Just as nice as a Desert Breeze

Snoozing away last night and got joustled out of bed by a loud knock, knock, knock and barking from the Nana Bug. It was about 1 a.m...I think. The rule in our rig is if we ever get a knock on the van, I have to answer it because I'm cuter than J'! haha I looked out to see who was there...guess who? Security, of course. I answered the door, only opening it a tad...dressed, but in my undies. The guys name was Rudy, he asked if we were guests of the hotel (Yep, that's why we're sleeping in our van, duh) he said that we weren't supposed to be sleeping in the van. I told him I had the okay from Ernesto...he got the biggest surprise look on his face. All in all, he said that Managers (Ernesto) had no say in a topic of that nature and that I should have talked to Security...(I thought I had). He asked how long we would be here and I told him we were leaving in the morning (not true but didn't want to get into it with him). He just told me to lock my doors and please be sure to be gone in the morning. I think he might have gone back and had some words with Ernesto the next day!! We got our nights' sleep in though, got up this morning and were on the road (not doing anything but getting in and driving away) by 8 a.m.

[caption id="attachment_2249" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Good Morning & Goodbye[/caption]

I guess we'll have to use the other places on our list for the rest of our stay. I seriously doubt that if we had stayed among the big trucks, we would have never been scoped out, but we wanted our space so we were being watched. I saw him sitting behind us earlier in the night and if our TV wasn't so bright, he probably would have never known anyone was even in the van...oh well. We'll just move on! While we were researching Vegas, we had looked into things going on around the Vegas area for the weekend. We found a balloon festival with a carnival that was going on, starting Friday going through Sat. & Sunday so we drove toward that direction, finding a Wal-mart on the way.

[caption id="attachment_2248" align="aligncenter" width="300"] I think we're going the right way![/caption]

We pulled over to the back lot of Wal-mart and did our morning duties: rolled up the bed, got dressed & cleaned up and bought a couple of necessities inside. When we were done, we drove over to the Hospital where the festival was being held....we were definitely the first ones there!

After walking around and seeing everyone still setting up for the afternoon, we got back in Joon, made coffee and looked online for some nearby parks. Since our van is pretty stealthy, no one ever knows there is anyone sitting in it. We watched some carnies (small hands ~ Austin Powers) next to us go through their morning rituals of being disturbing, disgusting and down right disrespectful. I'll spare you the details! It just goes to show...you never know when you're being watched. They had no clue all eyes were on them for a good half hour! I wish I could take it back! It was very displeasing to the eyeballs!

[caption id="attachment_2247" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Just nasty[/caption]

As soon as we found a park to go to, we started her up and drove over to Desert Breeze Park, it was only about 3 miles away. I haven't seen a park like this since we lived in Denver. This park had everything imaginable: one whole entire side of the road was dedicated to just Soccer fields, the other side of the road had a rec. center with a fitness center and a pool (they only wanted $4 per person for the day, plus showers...we declined...not bad though), they had a skate park, basketball courts, bike and walking trails, softball fields, more soccer fields and get this...a dog park!

[caption id="attachment_2256" align="aligncenter" width="300"] B-ball[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2257" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Couple's Skate...Ladies Choice[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2251" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Happy girl rolling around[/caption]

This dog park was one of the cleanest nicest parks I've been to. We parked and walked the trail all the way back to the dog park...finally Nana can really stretch her legs!

[caption id="attachment_2253" align="aligncenter" width="300"] ...and she's off[/caption]

She chased dogs and barked at everybody, a little dog even turned right around and chased her back.

After she realized she wasn't the boss of anyone here, all she wanted to do was sit on the bench with us....with her back turned to the other dogs. She's such a brat!

[caption id="attachment_2255" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Faced AWAY from the park[/caption]

We kept walking after we realized she wasn't going to play with anyone. This park is huge and just beautiful. We stayed here the rest of the day. We walked over to the pool to check it out and they were having early voting so it was a mad-house.

[caption id="attachment_2258" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Desert Breeze Pool[/caption]

 We found a great spot in the parking lot where there were no cars and where we could have a little privacy...we needed to scrub-a-dub-dub it up. This was a great spot to do it, we just backed up to where we had even more privacy and bam, we had a shower! I threw on my bikini and scrubbed down...feels good to be clean!

[caption id="attachment_2260" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Scrub-a-dub-dub...who needs a tub?[/caption]

We figured we would go back over to the park for the day so we chilled and got some work done. When we felt like we needed to take a break and stretch our legs again, we headed back over to the dog park. It was almost 5:00 p.m. so there were sure to be more dogs there and we were more than right...most people and dogs I've ever seen at a dog park. It felt nice to know that people are taking advantage of this great park, every park I've been to there's never anyone there. I had also never seen so many wiener dogs in one place at one time....it was a Wiener Fest! haha

[caption id="attachment_2261" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Cute lil' Wieners![/caption]

There was a dog there that looked like Tony (Miss Cherry's pup) but much smaller....soooo freakin' cute!

[caption id="attachment_2263" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Are you Tony's cousin?[/caption]

Savannah played a little more than she did this morning, but it always ends up the same...we end up running and fetching balls more than her...like she's the one that took us to the park! haha I just think it's because none of the dogs let her bully them around so all the fun is taken out of it. At least she got some exercise, that's what counts.

