The next day, we wanted to settle in, knowing we would be staying here a couple weeks, so even though there was no room for the awning to come all the way out with our parking job, we half mast carported it (I made that term up myself), which means we took the awning arms off the trailer and staked them into the ground with the awning only half rolled out. It covers about 4 feet of ground, enough for us to park the bikes and motorcycle under and hang out with the animals while they sniff around.

The park is basically a huge thick multi tree’d (deciduous, coniferous and a few tropicals) forest with 3 large lakes. The forest has very little undergrowth, which is my favorite part, because although there are trails all over, you can go whichever way you want without having to turn back.. most the time at least. Because we are somewhere that is not an inner city trailer park (for once in months), we have made it a habit to actually get out of the trailer during the work day, both taking rides on our bikes (me motorcycle and Ross, bicycle) during our lunch breaks and trying to do as much as possible before dark. We also take the animals out regularly, and Susa is getting much better on her leash now that she has somewhere to go. The last place in New Orleans was always crowded or had traffic in and out so she barely left the 10 feet in front of the trailer. Now she takes us for walks down forest trails, climbs trees and catches crickets. Chena is about the same as anywhere, old and slowish but eager to walk in whatever direction she decides will get her the farthest away from the trailer.

This last weekend, we really wanted to look around while we were able to get away from work so we got up… ahem.. early.. (no we didn’t) and went for a 2 hour hike. On the map we got at the gate, there was a trail marked “Lake Trail” just next to us by Beaver Lake. We couldn’t tell from the map but assumed because it was called Lake Trail that it went around or at least next to the lake for a while. After less than a mile the trail branched off back to the campground but there was still a trail at the lake so we continued on. After another 100 yards the trail started to get harder to walk, definitely there, but unmaintained. First large trees fallen across it, then bushes and small trees and a fairly steep hill leading down to the water – not the lake at this point but the mouth of a creek. As we did our best not to slip in the mud to our splashy demise, we realized the trail in no way followed the lake because you would have to swim across the creek to do so, but we followed whatever seemed like a trail until we were just walking through forest again. It was hot, about 95, but the forest kept us fairly cool. The humidity kept us sweating and drinking water and by the time we made it to a road, the only place the trail lead after its migration, we were ready to head back to camp, still a couple of miles away by this time.

After hiking we went to an awesome place in Birmingham called Sloss Furnaces, an old iron mill that’s been closed since the 70s. The place is open to the public and throughout the industrial wonderland are safety rails and self guided tour phone numbers to call and get info about the machinery. In the pits and drains of the plant were little concrete ponds full of turtles, frogs and minnows and every wall was covered in vines and moss or just deeply textured corrosion and erosion. It was pretty great and I got just about 40 photos with my big medium format camera (all film to be developed whenever I can find a place that does 120 film). After that we desperately wanted food and found a great little vegetarian restaurant called the Bottletree Cafe, the only one in Birmingham, which just happened to be a couple miles from Sloss Furnaces. This was a relief after living in New Orleans for months where everywhere was at least 10 miles from us, everywhere – And we were technically in town.
Birmingham isn’t bad, although its pretty small for a city. They have a Whole Foods, an Asian Market, several restaurant options and Sloss Furnace so, although I don’t want to live here, I’m glad we’re nearby. It’ll be a nice transition for our belated leap back into the travel world in our new trailer. Next time we’ll be ready to head back to small town USA. There seems to be much less of that in the east so far – it’s so densely populated here compared to the southwest where we spent most our trip pre-NOLA.

Here’s a few photos from the park and trip. Soon to come: A video of Susa’s forest adventures and many more photos!

Well most of it is crap except of course the Brougham, our home and/or project for the last 11 months. I would do whatever possible to leave it with some family or friends who can use it while we travel in the trailer till I can work on it more, but everyone I know is thousands of miles away. So we have to sell it due to the excessive costs of having an RV, trailer and truck – insurance, gas and possible extra costs at parks for being selfish hoarders…and I don’t have a drivers license.
Anyway, throughout our travels I have tried to take photos of the Brougham, most of them have Ross in them so I didn’t use those but what I had left over I made a video for its sale. I went into excessive detail with the craigslist add as well, going over every repair and addition I could remember to try to seek out people who actually give a crap about vehicles (as opposed to ads that say “74 dodge camper, runs and drives $####, mechanics special). So here is my sad sale video, well, stills made into a slideshow and put on youtube, with music from youtube’s music selection which is totally terrible.

