Boats. Beers. Babes. Bucks. Bazinga!

Last night as we lay howling with the dogs, we were trying to decide what to do with our one full day together, on this short weekend trek to Florida.

We tossed around ideas of going to the beach, the shooting range, the dog beach or park, walking around downtown or just hanging out around the hoots' nest. Then the spark of a marvelous idea came to JP and BAM! 20 minutes later we had reservations on the Victory Casino Cruise ($10 per person to board boat)!! What a great idea, indeed!

We had the morning to get ready at our own pace, have a great breakfast filled with sausage, eggs, coffee and toast and be on our way by 9:30 a.m. The drive to get to port is about an hour and a half, the boat leaves at 11:00, so we had plenty of time to get there...as well as plenty of time for "sillies"!!

The place to board the boat is called Cape Canaveral and is also the place where all of the major cruise lines leave out of Florida, it was pretty cool seeing those humungous boats!!

Once we parked, we pretty much walked in, checked in, then off to the boat & potties we went!

The boat is 6 floors of fun: 1 floor with a restaurant, 3 floors of gaming, 1 floor is gaming with a night club and the very top is a rooftop bar with live music, called The Dolphin Bar. We walked in hit the potty, then went to the very top deck to set sail. It was pretty warm...imagine sitting in the sun of sunny Florida, with tight skinny jeans on and make-up! haha Before I knew it I was sweating and sitting in the shade and we hadn't even taken off yet!

Once we set off into the sea for the day, we all headed inside for some game time and much needed A/C! JP started with Roulette and was getting lucky on every number, Jamie started with Black Jack and Brittney and I headed to the penny slots! We played this game, that game, moved around for a little while and then met back up with the boys for lunch.

We had a great lunch on the bottom floor, right at sea level...you can pretty much feel every movement down there (good thing none of us are the seasick type!) We watched a hot dog eating contest while waiting for lunch, not the greatest of ideas but that's what was on the tube. Lunch was pretty good, Jamie & I split quesadillas and a french dip type sammie, then headed back out to game it up!

After lunch Brittney & I decided to head back to the 1 cent slots and moved around machines until the Betty Boop game, Brittney wanted to play all day, finally opened up. We popped over there and played for quite a while...Betty Boop was good to Miss B, but we moved on to an even better set of machines! We sat down at these two machines that were just regular old timey slot machines, they were 2 cents a play and within 10 pulls I went from $20 to $108! I'm NOT a gambler so I played a couple more pulls then cashed out at $84.36! I was a happy camper due to getting back the money that I played, some of what Brittney played and walking out in the black! Needless to say, I didn't play anymore for the day!

We headed upstairs to the "night club" where there were games, air conditioning and less smoke. Since I wasn't playing, I was people watching and saw there was one solo lady dancing on the dance floor, she seemed to be having a grand ole time and I told Brittney, "I'm going to have to get in on that! Watch my purse...." The lady, Yvette, and I danced and had the whole place clapping along, as well as a whole bunch of hootin' & hollerin'! It was great fun, we even exchanged information...what a great gal!

The day was coming down to a dwindle on the gaming for us gals, so we just kept going up floors until we hit The Dolphin Bar. We enjoyed a nice drink together making sure everyone on deck was okay & having fun, especially this guy....

I walked over with a glass of ice water and woke him up, asked him if he was okay...he slurred, "I'm good, just getting some sun." haha Okay dude, have fun with that! Can't say I didn't try.

We sat up there for about 45 minutes before the boys joined us for the trip back to shore and what a trip back to shore it was!!

I can honestly say that I think we were the ships' best entertainment of the year, shit probably the entire existence of the cruise line! You get me, a day of beers, my family & live music together and well, everyone is in for a treat! Brittney & I started dancing around our table for a few songs, with even a gal giving me a dollar bill! (Holla)

[caption id="attachment_5565" align="aligncenter" width="363"] ...[/caption]

 Then, as if I didn't feel American enough on this 4th of July/Birthday/Anniversary/Family time trip, they started playing the Electric Slide......ohhhh yeah baby! I got up there, started dancing and no one wanted to do it with me...Brittney didn't even know how to do it! I said, "I'll teach you, I'll teach everyone! C'mon everybody!" So we start dancing and I grab a couple of people, some people get up on their own and before you knew it, we had a deck full of dancers doing the Electric Slide! Yesssssssss!!!!

[caption id="attachment_5572" align="aligncenter" width="371"] now back...[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5573" align="aligncenter" width="324"] now turn...[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5571" align="aligncenter" width="311"] Thank you for dancing![/caption]

Everyone had a great time on the ship, us and the people watching us! (You're welcome people for giving you a story worth telling about your trip! haha)

I think we were all pooped on the way home, but we made it in the pouring rain back to the house and 4 very excited dogs. Just glad it didn't rain on the ship and cancel our roof-top dance party!

Hope your weekend is as much fun as this and if not....make it that fun!

PEACE

 

Cookies! Cookies! Bulldog?? Cookies!

I'm not really a political kinda gal...plus we haven't been around T.V. or radio for the past week, so waking up (turning the tube on) and seeing the 2nd Inauguration of Barack Obama was a little unexpected.

[caption id="attachment_3520" align="alignleft" width="150"] Where are the bathrooms?[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3521" align="alignright" width="150"] Another Four Years...[/caption]

We laid in bed and watched for about an hour, then decided we'd be here all day if we kept on with this business and finally turned the tele off and got out of the fort. Today we would be driving back over to Quartzsite. The final outcome of the games yesterday decided that the San Francisco 49'ers and the Baltimore Ravens (Beth~ J's moms' team) will be going to the Superbowl. May the best team win!

As we were driving back in, we definitely saw a huge difference from the landscape of last week to this moment. I think this was the time to say...Welcome to Quartzsite! This was the sight that was in our minds that we had not seen yet: Hundreds if not thousands of RV's off in the distance, like a sea of white...the brown specks being the buildings, polka-dotted in between. Just for fun, we drove around town like we were just arriving for the very first time.

[gallery ids="3525,3529,3526,3527,3528,3530,3531,3532,3533"]

[caption id="attachment_3534" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Quartzsite[/caption]

 The energy was high in town, we threw the idea around of going to the big tent today but after sitting in traffic for 35 minutes only to drive a couple of miles, we decided to just drive back to the R.T.R. camp.

[caption id="attachment_3536" align="alignleft" width="150"] A week ago[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3535" align="alignright" width="150"] B.L.M. Today[/caption]

Even on B.L.M. there was a definite difference in the amount of people that were here. Before we started living this way, we had no idea that living/camping/parking (whatever you want to call it) like this, even existed. It's a lifestyle that is good to know about (and how to do it) and it's been super easy and seems to just keep getting easier, for us anyway! And just to reiterate how easy it is...we got back just in time for Happy Hour! Although, most of our hours are happy!

When it started getting dark, we walked to Joon to get some warmer clothes on (I was still wearing my cool new pants, oh pics at the end, with my flops and a pull-over)...my tootsies were freezing! We got in the van, Savannah followed and then Rain (Jenn & Johnny's pup) jumped in the van, (I thought, "Sweet, "slumber party", although we were just layering)...then this Bulldog, whom I had never met before jumped in after Rain. Oh My Gosh!! I was laughing soooooo hard. He was snorting and climbing on me, trying to give me kisses...he blended right into the mix. It was the funniest frickin' thing I had seen all day...I couldn't stop laughing. It was just so random! Later, I would find out this 10 month old Bulldog's name is Bruce! Ohhhh, Bruce.

[caption id="attachment_3542" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Who are you?[/caption]

We layered up and walked over to a dinner invite from Lees & Bernie. Bernie was a good man and 'spoiled my dinner' with Oreo's before the main course! He's a true friend, haha. We had a scrumptious dinner together, ending with Lesa turning me onto a totally different type of cookie. It was like a caramel cookie crisp, we came to the conclusion that they were a crispy, flaky, flattened waffle cone! Yummers! After dinner, we walked over to  the campfire. We met a couple of new faces, laughed about the U.F.O.'s (Japanese Lanterns) flying through the sky and ate about 6 different types of cookies. The next thing I know Joey brings out some chocolate chip cookies and some chocolate wafer things.

[caption id="attachment_3543" align="alignleft" width="150"] Elephant
Lion
Seal[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3550" align="alignright" width="150"] I'm spoiled[/caption]

It must have been National Cookie Day...well it was where we were! I can't pass up a cookie, haha!

I think tonight was really great. The R.T.R. 'ends' tomorrow, some people will be staying and some people will be leaving. It has been so great getting to know the people we have been able to meet and creating new friendships. This time will always be remembered, for us, as well as many others that joined this group, for however long they were able to. We have learned from others as we have been told others even learned from us! It's fun to meet up with like-minded individuals, see how they do things, get great ideas and even find a travel partner or two along the way. What a great event this R.T.R. is. A special thank you to Bob for pulling everyone together whether it was for teaching, learning, creating masterpieces, living spaces or friendships, comfort, exercise or just to do something you've never done before. I know we have our 'things' that we are taking away from it and I know everyone else does too. I can't say how it is in other group settings (with campers/dwellers) but it has been a pleasure camping amongst this group. I think we have a pretty sweet gang and am happy to be able to call you friends...never thought I'd find so many friends in the desert!

I wish every one of you safe travels.

Here's to our paths crossing again

hoping it's sooner (rather) than later

my traveling friend.

...and here are the pics of my new pants!!

[caption id="attachment_3524" align="alignleft" width="150"] New nails & pants[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3522" align="alignright" width="150"] Nuevo Pantalones[/caption]

Aren't they rockin'!?

PEACE

Well, Aren't We A Talented Bunch!?!?

I noticed this morning as I was (trying) to walk Savannah, that she didn't want to go on a walk today... hmmmm. Something must be wrong! This little animal spirit of mine loves her walks. She was hobbling a little and after only walking about 15 feet from the van, doing her #1 potty she then limped back over to the van and stood outside waiting for me to open the door...weird. I thought I had done a pretty good job looking over her paw last night, after the evening walk, but maybe I hadn't. I picked her up and put her on her back in the chair, got my head-lamp out and checked her over again, even daddy did a second check. One of the gals here, Sara, is an E.M.T. and saw me checking her out and offered to wrap her foot up with some padding so she could at least try to walk on it without pain. What a nice gesture! She wrapped it up in this blue gauzey sticky tape stuff and gave me a little extra for later, in case it fell off...or she takes it off! When I put Savannah back on the ground, I'm sorry but I couldn't stop laughing.  She kept picking her foot up so far off the ground, it was almost like she was waving to everyone...poor baby! 

[caption id="attachment_3455" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Gimpy[/caption]

I think the blue tape stuff stayed on for about an hour before I was re-wrapping it...she does not like anything touching her feet...what a chore! I wrapped it back up and we went over to spend time with the ladies in another wire wrapping class. Daddy went with Bernard and Sara to town, so Savannah would be with mommy today...Girls' Day!!! I love Miss Cherry's wrapping classes, they are always entertaining and fun and you actually learn stuff! We did, what I'm going to call an Intermediate class...not basics! haha I think the other women can vouch for that! Luckily, for me, I've done quite a lot of wrapping lately so any class is just another step in the learning process. We learned some new twists and turns and loops and some other stuff that was not on the schedule, haha. Today was a much better day for wrapping then the first class, the sun was shining bright and I was definitely getting my dose of Vitamin D this afternoon! Savannah was such a good girl too, she sat the entire class in a chair next to me, looking off into the distance, waiting for daddy to come back. Even though the class was about three hours long this time around, it was great! Us ladies learned tons of new stuff, caught up on our lady time (& chocolate) and Savannah was able to rest her gimpy foot! Once J' was back with the tribe you would have never known she had an injury...I guess the downtime was needed.

To feel part of the experience, here are some pics of our wire wrapping journey...

[gallery columns="4" ids="3440,3441,3442,3443,3444,3445,3446,3458,3447,3459,3448,3460,3449,3450,3451,3452"]

 Pretty awesome, huh!?

After the class, everyone retreated to different areas to do different things...I came back to Joon Van to rest my eyes & brain for a bit. Staring at wire for three hours and learning new things as well is quite exhausting! J' and I visited and talked about our day, first time we've been apart for that long in a very long time! It was nice to get a little R'n'R,  for tonight was Talent Night! Yep, this R.T.R. has everything!

Talent Night consisted of a major variety of talent, it was very entertaining! The night started off with quite a few jokes...most of them J' had to repeat to me later because I couldn't hear, so I was missing out, haha. Lori sang a few of her songs and played the guitar getting everyone involved in the Chorus! Randy recited a few of his expressive and humorous poems. Laura sang us some Patriotic melodies getting everyone involved singing along...she even rocked an American flag! Lucy did an acting piece from RENT...she rocked that scene!!

[gallery ids="3472,3471,3475,3470,3473,3474"]

A talented bunch we are

at this here, R.T.R.

A fantastical night 

The Moon shining bright

Everyone here is a Star.

PEACE & LOVE EVERYONE

A Different Kind of Night for the Naked Man of Quartzsite...and all of us!

At first I thought this post would be more pictures than actual text due to a long night at the 'Theatre'...but have instead just linked in some videos, you'll get much more of a feel of what we encountered tonight. We joined society this evening to watch a show with a group of our friends from the R.T.R. The name of the show was called, A Night with Paul Winer. Now if you know anything about Quartzsite then you know that Paul Winer is the owner of the hottest attraction in town...A used bookstore. There is something most unusual about his bookstore though, he tends his bookstore...Naked! He is probably the most well-known person in this small little town...all of him! haha

Join us in A Night with Paul Winer...

Paul Winer & gang~ Blue Boy Blues by Ayevangabond


Paul Winer ft. Morgan~ Let 'em roll by Ayevangabond


A night with Paul Winer~Just Talking by Ayevangabond


Paul Winer ft. Morgan~ Sing along to America... by Ayevangabond

And here are some pictures during the show...

[caption id="attachment_3348" align="alignleft" width="150"] Poppin' It[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3345" align="alignright" width="150"] Bernie & Terry[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3347" align="aligncenter" width="150"] Babaaaa'[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3351" align="alignleft" width="150"] hahaha[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3355" align="alignright" width="150"] MY snacks[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3358" align="aligncenter" width="150"] Thump thump[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3373" align="alignleft" width="150"] WOW!!![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3377" align="alignright" width="150"] Stories[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3375" align="aligncenter" width="150"] Good Helper[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3376" align="alignleft" width="150"] What a night![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3374" align="alignright" width="150"] Cheesin'[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_3379" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Get a room![/caption]

Alright...I think you can pretty much sum up our night with everything I have offered you! I hope you enjoyed it, it was definitely something different and it's always fun to hang out with our peeps! They are pretty cool peeps!

If you have a grammy or gramps around, just ask them to tell you a story or ten (and if they can play an instrument or two)...you may just be enjoying the same night as us!

PEACE

 

 

Let the Festivities Begin!!

It's funny to say but we are actually setting an alarm now. Truly we are people that don't lay in bed all day, but lately with the weather being so chilly and sometimes quite breezy we haven't been getting up or out of the van until it warms up...either in the van or outside or both! We figured with everyone being here together, we would all be cold together in the morning! haha So we have started setting an alarm in the morning so we can be bright eyed and bushy tailed with the rest of the gang. This morning we had a 10 a.m. meet and greet...again (I guess they had one yesterday but not everyone was really here, so another one was done this a.m.)