[caption id="attachment_2262" align="aligncenter" width="300"] RUN!![/caption]

We did one more big walk around the park. There were people at the skate park this time, with boards and bikes so we watched them throw down some skills.

[caption id="attachment_2264" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Flip & Spin[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2265" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Thank goodness for helmets![/caption]

It was starting to get dark, so we ran a few more little errands and figured we would just go sleep at the Wal-mart we were at this morning. When we first learned about the balloon festival, we thought we would just sleep there amongst the carnies, but after this morning we decided against it and went to go blend in with the other campers. This Wal-mart had some good parking but we noticed on the backside of the store there was a bunch of semi-type trucks and RV's along this strip of road...we joined right in. Good thing we got there when we did too because as soon as we found close to one of the very last spots along the strip, we saw a couple of small campers/RV's driving up and down looking for spots...the early van gets the spot! Even though it was only about 6:30p.m. it is pitch black and I am not getting out of the rig to take pictures...so you're going to have to use your imagination on what this one looks like!  We will be going to bed a little earlier tonight due to us actually setting an alarm for tomorrow morning. The balloon festival launches at 7 a.m., we have set the alarm for 6 a.m. that should get us up and there in plenty of time to see every one of those suckers get up in the air. I'm totally stoked about this, I have always wanted to go to one of these but have been too busy or lazy in the past to do it. So, Hot Air Balloons get ready because here we come...wee hoo!!!

PEACE

Keep on Truckin': Ft. Lauderdale

After driving a good part of the day yesterday we landed in Ft. Lauderdale. We did a little bit of driving around and found where the beaches were and then settled in for the night. We ended up finding a truck stop in Davie, (Florida 595 Truck Stop) right outside of Ft. Lauderdale. We told them what kind of vehicle we had and they only charged us $5.00 for the night, (they actually thought it was kind of cute and funny that we wanted to stay there, they were super nice) they also had showers (for additional fee, I think it was like $2-3), a lounge and a game room. Super clean!! It was great. I think we either picked a good time or something else because, when we came in, we were the only ones there and when we came out only 2 or 3 trucks had come in. We had a very peaceful night. (We passed it later on around 4 pm and it was swarmed with trucks, not a vacant spot in the lot!!)

[caption id="attachment_1054" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Just a beautiful truck...man am I turning into a red neck!? haha[/caption]

Today it's Ft. Lauderdale Beaches all the way baby! We did some research last night to find out where we can get cheap(er) beach parking because the lots here are ridiculous. For a full day you can end up paying up to $20 to park! WE ended up finding a lot for $7 (almost right on the beach) for a full day, woo hoo Go Us!! J' was excited too because he could "free shower", haha. I'm sorry but that water was way too damn cold for me to get under it...and I have way more hair than he does, so it's easier & quicker for him.

[caption id="attachment_1056" align="aligncenter" width="300"] 'Cuz he's freeee.... free showerin'![/caption]

We did a little tanning today. Yep! We actually got down in the sand and laid out. It was fun. We soaked up some rays, walked the shoppes, got some good pictures and watched a lifeguard get all crazy for a guest on his beach. It was pretty cool. A lady (about 35 or so) was wheelchair bound and there were two men talking by her, one dressed plainly the other, a lifeguard in his speedo! All of a sudden you see them part ways and the lifeguard takes off, all of a sudden he's got a Wheel-buggy. He was determined to get her on the sand, I thought that was so very cool.

[caption id="attachment_1060" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Mr. Speedo-guard getting a Wheel-buggy for a beach guest!
Very cool[/caption]

I’m sure you’re wondering, ‘Now where is the Bug in all of this tanning?’ Well, J’ came up with a very smart and handy way to keep her cool when we can’t be with her and while it’s a little warm in the vehicle (without her being harmed) AND we always do check-ups…I’m a little neurotic about them, actually! You will see a pic below; the cooler has tons of fresh ice in it with a lid, the venting system (the silver thing) goes into a hole in the top of the cooler lid down into her crate. The silver thing attaches at the front of her crate. There is also another hole in the lid…yes two holes! A fan goes into the top of that and blows the cool air into the silver thing into her crate. On most days but especially warmer days we put a pair of pants over the crate door to trap in most of the cooler air. It’s the poor man’s AC and boy does it work good!!!!!

[caption id="attachment_1059" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Nana in her Penthouse Suite with AC![/caption]

And of course, Savannah needs exercise just like us so we find dog parks along the way. This dog park in Ft. Lauderdale, Bark Park, was pretty cool. It had all kinds of obstacles and tons of other dogs there to play with. They do provide fresh water out of a hose for the pooches to refresh themselves while playing. Nana' did pretty good, she's still a little sketchy around other dogs and people, but she broke out of it and played for a bit...and then came running back to our legs for safety! We got her to do the obstacles too, she could definitely be a Circus dog! She had sooo much fun and it makes me happy to see that big smile on her face!

[caption id="attachment_1062" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Pooped at the Park[/caption]

Ft. Lauderdale is a beautiful place, but we found here, that to have the kind of fun we (could be looking for) you've got to have some money.... at least a lot more than what was in our budget for this trip! So with that we are going to do some talking about the football (Steelers vs. Broncos) game tonight and where we may be able to catch it and we'll see where that takes us!

[caption id="attachment_1063" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Beautiful Ft. Lauderdale Beach[/caption]

PEACE

31- A very trusting store by Ayevangabond