< more recent | 1-7 November 2024 | older >
5 November 2024: Nice to be back home and see the familiar birds and the backyard bunnies and squirrels. Made a nice bonfire in the firepit and took some time to just sit and relax after a busy month of adventures down in the Delta. Now that I’m home it’s time for a little rest, lol …
4 November 2024: It’s always just a little bit of a shock approaching the New York Metro area after a long stay in the backcountry. The contrast in ambiance and pace begins imperceptibly at first, with the traffic increasing, the lanes getting more narrow, the long traffic jam waiting to cross the bridge, and then suddenly the tight cramped claustrophobic section of under and overpasses hemmed in by 18-wheelers and driving over rough pot-holed and patched highway to reach yet another bridge and yet another traffic filled highway, until finally just before reaching home, the traffic opens up enough to breathe …
3 November 2024: Today was all about making progress towards home. Drove pretty much non-stop from Tennessee to Central PA and then just had to take a break. The fatigue from the interstate was real and it would have been dangerous to try to make it the rest of the way home tonight …
2 November 2024: Back on the road northbound today and decided to plan a short stop to go for a walk at a place called Noculla Falls in Alabama. The website showed a really big waterfall and I thought it would be nice to see, but in reality due to the lack of recent rain, there was just the tiniest trickle of water at the “falls.” And the park itself was a lot smaller than I’d expected so the “hiking” options were really limited. It seemed more like a park for families with little kids, and had a short train ride and was already setting up their Christmas displays and so it was really kind of “odd” after coming from so much real wilderness in Louisiana. The contrast was startling, but the sun was back out and the weather was nice for a walk. After that it was some marathon driving all the way to the edge of the Smoky Mountain National Park in Tennessee, but it was dark by then and I would have to stop for the night soon. Made a quick “detour” to “Buc-ee’s” to see the ridiculous beaver and couldn’t help but buying a tiny one as well as a whole bunch of candy and fudge I really didn’t need but couldn’t really resist …
1 November 2024: Broke camp today and started the journey back north towards home. The weather was wet and the rain came down periodically in torrents. At one point I had to stop driving because it was so hard and fast that I couldn’t see. But I had decided to go to the Angola Prison Museum which has some displays on the Angola Prison Rodeo which I could photograph — even though it was prohibited to photograph the actual event. The “museum” sits just outside the prison gate. I had hoped to get a good photo of the prison exterior at least, but the way the entry is situated you can only see the gate itself, and all the rest of the grounds are hidden from view by the forest and a few administrative buildings, one of which is the museum. It was a very small museum and rather randomly set up, but there was one of the inmates who it seems works as a helper to the museum administer. The lady in charge of the museum was very nice and we had an interesting conversation about the prison, it’s history and the conditions for prisoners as well as “who” gets sentenced to prison and who doesn’t. After leaving Angola, I took a shortcut through a backcountry road that wound through the woods from Louisiana to Mississippi without any clear “border” between the two states that I could see. I passed an interesting historical plantation property that seemed to be “open” to the public and took a drive down the property, but I think it was being used as a hotel and/or a site for weddings rather than as a site for visitors, and so I left continuing the drive north stopping for the night in Meridian MS…
THIS MONTH:
Roadtrip time! Heading south in search of the history of the Mississippi Delta region, with a focus on Louisiana and the different styles of music that evolved there as different cultures came together “back in the day.” Of course we will also be exploring some of the backcountry and enjoying the outdoors along the way…
COMING UP SOON:
Getting ready for this year’s Holiday Roadtrip south, where we are changing it up a little bit and spending more time on our favorite barrier islands along the Outer Banks as we celebrate the season with plenty of good cheer out on the sand …
Returning to the “city of light” after a way-too-long hiatus and reconnecting with friends, favorite places and some urban exploring to change things up a little bit …
USnomads.org is very proud to be presenting the fourth edition of the Nomad Overland Virtual Adventure Rally in 2025. This is a unique kind of rally experience — a ten week event that participants can do from anywhere within the continental U.S.A. Competitors design their own routes as part of the rally, then drive it in a points-based online competition that includes optional activity tasks, quests and weekly challenges. The 2025 rally will run from 2 June – 10 August and is open to any driver within the United States who has an off-road capable vehicle — stock or modified. Registration for 2024 is currently open. For more information see the Rally website …
ABOUT ANGOLA PRISON
