To simplify...

Alexandria

2012-01-27T23:09:00.001-05:00

I've spent the past three nights in Alexandria, Louisiana, and for no reason other than it's where I was three days ago, and I just didn't feel like going anywhere until today. My listlessness probably had a lot to do with the torrential rain that has besieged the area up until today, as there's not much point in going somewhere else if you're just going to have to sit inside there too.

Alexandria didn't appear to have anything terribly spectacular to offer, but now that the Chinook is really shaping up into my dream home on wheels, even unspectacular locales can feel remarkably homey so long as I can find a quiet and level patch of ground. That, and the pretty hip little coffee house I found downtown helped me while away a couple of very soggy days.

Of course, the triumphant return of sunshine and blue skies is always momentous following such a gray and wet stretch, and this time was no exception. The place easily moved up a notch or two on my overall groove-meter, as I discovered that I could pull the rig up right alongside the rolling Red River right smack in the center of town.

What a refreshing change, since during my recent meander up the Mississippi, I found that the levee on both sides was completely off limits to the public almost the entire way. Cause for celebration, I pulled out the horn and settled in for a most pleasant, if utterly penniless, riverside busk...

Food Budget

2012-01-25T22:58:00.001-05:00

In response to yesterday's post about my new all-animal diet, someone suggested that such an eating regimen must be prohibitively expensive, particularly if one eats only grass-fed meats. I hadn't run the numbers on my food budget in a while, but being stuck inside all day today due to the torrential rain here gave me a good opportunity to do so.

Without further ado, below is the monthly blow-by-blow for how I eat these days:

Farm Fresh Eggs (8 dozen @ $4 ea.)	$32
Bacon (4.5 lbs @ $4 ea.)	$18
Grass-fed Butter (4 lbs. @ $8 ea.)	$32
Grass-fed Ground Beef (15 lbs. @ $6 ea.)	$90
Grass-fed Beef Liver (4 lbs. @ $4 ea.)	$16
Milk for Kefir (4 gallons @ $5 ea.)	$20
Coffee (2 lbs. @ $5 ea.)	$10
Heavy Cream (2 quarts @ $4 ea.)	$8

Total:	$226

Regarding the beef and liver amounts above, I now eat 1/2 pound of ground beef with 1/4 pound of liver for dinner each night. Prior to getting into liver in recent months, I was eating a full pound of beef for dinner, but since liver is far more nutrient-dense and filling, this new mix now does the job for me. And since liver is cheaper than ground beef, my typical meat/liver expense for one meal is down to only about $4.

$226 per month comes out to only $7.53 per day in a 30 day month for what I think is some seriously good quality food. Who says eating healthy has to cost a lot?

And the numbers above are even slightly padded just to be safe, so the actual monthly expense is often a bit less than $226. That leaves room in the budget for when I feel like splurging on some good seafood or perhaps a nice juicy rib eye.

I know this must look to many of you like a pretty one-dimensional way of eating, but I really do eat this same basic menu every day, and still find it to be completely satisfying and never boring. My theory is that once you start giving your body optimal nutrition, it loses the desire for variety for variety's sake. Or maybe I'm just a freak. Possibly both!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

2012-01-25T22:07:00.000-05:00

All-Animal Diet Cure

2012-01-25T01:40:00.000-05:00

Let me just start by saying that the vegans out there are NOT going to like this post one bit, so if that's you, you'll probably wish you had stopped reading now. Really, do yourself a favor. You're probably having a perfectly nice day so far, and I'd hate to be the one to bring that to a crashing halt.

A few months ago, I wrote about how I had started making my own kefir in hopes of finally getting my post-peritonitis gut back in good form. While I'm sure it didn't do me any harm, the kefir really had no effect on the chronic pains that had been plaguing me for many months, and while I still continue to drink about a pint of the stuff daily, I reached the end of my rope a few weeks ago and began an experiment that I'm sure many will consider pretty radical. Maybe even downright insane.

Simply put, I eliminated all fiber from my diet and became 100% carnivore. Except for the daily cup of coffee that is, but come on now, let's be civilized...

I arrived at this little experiment while reading about some paleo-like dietary regimens that supposedly help those suffering from Irritable Bowel Syndrome. While doing so, I discovered that both onions and mushrooms were on the list of problematic foods, and thought to myself, "self, I eat those at every single meal!"

I immediately removed onions and mushrooms from my menu, and an hour after eating my next meal, felt better than I had in months. After a few days of this, I still felt occasional pain, so I continued my research along these lines, and after reading a lengthy and rather insightful excerpt from the book Fiber Menace, hypothesized that fiber was not doing my damaged post-peritonitis gut any favors at all, and in fact, by creating something akin to a sandpaper-on-open-wound effect, was actually preventing my gut from healing.