Ross already sold the 5th wheel hitch, goose neck adapter plate (both came with the truck) and our hitch shelf and the only junk laying around outside now is the hitch shelf extension and adapter, and half of Ross’s extensive tool collection. We have no idea how moving and driving with the trailer will be, it hasn’t been moved since we bought it and neither of us have driven with a trailer this long. Truck and trailer together will be over 50 feet long and interesting to maneuver in.. or not maneuver in. Planing on how to pack things without them flying around while we drive, tomorrow.

Jude park has been really great to us. Even if we’re not the most social people, the owners, previous and present, have been really lenient about having the RV here and us staying so damn long. About 70% of the people here are men working locally, construction or otherwise, staying in older trailers and driving big trucks. The other 30% is a regular rotation of older couples you never see and people crazy enough to stay in tents in this humidity (usually they’re put in the very back next to the trailer shaking loud train yard). I guess when coming to New Orleans, staying close to town to party is better for most people than staying a little further, where you can see the swamps and armadillos in the state park.

Jude has a pool, which through the owners, has gone from bug infested mud puddle to clean, resurfaced and lit. It used to get used about once or twice a week by people who mustered up enough to bear the nastiness for a cool dip but now there is almost always someone in it throughout the day – or the hot tub next to it.

The only negative things, that I cant wait to have a break from, are the really cramped spots, with barely enough room to extend your awning (depending on who parks next to you) and the crashing train yard that I cant even go explore due to a massive poisonous snake filled wall of vines and barbed wire. Seriously.

The south itself is what has made it bearable to stay here so long. As much as I love the southwest, if this was Pecos, Texas, Id have driven off in the RV by now – even if only into a ditch or off a friendly canyon. The weather has been consistently interesting, storms, heat, humidity and always awesome clouds, and the fact that it’s one of the most interesting cities on the planet, has kept us fairly busy although with working weekdays, we don’t get out as much as I would have liked.

Hopefully these are the last few days, although we still don’t have a set destination (probably west Florida then west again?).

Now that we have the truck to tow the trailer and the hitch to help us tow safely, we need tires for truck and trailer and a 100k mile service on the truck. We bought it literally miles before 100k, hitting it at the exact place we went to register is in Florida. The lady at the DMV said it was a first for her and hopping it didnt look like we faked the miles, I took a photo to remember its oddness but it doesn’t mean much without her amused face next to the instrument panel.

Today is the 4th of July and although I don’t usually watch local news anywhere, I’ve been keeping my eye on Hurricane Alex (because being in a travel trailer in a hurricane is a death sentence) and of course watching news on the oil from a very up close and personal point of view here in the South. Our plans originally intended us to see as much of the country as possible and have a nice hot summer. As far as the South goes, we haven’t stayed in Florida yet, still need to see an Alligator in the wild and have only been to the beaches of Gulf Port, Mississippi for a couple hours one weekend. When we went to Gulf Port the oil leak was only a couple weeks old and hadn’t reached any marshlands or beaches yet. We swam, along with 2 wind surfers nearby, and although it was warm and overcast, there were no other swimmers on the beach. We later wondered the reason, sharks? because it certainly wasn’t oil. Either way, now the beaches have potential swimmers and open beaches but tar balls and oil are all over the beach and getting on anyone brave enough to swim. Other places like Grand Isle, Louisiana, a place we had wanted to go months ago, are completely empty of tourists. Today being a day that the island depends on its usual 20k tourists to keep the economy alive.

