Vegas, Baby...Vegas!!!

Happy Halloweenie to all my Boils and Ghoul's!

Today, we say good-bye to Pahrump and our new-found 'family' member, Wayne. Wayne being the sweetie pie that he is, made sure that our bellies were full, but he had hot cakes for me this morning...woohoo! You know this girl LOVES her some hot cakes!

[caption id="attachment_2171" align="aligncenter" width="300"] J' ended up making them for me, bc I was too much of a mess![/caption]

When our bellies were full of sugar and spice and everything nice we rolled on out and said Hasta La Vista to the small desert town. We were driving toward Vegas.

Vegas, Baby...Vegas ~Swingers

Savannah has found a new place to lay in the van. It's always a "fight" with her because she wants to be on my lap, in the back, on my lap, open the window, scratching my legs....just a big mess sometimes so she figured she would find her own place to lay where she could still see but not be in the way...plus she's closer to daddy this way. We've got a smarty pants on our hands!

[caption id="attachment_2172" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Close to daddy[/caption]

It didn't seem like we were driving all that long when we came over this hilltop and saw Vegas in the distance. I don't think you realize how much Vegas sits in the mountains when you come into the city on a plane, but boy is it pretty out here.

[caption id="attachment_2174" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Las Vegas[/caption]

It didn't take long before we were in the full mix of things; traffic, houses, people, craziness. In a way it can be kind of fun...as long as I'm not driving! haha Our last few days we did some research on things to see and do while we were here so we drove over to the Town Square Mall. It's an outdoor mall, a place that is always nice to walk around.

[caption id="attachment_2176" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Reminds us of Denver[/caption]

It was still pretty early, not even noon, so it seemed we were the only ones there. It was nice to walk around, the weather was beautiful and it's very artsy fartsy over here so a very nice morning all together.

[caption id="attachment_2177" align="aligncenter" width="300"] St. Jude's Heart[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2178" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Acoustic Heaven[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2180" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Halloween Kisses[/caption]

We heard that there was a free dog wash, but that wasn't the case...although they are very dog friendly. Their dog shop was a bit on the pricey side but if you can afford a necklace (collar) for your dog that costs $30-40 bucks it's all you, bro! We chilled and walked around the shops and the park and headed back to the van to see where we might be able to stay for the night. We spent some time in the van calling around to different Casino's, talking to Security and getting a list together(we actually got a list of 8 confirmed overnight parking places-4 Casino's, 3 Walmarts and a camping store). With our handy dandy info, we set off for the closest one...but not without taking a drive on the strip first!

[caption id="attachment_2181" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Well, thank you[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2182" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Luxor[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2183" align="aligncenter" width="300"] New York, New York[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2184" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The Fashion Show[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2185" align="aligncenter" width="300"] J' says, "That's profound!" haha
If it's in stock...[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2186" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Stratosphere[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2187" align="aligncenter" width="300"] hahahahahaha[/caption]

For all of you who have been to Vegas and have ventured all over the town...even scary Downtown (where Fremont street is and the road to get there) you know that the more you head toward Fremont Street, the more sketch it gets. We were headed to Binion's Horseshoe Gambling Hall (one of the Casino's that gave us the go-ahead for overnight parking). We were only about 2 miles off the strip and decided we would take our chances at one of the other Casino's...if you catch my drift! Wouldn't feel safe parking there, sleeping there, leaving the van unattended or leaving the 'Bug unattended...no thank you!

[caption id="attachment_2188" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The only thing in the neighborhood that made me smile![/caption]

We headed to the Rio. I had been to the Rio many times for their wonderful Seafood Buffet and knew that it was probably our best bet at this time. It was getting dark and it was starting to be time for rest & play and be done with the driving for now.

[caption id="attachment_2189" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Hello Sleepy Town[/caption]

We turned into the Rio and drove back to the self-parking. They have a 5 floor parking garage (that I think we could only fit on the first floor if we could get under the height bar) and they have a bunch of open back lots they use for semi's, other big trucks and RV parking. We felt like we had arrived! We parked in between a couple of trucks with trailers and U-hauls, grabbed our stuff and headed inside. It was still pretty early so we wanted to see what was going on inside. We walked around, looked at the games, live entertainment, and the shops. We went to the top of the parking garage where there was open air and scoped out how we looked from above. The city was beautiful from here.