So for almost three weeks now, I've been doing precisely the opposite of what mainstream medicine preaches: ZERO fiber, tons of good quality saturated animal fat, and other than the morning cup of joe, nary a plant in sight. Beef, liver, fish, eggs, bacon, cheese, kefir, cream, and lots of glorious pastured butter. Nothing but animals, so if you're a vegan and still reading, don't say I didn't warn you.

And you no what? I haven't felt this good in about a year (i.e. since before my appendix decided to go postal). The gut feels great, and my overall mojo is finally, after all this time, back hovering around 100%. Amazing.

Don't worry – I don't expect or even want to go without any fiber for the rest of my life. The plan is to continue on this path for a while longer, give the gut a nice long break from the roughage so it can return to good fighting form, and then I'll slowly start to reintroduce some vegetables and fruit and see what happens.

You might be wondering what relevance any of this has to the usual subject matter around here, but it's part of the story, and I also want to share this discovery with those out there who might be suffering helplessly from similar chronic intestinal issues. Fiber could be the enemy! If you decide to give this a shot, I'd love to hear how it works out for you.

Mound-Dating Slackers

2012-01-25T00:15:00.002-05:00

Now THAT is a blog post title. Allow me to explain.

While passing through the Louisiana town of Livonia this afternoon, I spied the rather out of place hill pictured above, and in keeping with my general policy of stopping to investigate anything interesting, I stopped to, well, investigate. Hey, a policy is a policy.

This nicely sodded protuberance turned out to be the Livonia Indian Mound, which is fitting since it's a) a mound, b) in Livonia, and c) according to a sign nearby, built by, er, "Native Americans." I guess someone decided that Livonia Native American Mound doesn't have the same ring to it. Or more likely, the mound was named long before we became such wussies about political correctness, and the sign came later. Post-wussiness.

At any rate, the mound was allegedly "built" sometime between 400 and 1100 AD, and while it's always noteworthy to come across something in this country that's both manmade and 1000+ years old, I have to call this one as I see it – some pretty slouchy work on the part of the Indian mound daters.

I mean seriously – a 700 year range? Is that really the closest you guys can get? Time to up your game a bit. I'm thinking a two, maybe three hundred year window tops if you expect to be taken seriously as mound-daters, much less Indian mound-daters. It's dirt. In a pile. How hard can that be to slap a decent date range on, people?

On a completely unrelated note, I'm beginning to wonder how far west one must travel before all this "yes sir" and "no sir" business stops. Not that I'm complaining. Just wondering.

New Roads

2012-01-23T22:28:00.002-05:00

My leisurely three-day meander alongside the Mississippi River came to a close today, as did my tour of Louisiana's three historic state capitals (there may be more – I'm not sure). New Orleans (I was there for less than 3 hours, but I'm counting it), Donaldsonville, and finally Baton Rouge, pictured above from the Port Allen side of the river.

The humidity has been pretty thick here of late, and while it's hardly been unbearable due to the mid to high 70's temperatures, it's still not my cup of tea. And when you've got wheels and a rockin' V-10 on your home, there's rarely a good reason to stay anywhere for long if it doesn't tickle the old fancy.

It seems fitting that my home for the night, following this decision to get back on the westward trail, is a place called New Roads. I'm parked for the night right beside False River, which until around 1722, was actually a main channel of the mighty Mississippi. Apparently seasonal flooding around that time moved the river farther east, leaving what is now an oxbow lake. Isn't Mother Nature something? This strikes me as the best of both worlds – picturesque riverfront-like living without the annual threat of flooding.

Of course, it probably completely sucked for the people who were living wherever the Mississippi moved to, but I can't seem to find any information on that. And who knows, maybe they too were smart enough to have wheels on their homes (ableit no V-10s, rockin' or not), so were able to get out in time.

A Lazy Sunday Beside Ol' Man River

2012-01-22T23:31:00.002-05:00

Into New Orleans. And Out.

2012-01-22T00:03:00.003-05:00

I rolled out of Slidell this morning, aka Land of Overly Authoritarian Parks (LOAP to the insiders), and while hurtling the house down into New Orleans, came across multiple signs screaming for me to stop and get this photo...

Onward into Crescent City, where I made my way straight to the French Quarter, intent upon grabbing a cafe au lait straight from the source. I had naively envisioned Cafe Du Monde as a quaint old coffee shop where a guy could have his joe in relative peace and comfort, but the place turned out to be marginally less insane than Grand Central Station. But it was close.

I waited on line for 20 minutes to get a $3 cup of mediocre coffee. And proceeded to pay $6 for the 40 minutes that I was parked. I think it might be cheaper to just drive the rig around very slowly and never park. If not, at least the coffee would be better.

Needless to say, New Orleans did not suit my vibe at this time. It was crowded, parking was a chore everywhere I went, the roads are not in good shape at all, and the humidity was thick enough to cut with a knife. Other than that, not a bad place, really.

But seriously, I'm now inclined to think that extended visits in huge cities are just not practical in an RV unless one already has contacts there (i.e. parking) and also knows the turf. This explains how I've been able to manage reasonably well for months at a time in Los Angeles, but other large cities that are just a small fraction of the size very quickly get on my nerves. I would love to hang at length in New Orleans someday, but not like this. The right way to do it is to get a sublet apartment for a few months right smack in the middle of the action, skip the car, and experience the place on foot. Another time.

So it was that after not quite three hours in the big city, I left. Freedom in action, folks. Not wanting to get any closer to the source of this oppressive humidity, I have opted to do my best Huckleberry Finn impression and spend a little time meandering alongside the Mississippi River heading north before continuing my westward push.

I have found this to be a particularly relaxing and satisfying way to travel for a few days – with just a basic direction but no specific destination or timeframe. Free to go slow and stop at will whenever anything of interest appears at the side of the road...

When I tire of driving, I simply stop until I'm not tired anymore. That can take an hour or entire days, but in these parts, that's just fine, as the scenery is grand, the pace of life seems to gently roll in sync with the mighty river, and ample peace and quiet is only occasionally disrupted by the sound of a distant ship or the great Norfolk Southern Railway.

We're parked for the night in tiny Donaldsonville, Louisiana, which was briefly the state capital for a couple of minutes back in 1830. Just another little something for you folks to add to the growing "useless trivia" file.

Call of the Appalachians

2012-01-19T22:50:00.000-05:00

The next installment in the ongoing journey to compose my way around this great land first took shape during an extended stay in the Appalachian Mountains a few months ago. It was late summer at the time, and with oppressive heat still gripping much of the east coast, the western North Carolina portion of this majestic range made for the perfect escape for a few weeks.

With plenty of cool mountain air, endless views of lush greenery, and blissful peace and quiet to inspire...

...I sketched out this composition in hopes of capturing the long, sleepy summer days and ever shifting yet always tranquil mood of the area...

...and now that I have at last found the time to render it, I am proud to present my latest nomadTune...

Call of the Appalachians
(click to listen, right-click to save)

Headphones are recommended for the full experience!

My music is presented here on the honor system. If you enjoy this work, you can purchase it below for only 99 cents, or if you prefer, you can click the button on the right to pay whatever amount you feel it's worth. Any and all support is appreciated!

Pay 99 Cents:	Pay My Own Amount:

Park Rules

2012-01-18T22:27:00.004-05:00

Ah, a nice late afternoon stroll through the park on a sunny day. What could be more relaxing and altogether brain-freeing? Oh I don't know, maybe a root canal? Just take a look at all the rules at the park that sits next door to my railroad-side studio:

I won't even get into the blatant grammatical error or odd use of the period as a bullet point, as there are far more pressing questions that require answers: Who ever heard of a park that bans pets, bicycles, or...glass containers? What the hell is a spacewalk, or other such apparatus? Is playing with toys allowed in the smoking and food consumption area? And seriously – no cooking or consumption of seafood...without a contract?!

Welcome to Heritage Park, indeed.

After studying the sign for a minute or two, I felt reasonably confident that gently walking on the grounds wouldn't get me in too much trouble, so I proceeded. And promptly encountered this thoughtful reminder...

...and still more instructions...

One wonders if it wouldn't have been a whole lot simpler to just tell park goers what they CAN do.

It gets better (i.e. much worse) folks...

If ever there was a legitimate call for a WTF, that is it.

The following warning is posted in various places around the park's band shell...

No one allowed on stage? That's gotta make things awkward when concert season rolls around. Then again, perhaps an aggressive round of stage arrests is exactly what the music business needs right about now.

Get with it Slidell Parks & Recreation – it's a park, not a tax return.

(And how's that folks? Condescending enough for you? I hope so.)

The venture wasn't a total loss, however, as I did come upon this pretty cool frog sculpture carved into the remains of a tree that was damaged during Katrina...

They actually let you look and touch – without a contract!

Making Progress

2012-01-18T00:37:00.001-05:00

My self-imposed exile continues here in Slidell, and I'm finding the place to be uniquely suited to the task at hand – finishing a new piece of music before going anywhere else.

How so?

For starters, I found the perfect day camping spot yesterday afternoon following my much-commented-upon accidental trespassing incident. Right smack in the middle of town, where apparently the water department building used to be, there's this wide open expanse of land that remains empty throughout the day.

It's the perfect place to settle in early and spend the day making all the noise I want, and it's quiet enough for recording too. Those are railroad tracks on the far end of the lot, so there is the occasional skull-rattling disturbance to contend with, but one can't have everything. And besides, trains are cool.

Right down the street from the above is a park that's literally crawling with power outlets and even a few water faucets. I figure when there are that many of each right out in the open, someone must want me to use them, right?

Night camping is a snap here as well, as there are two relatively quiet Walmarts and a Sam's Club from which to choose. Better yet, both Walmart lots come with free wifi courtesy of the Home Depot next to one, and Lowe's next to the other.

I'm not sure a composer/saxophonist guy could ask for a more hospitable town setting in which to work, and with all these friendly accommodations at my disposal, not to mention my loyal and eager assistant right by my side at all times, ready to help out with whatever arises...

...I'm making good progress and hope to have some new ear candy to share soon. Back to it.

Trespassing

2012-01-17T00:17:00.001-05:00

What has been called the inevitable happened to me today for the first time. At least, I think it was the first time, but I'm counting on the more astute readers out there to correct me if I'm forgetting something.

I had been settled into the above nook on the outskirts of Slidell today for a couple of hours, and while in the middle of recording a saxophone take, I noticed out of the corner of my eye that someone was knocking on the driver side door.

I took the headphones off, put down the horn, crawled up front, and rolled down the window to learn that I was parked on this guy's property. Interestingly, he wasn't in the slightest bit phased by having come across a saxophonist, of all things, in his yard – and one who sort of knows his way around the instrument a bit too. I mean, what are the chances of that happening in a place like Slidell, Louisiana?

At any rate, I apologized to the man for inadvertently trespassing (there were no signs anywhere), and explained that I was just looking for a quiet place to play the horn without bothering anyone. He told me that as long as it was just for the afternoon, he was fine with it, and then went on his way.

Judging by the man's overall reaction, I think he must find three or four saxophonists in RVs parked on his property every week. Maybe I should hang around for a while and see who else shows up.

Correct me if I'm forgetting something folks, but I think that's the first time in almost two and a half years that there's been a knock on my door due to my choice of parking spot. Not a bad little streak, I suppose.

I spent another hour on the premises before deciding that I better not push my luck, and anyway, I figured I probably shouldn't hog the place from all the other saxophonists waiting their turn.

Studio in the Swamp

2012-01-16T01:12:00.002-05:00

I settled into the nearby Big Branch Marsh National Wildlife Refuge this morning and proceeded to while away the day working in my new mid-swamp studio.

I'm pretty sure I must have nailed being here at the perfect time of year. At least, you know you must be doing something right when you can take a long stroll in the middle of a swamp and not be accosted by bugs.

The peaceful surroundings made for yet another shining example of the power of the mobile studio/office. Really, everybody oughta have one, and days like this only make me wonder why more don't.

Café du Monde

2012-01-15T00:01:00.002-05:00

Apparently, the one place that sells propane in Bay St. Louis is only open on Wednesdays, so after taking note of my near empty tank yesterday, and in light of some chilly nighttime temperatures of late, I was forced to roll onward into the comparatively teeming metropolis that is Slidell, Louisiana.

The above picture was actually taken on the outskirts of town, but I thought it made for a nice little counterpoint to the "teeming metropolis" comment, so I went with it. Call it blogger's license.

I'm now practically knocking on New Orleans' door, and until just about a week ago, I was pretty undecided about whether to hang a left or right upon hitting Lake Ponchartrain. But that was before I discovered this stuff:

Holy cats is this good coffee! And just like the can says, the original Cafe du Monde coffee stand from way back in the 1860's is still going strong in the French Quarter, so I've decided that I simply must swoop in and go directly to the source of this wondrous elixir. As to whether or not I'll stay in the Crescent City beyond however long it takes to savor what should be one seriously happening cup of joe, I guess I'll just see how it feels when I get there.

But first, there is work to be done, and I have committed to staying right here in Slidell until I finish a new piece of music that I've been kicking around for far too long. I made good progress today settled into a groovy spot far from Slidell's [not very] madding crowd...

...and look forward to more of the same until this little dittie is done.

Family Reunion

2012-01-13T16:46:00.002-05:00

I spent last night in Waveland, Mississippi, blending in as usual, while getting acquainted with several of the Chinook's distant cousins.

The front yard was utterly vast, and I assume the onetime home of some pre-Katrina strip mall.

The cynic in me says that the very best kind of strip mall is a post-Katrina one! But seriously, it was pretty surreal seeing that much paved and perfectly level space with no function whatsoever, and sort of reminded me of those vast open city squares in Russia.

And as long as the cynic in me is making an appearance, I'm sure there must be some parallel to be drawn between government's responsibility for the Katrina quagmire and the ensuing similarity to Soviet era cities, but I know better than to touch that one with a ten foot pole.

All was not lost, however, as the cousins and I put the pavement to very good use for a most peaceful night's sleep!

New Charger/Converter

2012-01-12T01:13:00.004-05:00

Pictured above is the new Progressive Dynamics PD4655 4600 Series 55 amp charger/converter upgrade that I installed earlier this evening here in Bay St. Louis – a particularly impressive feat considering that doing so necessitated disabling the Chinook's electricity for a couple of hours (i.e. no lights). But hey, I was excited to get this last piece of my electricity puzzle in place, and besides, that's why there are such things as flashlights.

To the uninitiated grasshoppers out there, the charger/converter is a standard piece of equipment in any RV, and is responsible for taking 110 volt AC power, either from shore power or the generator's output, and converting it to 12 volt DC to power the rig's various appliances. That's the converter part of the equation actually, and the charger section takes whatever juice is left over and sends it to the house batteries for charging.

At least, that's the plan.

The problem is that the stock charger/converters in most RVs are not designed for full-time boondockers like me, but rather, for the vast majority of the RV-buying public – those who prefer to spend most of their time at developed campgrounds while comfortably plugged into shore power. As a result, stock charger/converters are designed to be overly conservative with their charging profile so as to minimize the possibility of overcharging the house batteries. Bottom line, they can actually take days to get the charging job done in full, which is fine if you're plugged in all the time, but unacceptable in my off-grid world.

Whenever I use my charger/converter, it's because I want the house batteries to get a good charge in as little time as possible, and this new baby should do just that. It's a three-stage "smart" charger that can put out up to 55 luscious DC amps, and I say "up to" because that's contingent upon how much of a charge the batteries are willing to accept at any time. Theoretically, the more discharged the batteries are, the higher the charge they'll accept, and vice versa.

When I fired up the generator this evening to test my installation, my batteries were around 85% full, and the charger was putting out a healthy 19 amps of charge. Contrast that with the stock charger, where I know I would've been lucky to see 3 or 4 amps under the same conditions. That's because the charge curve on most stock RV chargers drops off considerably as the batteries get anywhere near 75% full. Again, this is actually a feature if you're a tethered-to-the-grid sort of camper, as it prevents overcharging. But for us boondockers, it makes for an extremely inefficient means of keeping the batteries full.

So how does this fit in with my solar ways, you ask? Well, on sunny days, the solar panels should do the job just fine, and if I'm starting from a full charge, I should have now enough battery capacity to get through 3 or 4 days of cloudy weather. Beyond that, I'll now have the option of running the generator for an hour or so and fairly quickly storing enough juice to get me through a typical day. Since I generally won't do this until the batteries are getting down to the forbidden 50% mark, I should see something close to the full 55 amps this new charger is capable of putting out, which means after an hour of running the generator, I'll have 55 new amp-hours to get me through the day.

This represents the ultimate in boondocking freedom, at least as far as electricity is concerned, since even under poor solar conditions, as long as there's gas in my tank (since that's what powers the generator), I should never be at a loss for adequate electricity ever again.

I got a little choked up typing that last sentence! Man, it's been a long road to get to this point, but I think I can finally bring to a close this battle for 12 volt supremacy. Victory, as a certain colleague of mine likes to say, is mine.

Katrina, Six Years Later

2012-01-12T00:19:00.003-05:00

Rolling west through Biloxi today, en route to Bay St. Louis, deep scars from Hurricane Katrina began to dot the landscape with an increasing prevalence that was tough to miss. Amazing how even more than six years later, it is still so apparent that something unprecedented, or at the very least horrific, once wrought havoc here.

The foundation of what used to be a sprawling beachfront casino is now a makeshift parking lot, and my backyard for a while as I paused for a late morning breakfast.

Mile after mile, the concrete slabs where buildings once stood abound...

The town of Bay St. Louis, my home for at least another day, was hit particularly hard by this storm of the century – something that is immediately clear upon my arrival despite the fading daylight. New construction is happening seemingly everywhere, and I can't help but wonder if I'd have enough tenacity to hang around and rebuild were I to live through such a catastrophe. My nomadic leanings make it difficult for me to imagine feeling so tied to any one place, and yet at the same time, I can't help but feel great admiration for the spirit, determination, and all-around stick-tuitiveness of these people.

Never Anything There to Remind Me

2012-01-11T00:04:00.001-05:00

Just a gray, windy, and rainy day here in M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I today, and by now, you should all know what that means...