The news cast about Grand Isles problem reminded me of the movie Jaws which we just watched last week. In Jaws, the Mayor insisted the beach stay open because he decided the small shark they caught the day before was the man eater the were searching for – Selfishly putting lives at risk to keep the economy going. For Grand Isle that’s not even an option. The Mayor cant lie to everyone and tell the public that there’s no oil on their beaches. Unlike a man eating goliath shark, oil is something that cant be stopped, hidden or avoided.

New Orleans is still happening, Essence Festival is in town with Janet Jackson and many other top r&b artists. Downtown is pretty busy with tourists going on their little mule rides through the French Quarter and booking their Haunted Tours for this evening. Even swamp tours are still going on since the swamps nearby are far from the gulf oil invasion, but the mood is somber among some locals. The other day we worked all day in a coffee shop, overhearing conversations between locals about the oil affecting someone they know. People being forced to look for work elsewhere, moving away from family and friends to cleaner water. Businesses suffering from the lack of tourism in areas and of course the dwindling of the South’s famous seafood industry. The moods were surprisingly matter of fact and hopeful besides all the complaints. After living through something like Katrina and spending years rebuilding, although the problem is much different and will have continual environmental effects, no one really knows what else to do but be hopeful.

My fashion related statement regarding this issue is that in my very strong opinion people should NOT be buying Anti BP t-shirts from the hundreds of companies doing their best to market on this disaster; but rather give that $30 you planned to spend on the shirt to the National Parks (DONATE NOW AT WWW.NATIONALPARKS.ORG OR TEXT “PARKS” TO 90999) or the Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund, a New Orleans based organization.

Of course we all want to tell the world how much we hate BP’s irresponsibility and the whole disaster itself but think of other ways please. Handmade posters, take a marker to your own shirt for godssake.

But unless the company is giving all or most of its profits to the oil spill fund, they aren’t helping.If a company gives 100% profit donations it is a true favor to the gulf. If they only give a small % of the profit just to keep from getting a guilt trip, they should just stick to making tees with gangster bears on them and stay out of the “profiting from disaster” market.But unless the company is giving all or most of its profits to the oil spill fund, they aren’t helping.

If a company gives 100% profit donations it is a true favor to the gulf. If they only give a small % of the profit just to keep from getting a guilt trip, they should just stick to making tees with gangster bears on them and stay out of the “profiting from disaster” market.

As you can tell I feel strongly about this and I will not write about or feature any company who markets on disasters.

Here are some designers donating 100% of the sales to the Gulf:

Kenneth Cole Customized Tees - http://www.facebook.com/KennethColeProductions?v=app_10467688569&ref=ts

Etsy Stores Craftivism – http://www.etsy.com/storque/craftivism/etsians-help-clean-the-gulf-8846/

Seriously EMAIL ME if you are a company giving 100% of your profits to the Gulf Relief or know a company that is.

Thanks and have a good 4th of July!

Susa has been doing really well on the leash. I had put the harness on her a couple times in the house before finally jumping into the leash on her first visit to the vet. She was really good besides destroying my shirt at the sight of people, cars and especially a weed whacker. She sat in the waiting room and watched the other animals go by, not even flinching when a huge hyper dog went by. We don’t have a cat carrier but who needs them anyway when you have a leash cat! I’ve always wanted a cat that would walk on a leash. Shes got the leash part down, and she doesn’t struggle with it or freak out at all.. but the walking has actually yet to be seen.

Chena is as always adorable and unconventional. I got her into the habit of climbing on tables and walking on concrete walls in Argentina during walks at the park. Though once she went to jump onto a wall, unleashed, that had a 12 foot drop onto concrete on the other side. Now I make sure to keep a close eye. I guess I got into the habit of wanting dogs comfortable with height having had a wolf hybrid as a kid that would climb trees and a boston terrier as a teen who would walk up and over cars while we walked and balance on my wood fence. Plus I’ve always wanted to be in the circus (my own of course) so strange animals is kind of my thing.

With all the time not moving so much, I’ve started making some more time for crafts. Trying not to spend every waking hour at the computer though I certainly have enough work, projects and photography to occupy me for years. I bought pewter trays for necklaces and tons of jewelry stuff, though still having trouble perfecting the drying process of the epoxy on the trays, I can use my own photos or drawings in each. I also made a hideous little felt monster of which I hope to improve on soon but I mostly don’t have time till the weekend.