[caption id="attachment_2191" align="aligncenter" width="300"] We have arrived[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2192" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The City[/caption]

In the pic below, you'll see my finger in the far left corner(ish) of the pic...that's where Joon Van is!

 Oh and for all you horny ladies...and men (you know who you are) the Rio is the home of the Chippendale's...woo hoo! haha

[caption id="attachment_2194" align="aligncenter" width="225"] This elevator is going down....haha[/caption]

So tonight, we celebrate with Nutella sammies and a nice place to rest our heads...they even have the cutest little dog area with the softest grass for Nana's relief. I'm sure she was happy to feel grass under her tootsies again. We have a fun-filled day planned tomorrow, hoping for good weather and not too many annoying people!

Hope you didn't get your bellies sick with too much of your babies candy and you had a Spooktacular Holiday!

PEACE

 

3 Mechanics: 2 Babes: 1 Rig

Woke up this morning to a big Hallelujah!! The torsion bar is in. Everybody scream....ahhhhhh!!!!! Very excited, J' was off to get it before I even had the bed made. It's going to be a big day! J' walked down to Wayne's to chatty Cathy it up before going to the mail place. The two boys went down to get the part but it wasn't in yet, so they came back to our rig for a bit, taking parts of the van off to get it ready for the big day.

[caption id="attachment_1912" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Getting Joon ready[/caption]

Since it is Saturday, we only had about an hour and a half window before they closed, so we had all our fingers & toes crossed hoping it would get there before that happened. About 25 minutes later, the boys were back in Gigi (Wayne's truck) to get the torsion bar...it will be there this time!

And...it was!

[caption id="attachment_1913" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Longer & Better than the old one![/caption]

J' had a lot of work cut out for him for the day...I try to help but always just end up getting in the way so he lets me sit and take pictures and keep an eye on the 'Bug! Hooray, haha.

[caption id="attachment_1915" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Working Hard & Hardly Working...what a pair![/caption]

J' decided to put the shackles on today too, since we had the rig pulled apart. Also very helpful, was Wayne with his 20 different kinds of jacks...it would have been hell trying to do all of this without those things.

[caption id="attachment_1914" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Jacked up![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1916" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Rusty Shackleford[/caption]

Around 3 p.m. or so, J' started back working on the torsion bar...the shackles took a bit of time, just then we had another visitor approach camp! Looked like we were having a Pit Crew Party! haha Our newest friend, Jim, was coming to say good-bye....little did he know he was about to get down, dirty and closer to the action than he probably wanted!

[caption id="attachment_1917" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Pit Crew Partay[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1918" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Next time, he'll call before coming over, haha[/caption]

Jim was pretty handy with giving J' a big hand under and on top of the van, along with having some wooden boards for the jacks. We were very fortunate today...not only for the part coming in on time, but for good friends that stop everything they are doing to help a couple of "crazy kids" out, like ourselves! A HUGE THANK YOU TO WAYNE & JIM for being selfless, thoughtful and so very helpful today. We really couldn't have done half of what we did today without you.

[caption id="attachment_1926" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Daddy's little helper[/caption]

 We finished up with everything right around sunset! Woo Hoo!! After everyone left, we loaded everything up into Joon...only took an astonishing 20 minutes, instead of the hours and days in Shaver Lake, and headed out to see how she rolled and get a bite to eat...for celebration of course! You really don't know how great it feels to have wheels rolling underneath you until you're immobile for 10 days...it's quite the feeling! We went straight to Little Caesar's Pizza for a $5.00 Pepperoni Pizza and chowed down right there in the parking lot. It was definitely the best pizza we had all day! What a great day, a great feeling and great friends! Our bellies are full now and we can go anywhere we want...it feels good to be free again!

Have you freed yourself today?