[caption id="attachment_3228" align="aligncenter" width="300"] R.T.R. has begun![/caption]

We circled the group with introductions and talked about the calendar of events that will take place over the next two weeks. There will be seminars, dinners, fire pits, classes and I'm sure many things will get stuck in between all of the scheduled events. Before the R.T.R. started there was talk of a "Girls Day" today...Wednesday is always Girls Day! Right Lesa!?

[caption id="attachment_3232" align="alignleft" width="150"] Matrons of the R.T.R.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3231" align="alignright" width="150"] Purty in Pink[/caption]

 Even though there were just a few of us, it was nice to sit and chat and pamper each other. We soaked, rubbed, manicured and painted our tootsies and enjoyed one another's company. It was nice being around some lady folk again, haha! Every girl in this world needs another girl to connect with. One of the ladies, Trisha, sat with me and taught me the basics of crochet and even sat with me and walked me through chains and hooks and all kinds of stuff. It was so nice of her to sit and be so patient with me, I get super frustrated at things that seem like they should be so simple. I was reminded again and again that everyone does this differently and learns at a different pace...soooo Woooo-saaaaaa! haha I'm sure that within time and practice I'll be hooking in no time...er, maybe I should rephrase that! And while we were having our girl-fest, a couple of the boys (mine included) fixed up Lesa's back windows for her to be warm at night now!

[caption id="attachment_3229" align="alignleft" width="150"] Beginners Course[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3230" align="alignright" width="150"] Helping Hands[/caption]

 Everyone is pretty great here, everyone helps each other out and it's totally not a big deal....makes you wonder, "If everyone treated life this way, there wouldn't be much to complain or get angry about!"

We finished up with our girl time right around the same time everyone was getting ready to go for the evening walk. I would stay back...I needed to recapture some of my energy. J' went with everyone else leaving me and my O.C.D. to fight for the Championship Belt, due to what he left behind!

[caption id="attachment_3234" align="aligncenter" width="300"] ...and breathe...[/caption]

He really meant well at the beginning of all of this (and he can't help that I have an organization, cleanliness disorder). The plan/goal was to take everything off the top and out of the back of Joon Van to see what we actually have up there and possibly get rid of some stuff. He was in full force of attacking this goal but as the day went on more and more people wanted to catch up, say hi, meet and so on, so whatever was on-top or in the back was now lying on the ground in three different piles. I came back from Girl-fest 2013, he left for a walk and there I stood...staring at all of our stuff...on the ground. It truly isn't a big deal, but my O.C.D. just threw its gloves off and is ready to rumble 'raw-style'! I finally gathered everything into one big pile and when J' got back from the walk, he covered it with the tarp to 'make it go away'. Yep, he gets me! haha And everything will be put away tomorrow...it has to be, we are about to get some pretty nasty weather.

Before going over to the fire pit, we cooked up some bacon and cheese sammies with mashed taters and our new friend, Bernie, brought over some mac'n'cheese. We had a feast! I'm glad J' is getting to meet some pretty cool dudes out here...among the ones we already know!

[caption id="attachment_3235" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Master Chef[/caption]

Not too many people were at the fire tonight...a little too chilly maybe!? I was able to converse with an old friend, Micheal and create a new friendship with Brady. We're all hoping that the weather gets better/warmer...even if it just got a few degrees warmer it would be easier to hang out a little while longer. For now though, we are back in the van with our Mr. Buddy Heater (that we love so much) on...don't know how we would get through the chilly nights without it. If you are thinking about whether to get a heater or not...just get it. We thought we would never use it and we have been using it on the daily...you just never know when weather isn't going to go your way!

Stay warm my friends...find a cute guy or gal to snuggle with or a fuzzy lil critter or just a super awesome blankie if nothing else!

[caption id="attachment_3236" align="aligncenter" width="150"] She found her bowl![/caption]

PEACE

P.S. J' is feeling much better...thanks for all the good juju!

 

 

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