Susa and Chena suffer much from the heat and my crafts. Susa is often in trouble when my craft things are out because she cant keep her paws off them and Chena is forced to lay on the floor while I use the couch. When the AC is not on they pretty much just rest and wait for it to come back on. Once in a while the AC throws a switch so we don’t push it too hard. Yesterday the power got shut off outside because of a short or excess power usage (no idea what caused that except the AC) and we had to flip a switch at the source. Hopefully the AC holds out for us, this weather is mostly too much to bear alone, especially when we’re trying to work all week.

Rent is due tomorrow and it’s looking like we’ll be paying for another month. We didn’t want to be stuck here this long but don’t have much choice without a truck. I’m not so sure the people want us here too badly anymore though. There are several long term people here but I get the feeling with the combo of us technically being “stuck” and the Brougham taking up extra space (and looking funky parked out front like a car  - or even in the back covered with a tarp), they are starting to get annoyed. I’m paranoid though, especially when it comes to what other people expect of me – so maybe Ross should just talk to them.

We started the day with Apple pie, ice cream and coffee, then headed out. Since the new trailer we’ve rented a car once but mostly use the RV for our around town car. While empty it’s great. We don’t have to worry about our things crashing around and with all the weight gone it actually drives like a pretty decent van. This weekend we finally decided to commit to riding our bikes and went to the great and awesome New Orleans City Park, a park that spans about 60 square blocks with several lakes, rivers and bayous. throughout. We had gone there previously while looking for a dog park I saw from the freeway, a dog park that turned out to be a members only club with a yearly cost. We ended up just going to some great abandoned buildings nearby with a big open field for Chena to run unencumbered by other peoples lame dogs.

After taking Chena for a bike run, the most exercise she’s gotten in months, we went on our own, leaving Chena in the RV in the shade. Since pretty much everything east of central Texas is flat so far, it wasn’t a very challenging ride but it was nice. We rode along StJohn’s Bayou and saw baby ducks, fish jumping like skipping rocks and the worlds ugliest duck-geese-turkey things. Ross forgot his clip-in shoes but it didn’t stop him from some track stands.

I found a new use for my luggage carrier on my bike, poop carrier!  Since the park had garbage bins every 3 miles, it was a fun and exciting challenge to see if I could make it to one before the bags hit my tire and exploded. I did, but just barely.

Sunday

Once again, we started the day with apple pie (no ice cream) and coffee.
Since we didn’t get to it Saturday, the plan was to clean and recaulk the roof. We spent a ton on all the supplies the day we got the RV and have been either busy or putting it off every weekend. After I cleaned the house and was midway through 5 loads of laundry, we climbed up on the roof and started scrubbing the areas we needed to recaulk with the gallon of rubber roof cleaning solution we bough. After a couple minutes it was clear to me that there was no way to really clean the areas without cleaning the area around them, and at that point it looked so good clean, I had to clean the whole roof (or try). Ross scrubbed the old sealant and I scrubbed at everything in between. Eventually having to rinse, rescrub and rinse again, making it over a 2 hours aerobic workout – trying to avoid actually getting on my knees and pushing sponges and scrubbing brooms non stop. I intended to start on the Brougham too but by the time I was 2/3 done with the trailer roof I knew my arms or legs would give out on me (and 14 feet up is not the best place for that). While I was scrubbing on the roof, Ross suffered my water heavy endeavor on the side of the trailer struggling with our loose and funky black/grey water outlet. Surrounded by cat shit filled grass (from the tons of strays around here) and at constant risk of touching old poo from the previous trailer owners who never cleaned their tank, he further suffered from my constant splashing and dripping from above.

After I finished as much as I could muster, I was going to move on to installing a shelf in the pantry but decided since it was 5 and we hadn’t eaten all day I would start up the BBQ and make us some corn on the cob, grilled squash and tofurkey dogs. I hadn’t actually hooked up the grill, to the potentially explosive 20 gallon propane tank, nor had I BBQ’d since I was.. um.. well maybe never, but I learn from watching others so the cooking part I knew I had down. I managed to hook up and even light the BBQ without catching on fire and cooked for 40 mins while Ross finished up the caulking on the roof.

While we ate, in came the clouds and we watched a thunderstorm make its way our way, hoping to hell we could finish our food before we had to put the tarp on the RV. We did! A first even.. Now we sit here not moving much, suffering from the busy day, considering going to the hot tub in the thunderstorm.
I think its a plan.

Find useful information about RV Roof Repair, Roof Maintenance and Roof Repair Kits here.

Susa Ataris

Beware. by the end of this you”ll know more than you need to about our new cat.

Once we got a bigger place to hang out, we were finally able to have a cat in our lives again. I think we had the new trailer for a day when I started looking on craigslist for needy cats and within a week, on a routine dog food stop at Pet Smart, we walked in just as they were closing the adoption counter. There were tons of cute cats, mostly adults or sister brother pairs, and one young orange cat. I often say stupid things for no reason so I saw the orange cat and said “I don’t like orange cats, they’re terrors.” What my mind had used to come to that conclusion was that every orange cat I’d ever known was a horrible half wild tom cat (and maybe I’m a bit of a ginger-cat generalist). Since 80% of orange cats are males, because orange is basically the calico of male cats, I assumed the orange cat, although the prettiest one, was a male. I read the card above the cage anyway, and it was a girl! I immediately and illogically changed my mind about her and decided to make a connection. I put my hand to the glass and she put her paw to the glass and it was done. There were several other females that were pretty but I was happy with a young cat, not a kitten, and one not too set in their ways already. All the cats were from the New Orleans Animal Control and had either been dropped off or caught feral, they didn’t have any clue which one she was.

We did all the paperwork and took her to the RV parked out front in a little cardboard cat carrier. She was surprisingly calm, didnt meow, didnt scratch, just quietly worried and hoped for the best. We went back inside to buy some things for her, and $150 later (egads) she was the most spoiled cat in the trailer park. I took her out once during the drive back home to give her some water, she just walked around the RV curios and sniffing everything, then mostly quietly went back into her box (except for the part where her water spilled and she got all wet - didn’t like that).

When we got back to the trailer without any issues or noise. When I opened her box, Chena -lover of all things box, was right over top waiting for the surprise. I knew it might not be the best idea to introduce them that way but I had high hopes. They would have to be best friends eventually, it’s a condition my pets have to endure (within reason). As I’d hoped, the cat didn’t even look at Chena, almost looked right through her while curiously looking around the trailer.  After that she made herself right at home. Never once hid or peed on anything, didn’t meow uncontrollably, hiss at us or try to escape. Just laid out in the open or played with her new toys.  She spent one night in the bathroom just in case her litter box skills werent perfect and after that shes been with us almost every minute of every day. I even gave her a bath on the second day because she smelled like kennel and pee and she was fairly decent about that, didn’t scratch, just a little worried.

Susa And Chena

As far as her personality, shes very trusting and affectionate but sometimes she would duck from us when she got in trouble, like she thinks we’re going to whack her one, but shes getting used to the idea that we wont be doing that. She has the “I want to trust you so badly and love you unconditionally but some bastard kicked me” syndrome. She came to us with 2 shaved areas. Her belly from being spayed and the side of her back leg. We considered at first, that although strange, maybe it had to do with the spaying but upon closer inspection the hair was longer (more grown out) and there was a 1 inch scar. She may have got cut on a fence, beat up by a raccoon.. who knows. Shes also pretty scared of loud noises, as is Chena but for different reasons. The first time she got scared was by a storage chest closing loudly, she ran from me for several minutes. It was painful that she was so afraid of me but after hours of apology and showing her that what she was scared of wasn’t so bad, shes started to understand. Now when she gets scared she looks at you intently and wide eyed to make sure you give her a sign that you didn’t mean it to scare or hurt her. You have to walk up to her and pet her or pick her up and apologize – If you don’t, she’ll run off and be scared and overall lose trust. Sensitive little kittehs!