PEACE

Field Trip Freedom

First, I want to put out a peaceful loving vibe to all of those that have to go through memories and mourning every year on this day of September 11th. I hope this day finds you in a happy peaceful place and that you spend it remembering those, that have been lost, in an amazing way. We celebrated Freedom and Liberty together today at Shaver Lake. Jenn came over around 10 a.m. to see if we were still going to go with them...of course, something I've been looking forward to since we were invited! She told us it would only be the three of us and SoulRaven; Bob had left for a two week "Alaskan Vacation" (really just going home for a bit), Miss Cherry was watching the pups and Trish kidnapped herself and was no longer with us. So a foursome it was. We (J' & I) were going to drive Joon Van but after SoulRaven drove over to our camp in his van and some conversation, we decided to all go together in his van. Driving on these rocks and roads is a totally different experience then our van, it was interesting but fun!

[caption id="attachment_895" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Hold on for a bumpy ride!![/caption]

We drove down to Shaver Lake and actually drove right down onto the sand, parking right in front of the water, other than a Dust Devil, we were the only ones there.

[caption id="attachment_896" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Whipping up some dust for lunch![/caption]

The weather was beautiful; the sun was out, no clouds, the sand was hot (a little too hot without shoes) and the water was pretty cool. We waded in the water for a couple of hours, trying to immerse ourselves thoroughly but (other than North Western SoulRaven) was thoroughly impossible!!

[caption id="attachment_898" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Wading Beauties[/caption]

Even after just being waist deep with my hands in and out of the water and pretty cool winds, half of my hands turned numb finally getting me out of the water and wrapped in a towel. We sat on the shore and swapped a million and one stories of people of the world, travel and funny tid-bits of information here and there and even had some hot dogs and chips for lunch!

[caption id="attachment_897" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Our own little "island" for the day[/caption]

The dogs played with & against each other, running, chasing, catching balls and trying the frisbee. We even got Zeke & Savannah to come a little further out in the water then they usually do...and Rain was a champ swimming and fetching!

[caption id="attachment_901" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Nana' needs a little encouragement from daddy[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_900" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Zeke, Thee funniest swimmer I've ever seen[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_899" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The "Rain"ing Champ[/caption]

After getting out of the sun just a bit more, even with a small chill in the air that sun was no joke, we just sat and talked some more getting Jenn & I to a topic of coordination, which lead to a "cute" balancing act...let's just say she definitely has more coordination than I do! I gave it a whirl though and didn't do amazingly bad but J' came out a little bit ahead of me on the game.

[caption id="attachment_902" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Clownin' Around[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_903" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Coordination Cutie[/caption]

We wrapped it up at Shaver Lake when the sun started hiding behind the trees. We headed back up the mountain to our camp where we sat, talked and laughed some more. I made everyone some dinner, just some simple chicken and veggies, the pups were pooped and laying around...all in all it turned out to be a Fabulous Freedom Day! I hope you were able to spend the day with the ones you love and remembering them if they weren't physically with you. It is a day of remembrance so remember to live, love and laugh and one day you'll be together again like a day never passed.

PEACE

 

 

Once you go Black, you walk out!

This morning, I felt like a real girl! I woke up, took a shower...yes again! I washed dishes and made breakfast and even put on a dress, all while J' worked and tinkered around with our new TV (in the voice of the announcer from The Price is Right...say it again). I, probably unlike most women, LOVE to do dishes, well now that I don't HAVE dishes to clean anymore. It's very soothing and almost zen-like, ahhh. I wanted to make sure that every single plate, spoon, knife and fork were clean as well as our cookware and anything else that needed soap and hot water!

After everything was spic and span, I made us another pancake breakfast, we used the rest of the box and each got three nice sized cakes. I uploaded more pictures to my picture sites (still didn't get all the pics uploaded, think I need a couple of days but I was able to get about 9 albums loaded). J' got our TV working and figured out and we were able to leave the box behind as garbage. Lil' Phil (our portable TV) was NOT working out for us, let me name off a few reasons why; the screen was too little only 9 inches, the volume control was on the TV only, could not access it with remote, when you plug it in...which you had to do if you wanted to watch TV for more than 15 minutes, it would pixelate so bad it was almost unbearable to watch TV, it would only charge when the TV was off, not while it was plugged in and on...I will keep it at that. We talked about getting another TV, just a regular TV and we've been looking at Wal-mart. We saw a TV that would fit perfectly in our space (we know because we went and got a tape measure from hardware...) so, we bought it. It's a Sansui 19 inch and it totally fits in the space we have for it....so perfect!

