One of the best parts about going on the road is having your eyes opened up to the realities that exist beyond your own little corner of the world. So when it came to New Orleans, it was one thing for me to hear secondhand reports about the state of affairs in the city from the comforts of my home. But to walk through the rubble that remains, to talk to those who are trying to piece their community back together, was another thing altogether. This is why we travel.
Our time down on the bayou
For our visit to New Orleans, we boondocked on the BioLiberty compound down on Bayou Liberty in Slidell, Louisiana.
This is where our old Humboldt friend Gordon Soderberg now calls home.
Living full-time in his RV, he has established quite an impressive green enterprise with the help of a local dentist who owns the property.
Flux and Skinny Chef: Two Artists, Living and Creating On the Road and in New Orleans
As I previously mentioned, artists are flocking to New Orleans. My new artist friend, Skinny Chef (aka Mary Kate), likened the city to a blank slate, a place where great art is rising from the ashes of Katrina. We met Skinny Chef and her partner Flux Rostrum, down on the Bio Liberty compound in Slidell. They are moving to NOLA, to further her art, and expand Flux’s mobile broadcasting studio’s capabilities.
Our Fussy Magic Chef RV Oven
René has always had a hard time lighting the pilot for our Maytag RV oven. I never had a problem, so I always gave her a hard time in return.
Then one day I couldn’t get it to light.
After far too many times of kneeling before the Magic Chef, praying that it would light, we decided to call for service since it was still under warranty. But not before I dissected and reassembled the pilot assembly and combed the owner’s manual for assistance. There was none.
New Orleans: Live Music and Great Art without the Attitude
I started out this trip behaving like a spoiled little West Coast snot, like a character out of that famous New Yorker drawing that shows a map of the U.S., with the Left Coast and the East Coast, and nothing in the middle. How wrong that is, and what an ignorant turd I was for falling for it.
The middle of this country has the nicest, most down to earth people we’ve met, and some of the most creative. And since arriving in the South, we’ve witnessed more talent, and met more artistic individuals here than anywhere else. Maybe it’s because they’re at arm’s reach here, whereas on the coasts, the artists and musicians I’ve met have gigantic egos, stick to their own kind and don’t make an effort to blend in with the masses, unless it’s to try to make a buck.
Catching up after catching up
Catching up on Blog Posts from Luckenbach after Touring the South and spending time with old friends
From Farmers to Fulltimers: Another Young Couple Hits the Road in their RV
Younger fulltimers are workamping in parks across America while seeing the country in their RV
Live Work Dream Expenses January 2008
The costs of an RV road trip for one month in January 2008.
From The Redwoods to the Bayou, Now In NOLA
Friday, we pointed ourselves westward, right into New Orleans (NOLA), where we’ve met up with an old friend from Humboldt, Mr. Gordon Soderberg. As one of the founding members of the Redwood Technology Consortium, Gordon is one of the reasons why we fled San Francisco in ’98 and moved up to the sticks. He was a geek like us, and we figured if he could make a living in the trees, so could we. In 2005, Gordon left Humboldt to join the Veterans For Peace wagon train that was supporting Cindy Sheehan, and found himself in NOLA two days after Katrina, to help with the rescue, cleanup, and now, grassroots rebuilding efforts (because the government hasn’t done crap. More later).
A Weekend from Hell in Paradise Island RV Resort
So this is paradise, eh? Well, if your idea of paradise is parked in a crammed, dumpy RV “resort” for a whopping $40 a night, where you are so close to the next RV that you can’t roll out your awning, where you have snotty French Canadian neighbors that refuse to say hello or make eye contact, then Paradise RV Resort in Fort Lauderdale is for you!
The Conclusion: Making a Living as Organic Farmers
What we learned as Workampers while living on the oranic farm at White Rabbit Acres, Vero Beach, Florida.
One Good Thing About Florida: The Atlantic
Swimming in the Atlantic ocean is one good thing about Fort Lauderdale and Florida.
On the road again …
… and paying for it.
I would have loved to stay and watch the Superbowl with Gene an his new 42″ Aquos HDTV
I am also seriously happy to be amongst some trees with some space at Lake Manatee State Park after that seriously cramped RV “Resort” in Fort Lauderdale.
It is eye-opening, however, to pay $94.00 to fill up the truck from a quarter tank after not spending anything on fuel for nearly two months while we helped make our own homebrew biodiesel.
Dodging Boats on the Freeway in South Florida
Sometimes I wish we had a motorhome. That way, whenever traffic gets hairy, I could go in the back and take a nap until it’s over. Take for example, the other day while driving to Fort Lauderdale.
A cure for the common freshwater cough
When our freshwater fill spout started coughing up water when we filled the tank, there was no need to call a doctor. I knew I could handle this one. But I did wonder why it started happening all of the sudden.
While filling up our freshwater tank a few times, we noticed water backing up and burping out of the fill hose. Upon closer inspection – which any good RVer should always undertake in circumstances like this – I noticed the freshwater tank expanding with air whenever this happened.