Not only does this state share the exact same vowel/consonant pattern as my last name, but my Pop tells me that my great great grandmother's maiden name was the same as the town in which I slept a couple of nights ago – Gautier. Well shooot, I reckon I jus maht could have some relations down in these here parts.

The mobile studio, with all its inherent advantages, was in full force this afternoon:

That view almost looks like a fake backdrop, so I figured I better prove to any potential sayers of nay that it's for real:

And yes, I actually got some work done. Amazing, I know.

If I had a nickel for every time I accidentally left the Chinook's lights on and killed the engine battery, I think I'd have at least 75 or 80 cents by now. It happened once again in the above spot today, and nickel or no nickel, it's getting tiresome.

The problem is that when I shut the engine off and accidentally leave the lights on, the alarm only sounds if I open either of the front doors. But since I often head into the back of the rig instead, unlike that classic 80's Burt Bacharach cover by Naked Eyes, there's never anything there to remind me. You know, that the lights are still on.

Following a bit of research, I've decided that one of these now belongs on my endless list of future Chinook modifications, unless anyone out there has a better idea. I'm all ears. Of course, thanks to my trusty ProMariner 20 amp charger and the Chinook's generator, I'm never stranded by such boneheadedness, but I can't imagine I'm doing any favors for the engine battery by repeatedly killing it like this.

How about that folks – another post about batteries! And just when you thought the coast was clear.

Mission Accomplished

2012-01-09T23:11:00.001-05:00

Operation AGM Charge was a complete success, as I woke up this morning to find the battery bank filled to the brim with eletrons. And of course, while at last night's campground, I emptied the holding tanks and filled up the fresh water tank, so all in all, it was a very well spent $18.

I am now waiting for my new charger/converter to arrive at the post office in Bay St. Louis (details to come on this soon), which is not too far west of here, and since that's not likely to happen until Wednesday, I've got some time to kill.

I rolled into Ocean Springs early this afternoon intent on knocking out a few errands before figuring out my next move, and was pleasantly surprised to find the place to my liking, so just like that, it became home for at least a night.

It's sort of an interesting night to be in Mississippi, as we're sandwiched in between Alabama and Louisiana – respective homes of the two college football teams that are vying for the national championship as I type this.

My brief survey of local sentiment indicates that loyalties are pretty evenly split down the middle in these parts, as one would expect. Which makes this a perfect night to settle into a quiet spot in the Chinook, avoid all the resulting insanity, and savor the new bottomless pit of electrons.

Operation AGM Charge

2012-01-08T17:07:00.000-05:00

Warning: there's yet more battery talk below, so if you're getting sick of this whole topic, avert your gaze now.

Operation AGM Charge is officially underway, as I've settled into Mississippi's Shepard State Park for the night with the intent of exploiting the heck out of the electrical connections now at my disposal. $18 for this little slice of the Magnolia State, including electricity, water, showers, and dump site...

Not a bad deal at all, and as it's the second time in less than a month that I've indulged in this non-boondocking side of RV living, I guess there could be somewhat of a pattern emerging. Only time will tell though.

All the "plush" amenities of campground life aside, the whole point of this stay is to get my three new AGM batteries completely topped off so that I can synchronize them with my battery monitor, while also basically giving myself a good starting point with the new bank.

The plan is to disconnect each battery from the system one at a time and fully charge it with my ProMariner 20 amp charger. Then I'll wire everything back together, and just to be really thorough, I'll connect the charger to the whole bank as if it were just one big 12 volt battery (which is effectively what it is).

Since the bank was already well above a 50% charge, it shouldn't take more than a few hours for each battery to be fully juiced up, or so I hope. Here's the scene, as I type this:

The Chinook is separately connected to shore power in the meantime, so even though there will only be one battery connected to the rig throughout Operation AGM Charge, I'll still have all the comforts of a modern electrical home at my fingertips.

The fact that electrical hook-ups are even necessary to fully charge my batteries has raised the question of how I hope to keep them charged once I leave this place. While I do believe the solar panels will be sufficient to do the job most of the time, there will inevitably be periods where the sun alone will not keep the batteries above the all-important 50% mark, and unless I want to pay for a campsite with hook-ups every time that happens (I don't), a backup charging source is necessary.

Enter the Progressive Dynamics 55 amp charger/converter that I now have on order and hope to pick up at a post office west of here in a few days. Details to come on this once I have it installed, but in a nutshell, it will replace the stock (and seriously lame) charger/converter in the Chinook and give me a whopping 55 amps of three-stage charging glory every time I either fire up the generator or plug into the grid.

And that, gentle blog readers, should finally put an end to this whole saga. But hey, it's been fun, right? Right?

Freedom to Veg

2012-01-07T19:34:00.000-05:00

One highly underrated feature of this simple life is not only having the freedom to occasionally do next to nothing for an entire day, but also not feel the slightest bit of guilt about it. It doesn't happen often, but every now and then, as with today, a general sense of lethargy prevails even past the morning coffee, a nap inevitably ensues, followed by some mostly unproductive puttering, and plenty of sitting out on the back steps idly watching the goings-on in the neighborhood...

...and suddenly BAM, before you know it, it's time for another one of those damn sunsets...

There is nothing quite like a full day of vegetating to recharge the old batteries, and being free to indulge without that nagging "I should be doing something" voice of my previous life is not something to be taken for granted, even after all this time.

And speaking of recharging batteries, following two days of some moderately decent sunshine, I still have yet to get the new uber-battery bank anywhere close to a full charge. Which I suspect means that I have successfully managed to equip myself with one hell of a deep bucket of capacity. Very good stuff.

Anxious to get these suckers topped off, both because they tend to like that sort of thing and because I want to establish a baseline starting point with my battery monitor, I've reserved a spot in a state park campground for tomorrow night just across the border in Mississippi. The accompanying electrical hook-up, in conjunction with my trusty AC battery charger, will give me the chance to square things away at last.

So it's my final night in lovely Bayou La Batre – a place that has served me well, but there comes a time when a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. Or in the case of this particularly uneventful day, sometimes a man's gotta not do what a man's gotta not do.

More Shrimp

2012-01-06T23:57:00.000-05:00

The process by which a town unfolds its hidden gems is something that continues to fascinate me, particularly in out of the way places like Bayou La Batre that don't exactly hit you over the head with semi-contrived historic charm and quaintness immediately upon arriving.

With no real central downtown area to speak of, and a pretty no-nonsense blue collar vibe that seems to be all about fishing, seafood processing, and shipbuilding, it would be easy to spend a day here, conclude that you had "gotten the picture," and then move on. But I continually find that places like Bayou La Batre are ripe with hidden details if one takes the time to let them reveal themselves, and having the freedom to let that process play itself out may be one of the greatest benefits of living as I do.

Like the amazing shrimp connection I found today, courtesy of my new friend who works for the city. Upon first arriving here several days ago, I made a few inquiries at the local grocery store to see where I could get some fresh local seafood, and after coming up empty-handed, began to think that all the seafood companies here must only deal at the wholesale level. Silly rabbit.

I'm now glad I stuck around long enough to find the good stuff, as today I was directed to a shrimp place right on the dock, and while my directions assured that I "couldn't miss it," I drove by the place three times before figuring out where to go. Like I said, hidden gems. I proceeded to score three and a half pounds of shrimp that had just been caught this morning, and for only 10 bucks...

Good stuff. Needless to say, I'm getting remarkably adept at ~~pealing~~ peeling and deveining shrimp. And in case that's not enough to excite you, I've got a line on some possible oysters tomorrow morning. Man, it's gonna be tough to leave this place...

Some new neighbors pulled in late this afternoon down by my exceedingly groovy campsite...

...followed by, ho hum, yet another postcard sunset (I'm counting on you to tell me if these are getting old)...

That reminds me – yesterday afternoon, while up in the relative chaos that is Mobile, I stopped into a music store briefly just to poke around, and when I mentioned to the saleswoman that I was headed back to this peaceful burg, her lack of enthusiasm spoke volumes. Fine with me. Let the Mobile-ites of the world have their Mobiles, and I'll happily take the Bayou La Batres with their hidden treasures.

AGM Corollary

2012-01-06T11:04:00.004-05:00

The AGM Corollary to Murphy's Law is in full effect here in southern Alabama today. A lesser known offshoot of the old "if anything can go wrong, it will" maxim, it states that:

The amount of money spent on new AGM batteries combined with the degree to which one wants to get them fully charged via solar panels is directly proportional to the likelihood of dense fog befalling the general area within a day.

Good thing I didn't spring for the name brand batteries.

Powered Up

2012-01-05T21:15:00.003-05:00

In the continuing saga that is my quest for 12 volt supremacy, I decided to roll back into Mobile yesterday to take care of the one remaining weak link in the chain – my ailing house batteries. Since these projects always seem to eat up an entire day no matter what, I knew I should hit the ground running first thing in the morning, so I settled into a Walmart on the outskirts of the city last night, poised to dive headlong into the job upon rising today.

Behold the results of a most productive and rewarding day:

Yeah, it's little convoluted in there right now, but trust me, it's all good. I do need to go back and shorten a bunch of wires now, which should clean the place up rather nicely, but in the meantime, what you're looking at are not two, but THREE new deep cycle AGM batteries fresh from the Sam's Club in Mobile.

