Drinking Coffee, Running, and Parking in Davie

While down in Broward County last week, I drove over to the "block" comprising the Nova public schools and Broward {Community} College to do my 2.87 mile run (actually, I had planned to double it this time to 5.74). Pulling into the B{C}C parking lot, once again almost empty, I encountered this time a sign warning me that I needed a decal to park in one of their many neglected spaces. Off in the distance I saw a huge parking garage (it was the building under construction last year when I visited). So now that they have so much more room for parking than they know what to do with, they're going to start clamping down!

No problem, I just drove northward to Nova Drive, where I pulled into a Publix parking lot. After all, even in Gainesville with its insane, nitpicking enforcement of parking, nobody there gets uptight about anyone using Publix parking lots. But no, I looked and there was a sign saying "roam towing" for those who parked there but didn't immediately jump out and patronize the stores. I drove past row after row of empty parking spaces to the far corner of the lot, where I quickly got out and crossed the street to begin my run. Knowing that I might not have a car there when I returned.

So I decided on that first lap that it would be my only lap. The temperature was hot as usual at 90 degrees, but it didn't bother me. Upon returning to the Publix area, I saw a young man walking around the lot with a red shirt on, looking a lot as if he were the one responsible for determining "towable" cars. I slipped into my car and drove off, wondering what had happened to the formerly liberal parking attitude that had made Davie an attractive place to visit as recently as last year.

Oh, did I mention that Nova High School was completely fenced and locked off, included its publicly funded track? No, I didn't.

I won't be returning there to run. But...

West of all this, on Nova Drive near University Drive, is a great place to drink coffee and study: the Havana Coffee Company. I visited there twice, purchasing each time one of their Café Cubano Doble's. Excellent, although I think the next time I go there I will get something a little larger.