It took us a while to name her. We went though all the cliche names for orange cats, and cats in general ans since she nibbled your hand, nose or face while she’s being brushed, we considered Nibbler (from futurama) but decided on a completely different little black monster, Susa Ataris from My Neighbor Totoro. They are soot sprites that hide in the shadows and are said to be good luck – there’s no real connection between them and her personality but it sounded like a cute name and we were sick of having nothing to call her. Within a day she was coming to Susa and it was set.

She’s super curious, what cat isn’t though right. Every time you’re doing something at the counter shes up on hinds mewing at you to know what’s going on. We encourage her curiosity by showing her every single thing she wants to see. Whether its a running tap, sink full of soapy water or jalapeños. After the first 2 times of climbing up my legs, she figured out she could get picked up if she just taps them with her paws. I find that the more you show cats willingly, rather than making things and places forbidden, the sooner they get over it. She walked all over my camera equipment and art supplies twice (on the top bunks), getting hair on everything, then never cared to hang out up there again (save the random kitty freakout and run around the trailer session).

Although I got her the cutest little princess bed, she lays on the hard floor and wont even go into the bedroom except sometimes when we’re sleeping. Good for me because I prefer my clothes stay somewhat hair free before I put them on. When I work she often sits on the breakfast tray beside me and lays her head on my arm. Making it hard for me to type but too adorable to resist. She also likes Jalapeno chips so any time we snack on them she gets her own little crushed chip to snack on.

Susa at work

Susa says hi to Ross

All in all I think we’re pretty lucky people and got the best cat we could have possibly found.

She’s undergoing lessons in fetchology, climbing the walls control (claw control), lick the doggys face and ears and most exciting of all, harness training! Shes going to be even more awesome than she already is!

(skip this paragraph for more trailer trip adventure or read on for a Joey Story) One of the especially hilarious stories, Joey and his former wife were traveling with his uncles carnival with a truck camper combo. While driving down the freeway on the way to a new town late at night, a Camaro hit him them from behind, tipping them onto two wheels, nearly causing them to roll. Doesn’t sound very funny? Wait theres more! The corner of the trailer they hit was the corner where the bathroom is and subsequently the black water tank full of poop, pee and toilet chemicals – all which was now covering the driver and passengers of the Camaro through their smashed out windshield and crushed hood. It gets better (or worse). The Camaro didn’t stop, it sped up with every intention in the world of getting the hell out of there (though I cant imagine how they stomached that decision covered in shit). When Joey and his wife gained control of the truck (his wife driving, him pulling on the steering to untip it), they sped up after the Camaro for a swirvy 80 mile per hour chase till the Camaro finally pulled over on a country road (maybe not the best idea after you’ve hit and run a Cajun in the middle of nowhere). Joey of course responded as any Cajun would, he walked over to the car with a gun, broke the driver window with the butt of the gun and held the gun to the drivers head. “You almost killed us you mother F$%&er and you were just going to drive away!” he yelled at him, then noticing everyone covered in shit and a small glass tray covered in white powder. “How much money you got to fix my trailer?!”, the guy had about $100, his passengers another $75 – probably not enough, not to mention the trauma of almost dying. Just as he was about to explode he noticed a rather bursting bag of white powder in the console. “I’ll take that too”. Remembering that he has a gun, is this a robbery or a reasonable transaction? Imagine someone almost killed you then drive away, and you happened to have a gun under your seat… hmm, yeah will depend on more than that. Anyway, they try to refuse (presumably because its not their drugs, but know they don’t have much choice in the matter) “if we give you this you could tell the cops”. Joey laughs “why the hell would I tell the cops about your damn drugs if I haven’t called the cops on your almost killing me” – they hand it over. As the transaction was ending and the gun was being put away, police lights were seen in the distance. Joey hurried to hide the bag of drugs under a rock while the guys in the Camero grew increasingly nervous and still covered in shit. As the cops drew closer, the driver of the Camaro said to Joey as if they were old friends “I really hope they dont search me, I got a trunk of this stuff”. The cop had received a report of a hit and run from someone else on the highway. He understood already who was the victim and who was the culprit but Joey got a sufficient payment for his losses and decided to help the Camaro driver out. “No sir there was no hit and run, we just followed them till they found a place to pull off the highway”. The cop kept insisting what he was told warranted a hit and run and that he would have to search the Camaro. “Look officer” holding out a wad of cash, “they already paid me for the damages and we were just about to settle up and go our ways”. Eventually this worked and everyone went home happy, although covered in poop, without a toilet or not having made a huge bust. The world went on with carnivals, drug dealers and country cops as it always will. Joey and his wife returned later, picked up the drugs and sold them to employees of the carnival who snorted it right before your kid got on their rides.

