Planning to leave New Orleans is just like moving all over again. We don’t know anyone and we have a bunch of crap to get rid of before we can go.
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?).
has_been_twittered: yes
Weather:: Hot and humid, supposed to rain tomorrow - hope all our sealing on the RV did the job.
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.
New Orleans jumped right into summer. It seems like only a couple of weeks ago that we were using a wool blanket and keeping Chena close at night. Now almost without warning it’s over 80 every day, often with 80% humidity or worse. Today is nice though, bearable and the air isn’t as thick as it has been. The billboards on the freeway reflect the weather clearly. They were up the first hot day as if the billboard hangers were just waiting around a corner. One with a picture of Louisiana and the word “hot” next to it and a bottle of Tabasco that says “hotter”; Billboards for beverages “give HEAT the COLD shoulder”, ac repair, roach infestation… We had our first taste of a that a couple days ago when a 2.5 inch roach was hanging out on the counter while I played with Susa on the floor. Susa nearly went feral trying to help us catch it. It got under our couch and ran like lightning across the floor – straight for our bedroom. I’ve never seen a bug run so fast, or anyhing really. If it made it into the bedroom the chances of finding it amung dirty clothes, shoes and a multitude or gaps worsened our chances of catching it. As soon as it entered the bedroom I was committed to sleeping on a bunk bed. I grabbed Susa with the intention of letting her do what she so badly wanted to do, murder the bastard, but the roach paused just inside the door long enough for Ross to get a sneak attack and squish the hell out of it. Roaches are probably my least favorite bug on the planet so I spent the next 2 days convinced every black spot on the wall or brush on my arm was a roach. After living in Argentina wth roaches twice as big, I knew that havig a cat would be my savior as it was there. Instead of coming home to dead birds or mice, on the 11th floor with a massive balcony, I would return from a night out with friends to dead or mostly dead giant Roaches and my cat Gata proudly sitting next to them. I hope that’s not the case in the trailer with Susa but at least we have a cat for when it is the case. It was my own fault for the roaches in Argentina really because I kept my cat box on the balcony and therefore had to leave the door open. It worked out for everyone anyway because I never once saw one alive (inside at least).
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’re starting on our third week in New Orleans, and almost as long without a blog. The first week in town we stayed at Bayou Segnette State Park and worked. The park was nice, surrounded by swamp but no mosquitoes in the cold. At first it was hard to walk to the bathroom at night, hearing breaking branches in the dark. After a couple days we started to see who was making the noise , a very fearless Armadillo, enormous raccoons and tons of bunnies. The Armadillo hung out behind the RV – ignoring us as we got up close and even running straight for us at one point. We thought we’d them missed for good in Texas but apparently they’re all over the south.
Louisiana Armadillo at Bayou Segnette State Park
Since I decided like 15 years ago that New Orleans was my favorite US city, thanks to Ann Rice no doubt, theres no way we could come for only a week, or 2 even, and no way we could get away with just hanging out on the outskirts of town, never going inside it. Naturally, we rented a car for the weekend to head into the center and take a look around. It was the first time we rented a car so far and was actually pretty cheap. We went out Friday night and of course walked down Bourbon Street, but avoided the busier bars. I made a list of places that sounded interested or offbeat, Ye Olde Original Dungeon, Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop (a bar owned by a pirate and supposedly the countries oldest continuous bar) and Yo Mamas where we started the night off with a garden burger.
Saturday we headed to find a vegetarian breakfast and found 13 Monahan in thw Marigny district to be the only one so far. We spent the rest of the day walking around the French Quarter and Marigny, then drove to the Garden District where we ran into Lafayette Cemetery and walked around a while. For lunch we got some dinner at another Vegetarian place in Marigny, Cafe Bamboo at the Dragon Den. They have a fake chicken there thats pretty much the best I’ve had at a restaurant, good texture and taste. After eating it was getting close to the voodoo tour I paid $40 for online. We still had to go all the way back to the camp to let Chena out to go to the bathroom; it was a mad rush through the French Quarter (where you go an average of 10miles an hour) and onto the freeway, then back through the same thing. We’d planned to park in Marigny and walk the 15 minutes to the meeting place of the tour but arrived downtown only 10 minutes before 7:30 when it started. Ross dropped me off at Rev. Zombies House of Voodoo where the tour was already gathering. I hate tours but was interested to see one about Voodoo in New Orleans. I turned in our ticket and waited in line while Ross tried to find parking with an almost dead cell phone. The tours started gathering in groups of about 15 people. As time went on I kept moving to the back of the line, hoping to give Ross some time to catch up. Finally the last group gathered at about 8pm and we started walking down the street. I called Ross to try to tell him how to find us but his phone died mid directions. I didn’t really know what to do. The group turned off into Pirates Alley and I tried to decide to ditch the group or hope he finds us, 30 seconds later he somehow did. Unfortunately but ok in the end, by going to the back of the lines I had gotten out of the Zombie tour and into a regular Haunted Tour. No signs or information about this difference during the group gathering process of course. It was interesting anyway and we learned about some truly gruesome history – yellow fever epidemic, civil war hospital and Dauphine the slave torturer, all in the French Quarter. Our tour guide held back no details on yellow fever, amputation or the state of Dauphine’s mutilated slaves.
Lafayette Cemetery
Even jesters use Technology
Sunday was a different story completely. I woke up at 7am to get a drink of water, by 8 I was on the floor with a trash can next to me puking. I was in horrible pain and constantly nauseous but insisted we make use of the rental car while we had it. Every bump in the car was like a knife in my stomach. We made it to Magazine Street where lots of vintage clothing stores and cafes are but even walking felt like daggers. All the smells of the street didn’t help either. Throughout the city open sewers stink up the intersections and each cafe and restaurant provided a different set of nauseating aromas. The RV was no better, every smell but the new clean car smell was making me sick. We took an excruciating drive back to Marigny where Ross got a burger and I got a small salad, whose smell immediately made me push it to the other side of the table. After that we decided to head back to the RV so I could lay down, day ruined in my book, and from that point I was sick and basically unable to eat for 4 more days.
On Wednesday night Ross finally came down with the same thing,making its source even more confusing. The water at the state park wasn’t necessarily the safest water, although we filter it. I was sick directly after drinking - though Ross drank from the same cup, and Ross was sick directly after a shower almost 4 days after me. The night before, 12 hours before I got sick, we shared some fries and fake chicken nuggets; but a 12 hours to 4 day delay for food poisoning? Although I was less sick after 4 days, I still had a sore stomach after everything I ate, making it discouraging to eat at all. We decided to get another rental car and a day early this time (only $30 more) so we could go buy some pro-biotics and yogurt as my mother had suggested. Ross improved over the weekend but my stomach continues to be really sensitive to anything with spice or flavor. Indian food that Ross made had be back at the trash can for hours and since I’ve been sticking to mashed potatoes, cereal, bread and pasta – boring. Hopefully this will be over soon; its horrible when in order to eat I have to prepare for hours of sharp shooting stomach pain, though nothing else at least. I started to read allot about bacteria in water and food poisoning and with only the one symptom its hard to imagine what it could be. Would be nice to know so I could avoid it in the future at least…
We spent this last weekend (3/5-3/7) discovering more neighbourhoods in the city; Magazine Street again, this time finally getting some shopping done at Buffalo Exchange, and a neighbourhood that was the worst hit by Katrina, the Ninth Ward. There were many empty spaces and most of the standing buildings were unoccupied and still had the FEMA markings on them. One building we decided to park next to while we ate out takeout also had markings from the Humane Society “2 dogs”. Its always horrible to think of what the residents and animals of the neighborhood went through. I took a photo of some graffiti I liked (not realizing it was painted over a FEMA marking till I saw it on my computer) but didnt really take many photos in the area. I love taking photos of dilapidated buildings and wreckage but this just wasn’t the same. People died in this neighbourhood, dogs drown, people homeless because of a storm and the fact an irresponsible company like FEMA left them waiting. I saw no reason to take photos, I don’t take photos for shock value.
After we left, we decided to head back towards Magazine street and St.Charles Street. A neighbourhood with huge mansions, towering cathedrals and the gorgeous Toulane University. It was definitely a contrast, as much of the city is. We stopped to use a bathroom at a McDonalds and once I saw a Borders books across the street I got into a crafty frenzy. I haven’t actually made thing this trip… somehow I’ve managed to too be busy or too tired and sore after work to manage that but I intend to change it. I bought a beading book and a “cute” crafts book, then we went to Michael’s for some supplies (because JoAnn’s was closed) and headed for the worlds most disgustingly sweet gelato sundaes.
Sunday was our moving day but the place we wanted to move to was full till Monday afternoon. We drove the car and RV to a Walmart and hung out for the night, returning the car in the morning working till 2. I’ve become increasingly annoyed by the lack of space for 2 people and a dog in the RV, so I had to enlarge my work table. Before the move we headed over to Home Depot and had a piece of wood cut, which is not strapped to my existing table with a bungee. Better than a table barely wider than my laptop, now I can actually use a mousepad and mouse!! Future improvements may include as much as a whole new trailer. We are both feeling very, very cramped in here and I’m sure Chena’s nearly insane.
The new park, Jude RV Park is our new home for an entire month. It’s closer to town and should give us some more time to look around some more, rental car or not. They even said they’d work with us if we ended up with a trailer, truck and RV all at the same time. Nice people.
I’ll try to update more often, assuming I’m not on the floor next to a trash can.
(Katya) and 
(Ross)
