Tire Tracks

When we made plans back in November to travel to Cajun country for the Habitat for Humanity build, we were determined to fit some Cajun music into the mix. Last night not only did we enjoy some of that music, but we also got to play along with it. What fun making music with a Cajun band! The band, Comme C’etait, (Cajun French dialect meaning “The Way It Was”) is made up of Jerry on accordion, Judy on guitar and standup bass, Bobby on fiddle, Nick on guitar, and Melvin on slide guitar. Their aim is to keep the authentic Louisiana Cajun music of the ’50s and ‘60s alive and well–”the way it was”–and if last night was any indication, I’d say they are well on their way.

Jerry and Judy came straight to the gig dressed in costumes they had worn in a Mardi Gras parade.

The jam, a weekly event, took place at the Wetlands Acadian Cultural Center in Thibodaux, Louisiana. The Center, which is a part of the much larger Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve, provides other educational activities such as a walking tour of the historic town of Thibodaux.

The idea of chasing Cajun music in Louisiana began three years ago when we traveled to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia to chase the fiddle music there. While in the French Acadian village of Cheticamp, we jammed with a group of local musicians. Along with some of their French songs, we also heard some of their stories. During the 1700s the British drove the Acadians out of Nova Scotia when a portion of these refugees traveled south to Louisiana where they settled among the bayous there. It feels to us like traveling full circle to now be enjoying the music of these southern Acadian “kissing cousins”.

If I had to describe Cajun music in a word it would have to be the word fun! We’re already looking forward, with great anticipation, to chasing the (Cajun) music again next Monday night with Comme C’etait!

After spending a very long year and a half remodeling our house, we decided to put it on the market and take off for parts unknown in our travel trailer. During that time of renovation, Alan became a regular at Home Depot. By the time we finished he was on first name basis with many of the department managers. In fact, one week he put over 160 miles on the car in trips out to Home Depot and back. I began to kid Alan about his Home Depot dependency. Eventually I wrote a song about his “addiction” called Home Depot Anonymous.

It’s been months now since Alan has purchased anything from Home Depot. These days I guess you could call him a Camper’s World junkie. Or so I thought. . .

I came home to the trailer the other day to find him standing there, admiring something he had taped on the wall. “It’s just a stain chart,” he mumbled under his breath. “I thought we might have to match the stain some day.”

Home Depot wall art?

“Oh, boy!” I thought. “Here we go again. Home Depot, you oughta be ashamed!”

Our all-girls band, No Boyz Allowed (Marcia Buckingham, Lisa Fischer, and Mara Silies) has just finished recording all the tracks for our song, Home Depot Anonymous.  Although it’s not been properly mixed and still needs a little post-recording editing, I thought I’d share the raw version with everyone here.

And I’d like to dedicate this song to Alan. . .I think he still needs it!

“Home Depot Anonymous” (click on arrow to listen) 

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I’m filing this in the “What Were We Thinking” category???

We’re so happy that free WiFi is readily available these days as we travel. On our trip to Canada three years ago we found advertised free WiFi everywhere but not in the U.S. Looks like we’re finally catching up with our northern neighbors, even using a free hot spot to draw in customers–like McDonalds. Yay McDonalds! We LOVE their coffee!

But what were we thinking when bought lunch there today?  $8+ for a minimal (and terribly unhealthy) lunch. Next time we’re sticking to hot coffee and a hot spot!

Hurray for the McHotSpot!

Lately our life seems to be much about energy and power– it’s source for our RV needs and for keeping us connected–12V, 110, 30 amp, 50 amp, computer, iPhone, hot spots, car chargers, radio antennas. You name it;  we’ve pondered it!

Our Wednesday night music event, however, left me pondering a different kind of power: the power of the passion of an audience. An accomplished musician friend once told me, after a particularly intimate, spell-binding coffee shop performance, that the audience had reached right down into his heart and pulled that music straight from his soul. He attributed his passionate music that night to the passion that was flowing from his audience. I thought that was incredibly humble of him, but I knew he meant it. I tucked the idea away and never gave it much thought until recently when I began playing some on stage.

Chasing the music at Highlands Hammock State Park!

Seems I, too, have found the all important receiver of the music, the audience, to be an essential key for me, as well. I had the pleasure of experiencing that perfectly passionate audience Wednesday night. A sea of smiling faces, sing-along voices, tapping fingers, and laughter. Their energy was palpable. They definitely had the power and, to quote a not-famous-at-all musician I know, “they reached right down into my heart and pulled that music straight from my soul.” As a performer,that kind of audience passion could be addicting. . .and a reason to keep chasing the music forever!

As we walk around the campground amidst the smoke of many campfires, I have been jokingly telling people that I’m the only camper I know who religiously checks NOAA weather before choosing a campsite. With my strong aversion to air pollution (chemical sensitivities and asthma-like reactions), we try to choose a site that is going to be upwind of the other campsites. An ill-placed campfire can turn me into a recluse really fast.

Our present home in Highlands Hammock State Park

I was delighted to find that the built-in sound system in our new trailer has the NOAA weather channels. Since much of my life has been spent on boats, NOAA is the go-to weather source for me. The weather reports are factual, scientific, and up to date. We also have a portable, hand-crank rechargeable weather radio that works really well. I carry this in the car and when we hike.

Campsite selection aside, I was glad I had tuned into NOAA weather yesterday. Knowing that the weather was unsettled with an approaching cold front kept me on my toes regarding our screen room and my outdoor sewing project. As the wind began picking up, I was already aware that the weather could deteriorate rapidly so Alan and I were ready to quickly tote my sewing machine and its accoutrements into the trailer and drop the screen room right there in place. As it turned out the wind just as rapidly subsided, but it was a good reminder to me that having a heads up on the weather is a smart thing to do.

When you’re sailing, a turn in the weather can be life threatening. Although not as serious when camping, an unexpected change in the weather can damage gear. I think knowing what to expect from a reliable weather source, like NOAA, is just plain smart.

Every now and then one of us will give out with a big sigh and say (once again), “I love this trailer!” It’s so good that we’re both feeling at home in our home since it’s the only one we have:)

Here are some more (real homey, with all the junk lying around) pictures–not the RV ad kind!

When you walk in the door, immediately to the left is the dinette (there’s even room for me to sew!):

Turning around from the dinette and looking toward the front end of the trailer, you see the galley and the bunk area:

The galley

Close up of the bunk:

My favorite features:

the double sink!

and

my little bathtub:)

Pictures of small spaces never really do them justice. It’s just not possible to photograph the “feel” of the space. Because of the high ceiling (at least 7 ft.) and the width, this little trailer feels much larger than it really is. It is proving to be quite comfortable as a living space and. . .sigh. . .I love this trailer!

Our little house on the prairie

I didn’t even realize that Florida had prairies until we were looking for a park where we could spend some time before attending the Scamp Camp trailer rally near Sebring. In my research I came upon the Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park (the park rangers like to emphasis the word preserve!) The Florida prairie is a rare and imperiled ecosystem, first established to save the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow from extinction which, in turn, led to a massive effort to rehabilitate a large expanse of prairie–54,000 acres of it.

Snapshot of a section of the endangered Florida Prairie

The park is remote, about halfway between Vero Beach and Sarasota, a few miles north of Lake Okeechobee, and miles from anything populated with people. The local joke is “when you finally get to the park in the middle of nowhere you still have 5 miles to go.”  At first I was a little chagrinned that I only had intermittent connectivity with my new iPhone Hotspot, but I finally decided that a time of respite in the woods was well worth the sacrifice of social interaction.

Enjoying some outdoor sewing on a picture perfect prairie day

Alan with his own brand of relaxation

The campsites are nestled in a natural (not man-created) prairie hammock filled with beautiful oak trees. Campsites are ample and widely spaced with a feeling of private space. We woke each morning to the sun rising over miles of prairie grass and saw palmetto.

On the weekends the park staff offers a buggy ride for $15–well worth it. Ranger Frank takes you out onto the prairie and explains the nature of the preserve and the work he and his fellow rangers do there as they labor to return the prairie to its original state.

A view of the prairie from Ranger Frank’s buggy

There’s also a free stargazing program on Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday nights. Without the lights of nearby cities to dim the sky, the heavens are an awesome site. Optimum stargazing occurs when there’s a new moon.

Alan and I had been so insanely busy going and doing–packing up the trailer, trying to figure out where to store things in the trailer, then switching trailers, getting rid of more and more stuff–it was good to be mostly disconnected from the world for a few days. And we thought it was high time we chase a little of the real kind of music again!

Daisy encounters the call of the wild. . .

If I ever had doubts about Daisy-dog taking to the nomad road, those doubts have been dispelled. The call of the wild has whispered in her ear and she’s listening intently. It began on our first daybreak walk at Tamoka State Park. . .