After this story and many others we arrived at the dealership (of manufactured homes), happily and speedily finished up the paperwork and had no issues hooking up the trailer. Those came later when just out of town we got a flat. The dealership, because they build manufactured homes, had about a million nails and staples in their lot and one of them was in the front left tire. We had noticed, annoyed there was no spare and Joey pissed he hadn’t brought one, we assumed it would either hold out or we’d stop and get some ‘Fix-a-flat’; unfortunately it did not and we were forced to drive on the shoulder of the highway for while, though luckily being within a mile of a middle of nowhere tire shop.

Doug runs to help a driver

a couple or rural LA kids at their dads tire shop

Everything couldn’t go perfect so I wasn’t too annoyed, more annoyed that we were using up these peoples time. Joey’s wife Tabitha was having trouble finding a ride for her daughter from school and Doug got several calls from a girl wondering where he was. During the drive I snuck in some audio recordings, video and photos(will post if I can). Partly because they were really interesting people but also because we’re so cut off from other people most the time, I’d probably record and spy on anyone we met at this point. Joey cant read, and aside from being a really nice guy who walked us through every single thing we might need to know about trailers and towing them AND telling us some of the best stories I’ve heard in a while, he is really racist though aware that he might offend others at least. Doug reminded me of my brother, the good parts of my brother; big, funny and tattooed. He seemed fairly smart, interested in technology and much less racist. Tabitha and I had some moments of “freakin men” to share along the road while she suffered through Joey’s criticism of her driving.

As a family they make pretty good money hauling junk cars, cutting down dead trees and picking up trailers for people like me and Ross and were completely genuine people. Growing up in Montana and Idaho, around hunting, racism, trapping and strong chauvinism they actually reminded me of where I’m from… so to speak. I am/do none of those things but I guess I’ve learned some level of tolerance of peoples faults. In short, I’d hang out with these people again, just like I’d hang out with my racist, hunting, trapping, chauvinistic step father again, not because hes my step father, because aside from people’s faults, they can still be pretty awesome people. The racist thing does suck allot though… it’s really ingrained down here too. The whole city of New Orleans is crime ridden, and no sociology statistics needed, the majority of the crime, and a big reason why there is so much racism against black people down here – is because most crime happens in poor black communities or involving black youth etc., especially after Katrina. That doesn’t forgive it obviously but its a peer and family driven belief that makes things like racism last so long over generations. Generalization builds fear and so on.. anyway. Doug got our number and claimed he’d call us for a house warming party which would be awesome. They spoke of banana, mango and strawberry moonshine – clubs on the bayou that rock the swamp at night and don’t do drugs anymore so it seems they’d probably make for a pretty interesting party. It’s really hard to express how animated and alive these people were – ill try if I can get any video off my phone ever.

We got homes (haha cause we have 2 for now!) at about 5:30pm, having not eaten anything all day, drinking one Gatorade and half a soda we were fairly exhausted. Joey made backing the trailer in look easy and they were parked and out of here in under 10 minutes. Too late to work, hungry and tired, we started to unpack the RV and didn’t eat till 9 (haha we’re dumb), we ordered a pizza, hooked up the TV and … I sat here for hours writing this blog while listening to cartoons.

Night!