8. Arriving in Ft. Lauderdale

Fort Lauderdale, FL.  It is January 21, 2018, Sunday (and Monday and Tuesday for this and the next report).

 

Jean and Ross at Their Condo

It was just another 475 KM day of driving, with a stop-over at the nice condo our friends bought in West Palm Beach. We just stopped there for a quick drink since Ross was working hard to install a new dishwasher but we wanted to see the ‘bargain’ they found a few years back when the Real Estate Market was on the very low end of the scale in FL. Jean told us that yes, they got a bargain but they had to re-decorate and ‘improve’ the place. All that ‘work’ paid off big time, however. You did well guys. You found a jewel!

We are now at the Link Motel in Ft. Lauderdale for a few days. We are scouting out the area and getting our bearings to be ready to start our cruise 3 days from now.

I had already searched online for a place to park the Lexus. Parking long term in Ft. Lauderdale is a bit of a racket. The prices vary from garage to garage, from parking lot to parking lot. We need to park the car for a full 60 days. Let’s say we pay $10 per day, that would be a bill of $600 just to park the car. I am trying to find a cheaper way but so is everybody else who takes a cruise from Fort Lauderdale, FL. Parking is at a premium. Some places charge close to $20 a day in actuality. My chore is to talk to people, to find a ‘deal’. 

Have to Park the Car For 60 Days

I asked the hotel if we could park the car for 60 days on their parking lot and the answer is yes, $10/day. Too expensive!  It’s not a bargain.

 

I talked to everybody, even the guy who rented a room next to us at the motel. His name is Monk! His girl friend lives with him in the motel room and they sit outside the room most of the day, jabbering away. Monk is on a cell phone most of the time. Curse words fly out his mouth like water from a water fall. It seems he does not have a job. Or his job is talking on the cell phone?  His Cadillac is parked in front of his room and he smokes like a chimney. Well, you cannot pick your neighbors at a motel. Monk does not really bother me, he seems ok, but one never knows. This is Florida; there are lots of ‘strange’ people living in Florida. Well, I asked Monk if he knows a place where we can park the car for 2 months. I had an inkling this guy might know more than meets the eye. Sure enough, he made a phone call and voila, we have a parking place for 2 months. He wants $400 and we agree on $300.  

I want to see the place where the Lexus will be parked before I agree to the deal and Monk comes along to show us exactly where the location is. I am driving.

This Is Where the Car Will Be Parked?

It’s a ‘small house’ neighborhood that at the moment is changing from pure residential zoning to a mixed, upper scale office and residential mix. Some of the smaller houses seem abandoned but where the car will be parked, the house is occupied. Monk’s ‘friend’ Doug comes out of the house and greets us. Doug is the boyfriend of the lady who owns the house and Doug tells us he works as a line cook at the Red Carpet Inn on the Interstate ( I-95). Carol feels a bit weird about the whole thing and so would many more people, but… we need a parking spot.

While we are there, Monk talks to Doug and then comes back to me and tells me: “Doug said he will take $250 for the full time if you can pay him like …right now… in cash!” These are the decisions you have to make while on the road. 

Do I trust this guy Monk?  Do I trust Doug? Both seem in need of money, yet here is a place where we could park the car. Or is it all a play, a farce, a trap? What do you think I did?

I put my hand in my pocket and pulled out a prepared envelope with $250 cash and gave it to Doug. Who in turn walked with Monk into the porch and gave some money to Monk. I saw the exchange; I just don’t know the amount that was paid to Monk. I guess $50 went to Monk.

Did we get a bargain?

Will the car be there when we get back?

Carol is nervous, it is her car.  She is not as trusting as I am!

Did we make a mistake?

(We will find out at the end of the trip, won’t we?)