Just a few yards ahead of us on the dirt road where we walked, a white-tailed deer, a yearling, made a surprise appearance. He stopped, turned away from us waving his white-flag tail and was gone as quickly as he had appeared. And so was Daisy.  Ten minutes later she emerged from the scrub woods, her tongue hanging to the ground. Apparently she didn’t find “Flag” that day, but she’s been looking for him ever since. And that one event has forever shaped camp life for Daisy.

According to animal experts, every dog has a job. Daisy, who is half Australian shepherd and half Blue Heeler cattle dog, has the strong herding instinct of her breeds. She’s a Velcro-pooch, never far from my feet: room-by-room, minute-by-minute, footstep-by-footstep she’s. . . THERE! Staring holes in me awaiting herding instructions. She sleeps with one eye open and, although she always lets me know when someone is approaching, watchdogging has never been her profession. Her heart just isn’t in it. Her eyes have always been on me, rather than on the door.

All that has changed since our adventure in the woods with Flag. In her new occupation, in her new life as a full time liveaboard, Daisy has taken up a post, tethered right outside the front door (many feet away from me). . . she’s waiting. . . for Flag or Bambi. . .or Yogi Bear or Alvin. . .any woodsy critter that might happen by. Daisy seems to be morphing into a new breed of dog–a herding watchdog perhaps?

Who says an old dog can’t learn new tricks?

Alan and I grew up without internet, computers, and electronic technology (transistor radios being the big thing when I was a kid!), so we lack a gut instinct for understanding this rapidly changing field of knowledge. I’m here to tell you that slow and steady still works though! As a result of much digging on our part, along with the kind and patient indulgence of resource people–family, friends, people we’ve accosted on the street–we’ve finally absorbed enough knowledge to make a choice from the various options we have for internet connectivity. Because we do not make our living by being connected, we have the option of going with the least amount. When we don’t have connection to the internet, we will simply live like in the “olden days”–hey, we’ll be camping instead of living!

So here’s what we ended up with. We chose to purchase an iPhone with computer tethering capability. This allows me to use my computer online through the hotspot connection in my Verizon phone connection. Through Verizon this plan adds an extra $50 to our monthly bill which is exactly what I paid Brighthouse for connectivity in Central Florida.

And here’s how using the internet through my iPhone works:

1. On my iPhone I click on “Settings” –>“Personal Hotspot” then slide it to the “on” position.
2. Boot up my computer.
3. In my computer, I turn on the internet (in my Macbook it’s call “Airport”).
4. Select the “iPhone” network, which is now one of my network choices.
5. I can now use my computer as if I were sitting at home–“home” being for me right now sitting in my trailer in the middle of the Kissimmee Prairie:) The processing is slow, but it works!With internet connection on my computer, I am NOW truly a happy camper (uh, live-er)!

After a delightful week at the Tamoka State Park in Ormond Beach, Fl (although not so delightful tripping over each other in our cramped little Casita), we picked up our new travel trailer on Friday. The old trailer, a 17’ Casita gave us only 14’ of actual living space. The new 17’ Visa trailer gives us 17’ of living space and is a total of 20’ long with trailer tongue. (Sure wish the travel trailer industry would get together on this confusing length thing!) Pictures of our new trailer forthcoming (after we get things squared away.)

Saturday we pulled up stakes and headed to Port Orange for a baby shower for our good friend (and my No Boyz Allowed bandmate), Lisa Fisher. Elijah Fisher will present himself to the world sometime in late March! It was very cool having our little home with us so we could share it with some of our friends. Then onto DeLand to my stepmom’s house. Lois is definitely the hostess with the mostest!

On Sunday we spent hours organizing our new trailer space (I think we emptied the plastic container shelf a Wal-Mart) and cleaning up/organizing the car.  All of this, of course, under Lois’s, loving supervision. She is definitely a world class “ooh-er” and aah-er”! And a pretty amazing chili-maker to boot:)

Today (Monday) it’s off to New Smyrna Beach to sort through (for the 4th time) our now meager stored possessions in the shed at our rented-out house. We have new resolve and more perspective so we’ll resist the temptation to fill up our new palace with more “things” and we’ll send some of our stored stuff packing with our good friend Brett who will either use it, sell it, or donate it.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) is the day we will have our iPhone connected. After having been disconnected from the world for five days, it will be good to be tethered to a smart phone when we need or want it. I hope “smart” is something they give you along with the “smart phone” since technical ability is not high on my gifts list!

Off to Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park tomorrow. I hear the star show is amazing–telescope and all. Can’t wait.

Say a prayer for technical insight with the iPhone. I SOOOO need reliable connectivity!