Check-out was at 11:00 a.m. (I think it's wrong that we have to wait until 3pm to get into the room but we get kicked out at 11am. I know, I know, I've worked in the hotel industry, but I still think it's just wrong). It didn't really matter because we had somewhere to be, yep the Hullabaloo wasn't over yet, we were gonna go get our slots on baby!! Table Mountain Casino here we come!! This place was just a small place in the middle of the mountains and a lot nicer than I thought it was going to be. People did not give this place good reviews but we went anyway, the worst thing that could happen...we leave.

We spent a couple of hours here. Don't worry about the bug; covered parking and her A/C unit hooked up and working great and our check-ins on her, she was good to go. Now, you know that I am a picture girl (if you didn't know that, I am), I wanted to document our Anniversary/Birthday with a picture. I took a few pics of us, that didn't even come out good, in the elevator BEFORE getting to the casino.

 The doors of the elevator open, we walk out, walk past a 'security guard' and as we're walking past her she is hanging up a phone and says, "Excuse me miss, the men in the office just told me to tell you they saw you taking pictures in the elevator and you are not allowed to take pictures in the casino." I was like, Whoa!! They are fast. I said, "Oh okay thank you, it was just in the elevator though." Yeah, I got the evil eye! haha Geez take a chill pill. I get in trouble everywhere! We had a great time, though. J' played his games, I played mine and we got a free buffet because it was our first time there, oooo I even got a shirt! The food was good, the desserts were really good, I would know I had 3 or 4. And yes, I'm a law breaker, I took pictures of the food...so there evil eye-maker!

[caption id="attachment_366" align="aligncenter" width="300"] ...let me see that Turkey Roll![/caption]

Nutty Cheesecake & Brownie

[caption id="attachment_369" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Peach Cobbler & Ice Cream[/caption]

We even walked out 'up' from what we walked in with...woot woot! On our way home, we stopped at a little gas station. J' came out to the van and said, "Take your camera and go take a picture of the dog behind the counter." I didn't know why, but I trust he knows me all too well so off I go. I walked into the store and I saw no dog, no guy, no one. I waited and someone else walked in and I heard a dog bark...a big dog bark. I looked and looked but only saw a dogs' leg under the counter. Finally the owner came out and I told him, I was supposed to come in here to take a picture of his dog (and asked if he minded)...then his dog jumped up on the counter, well put his paws on the counter! It was the most beautiful Doberman I've ever seen, although he had just had his ears clipped (booo). He was gorgeous, 7 months old and his name was Homer! I'd have a Dobie in a minute if we had somewhere to put one.

[caption id="attachment_370" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Sweet baby Homer[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_371" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Look at those paws...and that face...so sweet[/caption]

Since we didn't stop to get groceries, we stopped in Prather instead, just for bread, ice and drinks. Things are more expensive here too, not as bad as Shaver Lake, but still more than Fresno. I did get a free yo-yo out of the deal though, suckers!

[caption id="attachment_800" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Yo-Yo-Yo[/caption]

From the store we just came home, set up camp and hung out for the night. We watched our new TV (I'll make-up a name soon enough, gimme a break!) and we still only get two channels (I know it's the antennae). We get FOX and This. This~ is a channel that plays the most awful movies ever, they're all from the 80's or earlier (and not the good ones, yes there were some) and I swear they play movies where the main character in the movie must have gotten their big break from that movie or something...they're really something else. The other night we watched a movie with Alec Baldwin in it, hold on let me see if I can find the name.... Wow, that took some time. It was called Miami Blues and it was a stinker, so I thought. Tonight we watched Stephen King's Silver Bullet with Corey Haim, they were having a 24/7 Stephen King Marathon for Friday the 13th. That was the best movie we've seen yet on that channel! J' was asleep before me and off I went right after him. Our celebrations may be over on 'paper' but the celebration for life will go on and on and on.

Happy life to us all!

PEACE