All play and no work makes this a dull blog.
All play and no work makes this a dull blog.
All play and no work makes this a dull blog.
Need to do some serious catching up on the blog front after a whirlwind tour of the south where we’ve caught up with some old friends.
In the past week or so we’ve crawled the the French Quarter music scene, visited a Humboldt friend across the lake at his Slidell biodeisel compound, seen what’s left of Cajun Country after Rita, gotten a crawfish farm tour, hit Sixth Street in Austin with my best man and his wife, hosted a three legged dog party and cancer fundraiser with Jerry, and caught some local pickin’ at the Luckenbach bar.
Now we’re boondocked in the field behind the Luck dance hall with the place to ourselves. Lots to do. More to come.
Last week while camping at Lake Manatee State Park, just outside of Sarasota, Florida, we met Mike and Brandi, two thirty-something campground hosts at the park. Finally, we’d met another fulltiming couple close to our age! Meeting them was ironic; we had just left our farmer friends at White Rabbit Acres, only to run into this Ohio couple who had sold their farm last June, to hit the road indefinitely. Like Jim and I, Brandi and Mike are both living simply, and staying out of debt so that they can really enjoy life.
I couldn’t help but think that meeting these two was a sign that perhaps Jim and I should rethink this whole farming business idea we had. Here’s why:
Finally had a chance to run the numbers, and as you’ll see on our RV Road Trip Budget Expense Report for January 2008, we are still under budget, thanks to workamping. Our biggest expense was for the big ol’ truck: new brakes, a steering gear box, two tires at $220 each(!), and servicing. This appears to have put a fat dent in our monthly budget, but since we budgeted for truck maintenance and spread the cost throughout the year, we had it covered. We based our truck maintenance budget after reviewing the cost-of-ownership reports available free at Edmunds.com. We hiked up the average cost for our Dodge, based on the extra wear and tear we’re putting on it.
Now that we’re on the road again, we are beginning to feel the pain of high diesel costs and park rents. But it’s most definitely worth it.
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).
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!
We went into our workamping gig at White Rabbit knowing that farming is no picnic. The week we were leaving White Rabbit, things got interesting. The State of Florida’s Department of Agriculture threatened to shut down Brian and Valerie’s store for non-compliance. It was an incredibly sad week before we left, and in this interview, taken just two days after the shake down, Brian and Valerie aren’t too thrilled with farming.
When we arrived in Fort Lauderdale, we felt like we’d just fallen off a turnip truck. The traffic is insane, the wealthy blatantly flaunt their money, and the price of real estate skyrockets. People in general are rude and aggressive, and it’s every man and woman for themselves. And as with most of Florida, it isn’t dog friendly.
We asked our friend Gene if it would be alright if we left Jerry in the truck with the windows cracked, while we met him for dinner at the Blue Moon Fish Company. He rattled off something about four cops and one pro athlete being killed in the immediate area in the last year, and said “you decide.”
I would have loved to stay and watch the Superbowl with Gene an his new 42″ Aquos HDTV. But it sure feels good to be on the road again.
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.
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.
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.
All play and no work makes this a dull blog.
. But it sure feels good to be on the road again.
Entries (RSS)
