More Legs

After staying the night at a hotel in Gulfport ($75) I cruised into New Orleans to explore for the day. A note about the hotels, I cannot believe that they can charge so much, most were asking $100. There must be a dearth of travelers theses days, with gas prices, inflation, and general uneasiness...how are the hotels doing so well that they refuse to barter? Hell, I remember 2005 when I drove to Pennsylvania and was able to negotiate a Days Inn from $50 to $35 by getting the AAA discount and then threatening to go next door, its like buying a car. Maybe it is just because I was in a tourist thick area, or maybe they have such huge reserves that they are just going to weather the storm, I dunno.

So, I cruised into N.O. and found a parking lot for the day so that I could just wander around. Jonathan from SRQ had told me that I had to go to a place by the name of Coop's. After some stumbling around, I found it and hot damn did it turn out good. A down to earth, grungy (but in a clean way), earthy bar, I got the Jono recommendation of fried chicken with a side of rabbit jambalaya and coleslaw. The chicken was good, nice and salty and crunch with a bit of spice but it was the jambalaya that caught my attention. Almost like paella, it was a hearty mix of rice, rabbit, sausage, tomatoes, and other stuff. It had the little crispy bits from the bottom of the pan and was a relatively mild spice at first, but after a bit was really quite intense. The coleslaw was your average creamy coleslaw but was also spicy. Everything was spicy, but we are in N.O. aren’t we? To drink, Jockamo IPA. It had a nice amount of hop but not too bitter, a sweet middle and a fruity finish...good but not great with the spicy food, personally I was dreaming of some of those German Auselse Rieslings mmmmmmm...

After that I wandered around a bit but it was so hot (and I was a bit sleepy) and everything seemed to be gift shops that I made my way back to the car and continued on.

It was late enough in the day that I stopped at a hostel in Lafayette ($18) (In Gulfport, after spending $75, I planned several possible hostel stops). This place...was...amazing. Very homey, clean, comfy beds, free breakfast and coffee (because they are not allowed to sell any, so they give it away) and that is just where you sleep. Called the Blue Moon Hostel, attached to the side was the Blue Moon Saloon and there they have great music every night. The night I was there the band playing was Bandryland W/ Kenneth Richard and they blew me away for just playing in a "hole in the wall" saloon. And apparently, from talking to the people there, this was just average for the night. A great mix of jazzy, country, folk, electric guitar...they fit no profile but they sounded good. And there was lots of beer. Fantastic.

I ended up talking for a couple hours with a very interesting individual. Britt was his name, he was home schooled through the 7th grade, then dropped out, then joined the merchant marine, then got his GED and College Degree in Business something or other. Currently he works as the captain for a boat that finds sunken vessels such as 17 century Spanish galleons and such. Remember those guys you see on Discovery and National Geographic dragging the sonar devise and finding old wrecks? That him. A big rough guy, with tattoos all over, he would not strike you as a scholar but this guy was well read. 100% a constitutionalist, he could quote the constitution, court cases, laws etc. better than I could describe the back of my own hand. And he has not paid Federal Income Tax in many years. This is what occupied much of our time. According to him, and he cited enough source that I could look up (and I will) that I trust him for now, there is no law in the US of A that requires anyone to pay Federal Income Tax. Among many reasons, the most prominent were the forms 3406 A & B. 3406 B is your 1040 and W4. 3406 B only is only valid with 3406 A, and this form says that only these people need pay Federal Income Tax: US citizens living in Washington DC or Outside the country, or Foreign Nationals working in the USA. If you do not fall into any of the above, then technically you do not need to pay Income Tax. Very Interesting. My only concern is what kind of reproductions might ensue if you do refuse to pay, albeit legally. More research is definitely needed but I am certainly interested, and skeptical.

I wanted to say another day and catch the next nights band but I also wanted to get to Wyoming and see the family and start working on the farm, getting back to nature and all that - so I set off in the morning.

Today, I am arrived in San Antonio and am staying a another Hostel ($25). A bit grungier, and not in a good way, this one is nice enough for just crashing for the night. Run by a grandmotherly type, it works and that is about it.

As for driving in Texas...I have been driving the speed limit dead on for this whole trip to both be more fuel efficient and because I can neither afford, nor do I want a ticket. So as soon as I entered Texas there was a big sign saying "You had better drive the limit or else..." but damn do they try hard to confuse you as to what the limit is. The signs range from 55mph to 70mph and everywhere in between. Often the signs are placed just before the off ramp and not after the on ramp so you are not sure if the speed has just dropped from 70 to 55 only for the ramp, or for everyone? And then there are the signs that are turned parallel to the road, do they apply or are they there for some future change? And then there are the construction zones that consist of two signs signaling the beginning and end of construction but with no apparent action in between. In despair, I just sit in the slow lane behind a semi and cruise along, which actually works well enough-I go at a constant speed that is great for the economy and don’t have to worry about weaving between lanes (this is especially hard anyway considering the topper full of stuff so I only have my side mirrors and cannot look over my shoulder, I prefer to just get in one lane and stay there).

Here at the hostel in San Antonio, I met another character. This one a writer and a bit of a yogi/hippie, we had a long talk about the state of the world and what to expect in the future and is it really all falling apart or does it just seem that way? He had just finished a research paper looking at how all the ancient cultures, be they Eskimos, Aztecs, Sumerians, Aborigines, Maoris, everyone had a ‘dooms day’ or end of the world myth and they all revolved around a flood (think Noah’s ark and such).

And that is where I am so far.

Here are some pictures and a video from the hostel in Lafayette: