later of giving her the scrub down this is my success story:

[caption id="attachment_1070" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Got my work cut out for me![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1071" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Forever later...satisfaction![/caption]

 I just wanted to take a nap and REALLY wash my hands and now I don't ever want to use the grill again! haha

Have a great night!

PEACE

 

 

 

 

 

Ketch-up: Sarasota

Hmmmm....okay let's see, over the past couple of days we have been to about 3-4 Wal-marts, 2 Targets, 1 or 2 Best Buys, & a Radio Shack. J' wants to get a TV so we don't have to keep going places & spending money (out of our budget) to watch the games, so we have been everywhere that would sell the exact TV he wants. Found that no one carries it & we'll probably order online. We have also gone sticker shopping -I got a bad-ass ring too (we started collecting stickers from all the places we've been or just liked to put on one of our main 'bed' boards in the van). We spent a couple of days in Siesta Key on the beach, really only an hour or so because we get bored or I get hungry, then once we pick up to go and check on Savannah we always end up moving on...haha.

[caption id="attachment_2013" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Siesta Beach parking.Better get here early, they fill up fast![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2015" align="aligncenter" width="300"] I guess everyone is on the beach! Siesta Beach picnic area[/caption]

Then, today we finally got our TV. We ended up ordering it online and had it shipped to us down here, to a private postal service. Even though it cost $5, instead of the $3 they told us over the phone, I don't think it was that bad of a deal. I mean, we got a package on the road...how cool is that!? So yay, we got a TV!! Now we can watch the games and even have a little something to do at night when we both don't want to read or do computer stuff. I think it will be a nice break and a nice treat since we haven't had TV in almost two years!

[caption id="attachment_2016" align="aligncenter" width="300"] TV Time![/caption]

Since we had left the beach to go pick-up our new purchase, we decided to find a new place to hunker down for the day. We drove over to the place where they had the Farmer's Market that one day, Phillippi Estate. They have a huge park there and docking stations for kayak's to get into the river so we figured it would be a nice quiet place to spend the rest of the day (no overnight parking there).
So glad we did too. J' was able to work at a picnic table under a gorgeous tree, Savannah was able to do her thing, sneakily though since they don't allow animals in the park...tee hee and I walked around & took pictures. It was gorgeous there, glad we stopped for a few hours.

[caption id="attachment_2017" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Antique Rose Garden[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2018" align="aligncenter" width="300"] I thought all roses smelled the same. NOPE!! These roses smelled like mango & cherry candy… so yummy![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2019" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Such a neat little place this is[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2021" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Another beautiful rose, that smelled so sweet it almost smelled edible.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2022" align="aligncenter" width="300"] J’ working away in Sarasotaville[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2023" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The Phillippi Estate[/caption]

PEACE

51- January day at Siesta Key by Ayevangabond