It may prove to be overkill for my needs, but I've yet to hear anyone complain about having too much battery capacity, and since the Chinook's battery compartment was so clearly intended to keep three of these babies cozy, I went with it. Assuming a full charge, and if you believe the labels on these things (recent personal experience makes me inclined not to), that's 315 luscious amp-hours pictured above. And even if that figure is overstated by 10%, 280-ish will still do quite nicely in my world.

I can already hear the RV battery police bellyaching about my not getting Trojan T-105's, or Lifelines, or whatever else they might be convinced is by far the greatest battery in the history of everything. My copious research, however, indicates that these Duracell deep cycle batteries are in fact manufactured by East Penn/Deka, that they are true deep cycle batteries, and I've yet to read anything bad about them. Given all that, the price is what sold me -- $166 for a 105 Ah deep cycle AGM is tough to pass up, and these very same batteries are sold with a different sticker on them at around twice the price at places like Napa and West Marine.

My judgement could prove to be dead wrong on this, but I felt like the information I had in front of me warranted my taking a calculated chance on these batteries. And hey, I'm now a member of Sam's, which should come in handy over the next year even if only for the savings at the gas pump.

So why AGMs? The advantages of AGM batteries over conventional lead acid batteries are pretty well documented elsewhere, but basically, they're maintenance-free, they can safely be put on their sides (important in my case, as you can see above), they discharge more slowly, they can receive a charge much faster, and the chicks dig them. Just making sure you're still paying attention.

Generally speaking, the only disadvantage of AGM batteries is their cost, but given the ridiculous price at Sam's, which is pretty close to what the hallowed (and non-AGM) T-105's go for, this no longer appears to be an issue. That is, of course, assuming they perform as well as I hope they will. Time will tell, so stay tuned.

Installation was no picnic, as these batteries are considerably heavier than the batteries I previously had (as true deep cycles should be – a very good sign). And as you can see in the picture above, I had to fashion a few pieces of wood to both hold the batteries in place as well as to elevate them above the curvature of the sides of the compartment since the entire width was needed. But it all got done by late this afternoon, and I turned my attention to escaping the relative madness of Mobile.

Unsure of my destination, but strongly considering a return to the peaceful confines of Bayou La Batre, I paused in the Lowe's parking lot to check my email. And like a sign from above, a message from someone who works for the city of Bayou La Batre was waiting for me, wherein I was thanked for my recent kind words about the place, and also received confirmation on the bits of town movie/TV trivia that have been tossed around here in recent days.

How about that? It wouldn't have taken much to sell me on spending some more time in BLB, but this little act of kindness sealed it for me. So without delay, I fired up the Chinook's engine and rolled back to the very same waterfront spot from which my successful battery mission was launched yesterday. And just in case I needed another sign that returning here was the right call, I made it back just in time to catch the tail end of another sublime sunset over the water...

Gas & Batteries

2012-01-03T22:18:00.001-05:00

Another spectacular sunset this evening here in Bayou La Batre, and the co-pilot had the best seat in the house...

So ended yet another quiet though very chilly day beside the Gulf, wherein I leisurely alternated between working on some new music, reading, napping and taking a couple of strolls around the harbor. It's a simple life, but we like it that way.

I also totaled up my gas expenses for 2011 today. Easily one of the top five comments I hear upon telling people how I live is that I must spend a ton on gas, so here's hoping these numbers go some way towards finally putting the issue to rest:

During the entire year, I drove just under 13,000 miles, and my total gas bill came to $3510. That's $292 per month ($8 under budget), and only 27 cents per mile. Not too shabby, eh?

And I personally don't care to drive any more than 13,000 miles in a year, so it's comforting to know that what likely represents a worst case scenario still turned out to be pretty darn affordable. And while I expect that it's only a matter of time before gas prices climb substantially, even if they double, I'll still be spending less than half of what I used to pay in Los Angeles rent.

Moving on, the cold weather here over the past couple of days means that I've been running the furnace from late afternoon until bedtime, and that in conjunction with heavy laptop use means that I've really been putting the solar wiring upgrade to the test. The upshot is that despite a noticeable improvement, the batteries are still struggling to give me more than about 45 amphours before hitting the 50% mark. That's less than half the capacity the batteries are rated for, and really not sufficient for my needs, so it looks like some new "juice boxes" are in my near future.

This will require a bit of engineering to retrofit the Chinook's battery compartment for what I have in mind, but I'll post details once I get into it. For now, the plan is to roll out of this bayou soon and point the Chinook towards the nearest place where I can build my new battery bank. The weather is going to warm up considerably tomorrow though, so I just may hang around here a little longer before getting down to it. 45 amphours, after all, is plenty for this nomad's daily needs so long as the heater isn't necessary, and something tells me the navigator won't mind catching one more of those bayou sunsets.