The Louisiana State Penitentiary, known as “Angola,” is a maximum-security prison in Louisiana with a long history. It is called “Angola” after the former slave plantation that occupied the land where the prison now stands. And the plantation itself was named after the country of Angola, where many of the people enslaved there may have come from. Flanked on three sides by water, the 18,000-acre prison property occupies a 28-square-mile area which is larger than Manhattan. Angola is the largest maximum-security prison in the United States. The Angola plantation was purchased in 1880 by Major Samuel Lawrence James, who turned it into a prison camp, converting the slave quarters into jail cells. James operated the vast plantation under the convict lease system which essentially recreated slavery. Angola inmates worked in the plantation fields, on levees, and on railroads. Prisoners who shared their stories with reporters painted a torturous portrait of whippings, subsisting on “starvation wages,” and sleeping in muddy clothes. Inmates died in droves — between 1870 and 1901, 3,000 inmates died. Amid reports about the barbaric treatment, the state took over the prison in 1901. The Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections transformed the plantation into a state prison, but the state did not appropriate much funding for its operation. Instead, the prison had to be as self-sufficient as possible — it had a canning factory, a dairy, a mail system, a small ranch, repair shops, and a sugar mill. Prisoners raised food staples and cash crops. In the 1930s, prisoners worked from dawn until dusk and Angola was still referred to as “the worst prison in America”. By the 1970s the deplorable conditions at the prison led the U.S. courts to order Louisiana to “fix” Angola. Efforts to reform and improve conditions began in earnest and while the prison had retained its notoriety in the public perception, the facility made genuine efforts at improving the treatment of those who are incarcerated there. Today Angola has the largest number of inmates on life sentences in the United States. Inmates still cultivate, harvest, and process various crops that make the facility self-supporting. The prisoners also breed and train the horses used in the fields and tend to the prison’s 2,000-head herd of cattle. Each year, the prison produces about four million pounds of vegetable crops and much of the herd is sold at markets for beef. In 1965 Angola began holding a rodeo. It started as a joint endeavor between inmates, prison employees, and civilians who live in Angola’s residential area, and has become the nation’s longest-running prison rodeo. The rodeo serves as an incentive to reward offenders for good behavior with an opportunity to compete in various events, earn money in the competition, and sell their handicrafts. The Prison Rodeo incorporates traditional rodeo events like bull riding, bronco riding, barrel racing, and steer wrestling, but it also has it’s own unique events, such as “Convict Poker” (where four inmates play poker seated at a table with a loose bull and the last sitting inmate wins), and “Prisoner Pinball” (where inmates stand in randomly placed hula-hoops with a loose bull and the last inmate still in their hula-hoop wins). The grand finale and most infamous event at the rodeo is “Guts and Glory”. In “Guts and Glory” a poker chip is fastened to the head of a huge longhorn bull and released into the arena as inmates scramble to snatch the chip and win the monetary prize. Inmate participation is entirely voluntary. Many participants see the rodeo as a rare opportunity to feel a part of society outside of the gates and take pride in showcasing their talents. Proceeds from ticket sales benefit the Inmate Welfare Fund, which funds recreational and educational programs for inmates…
Nesconset | Paris | Belgrade | Lanoka Harbor | Cape May | Carolla | Mandeville | New Orleans
MORE NOTES FROM THE ROAD:
23-31 October – Roadtrip South
15-22 October – Roadtrip South
8-14 October – Roadtrip South
1-7 October – Roadtrip South
September – New York
August – New York
26-31 March – Eastbound
20-25 March – NM
15-19 March – DVE
9-14 March – AZ
1-8 March – NV & AZ
23-29 February – Glamis
16-22 February – Roadtrip SW
1-15 February – Roadtrip SW
January – Paris
22-31 December – Holiday Roadtrip
15-21 December – Holiday Roadtrip
1-14 December – Holiday Roadtrip
8-30 November – New Jersey
1-7 November – Cape Cod
Archive
ROADTRIP
An epic journey crisscrossing the USA from east to west and back again, exploring some of the beautiful wild spaces that make up our “public lands.” The roadtrip covered almost 15,000 miles, much of it off-grid and off-pavement, focusing on the deserts of the American southwest. Some locations were truly “iconic” while others were little known, and the segments of independent exploration where punctuated with some fun events across the region… [read]
SPECIAL REPORT
All about exploring ghost towns and abandoned places in the USA and beyond, with tips, and information on the many different types of sites to be found across the globe, including detailed guides for eight specific sites… [read]
REFLECTIONS
EGYPT: CAIRO REFLECTIONS
A quick overview of impressions from a stop in Cairo during our recent scouting mission in Egypt and Sudan … [read]
SPECIAL REPORT
A look into south-eastern Algeria on the border with Libya and Niger: overlanding with the Tuareg in one of the most remote corners of the Sahara … [read]
LOCATION
This installment of a series that focuses on locations around the USA takes a look at some favorite places near our home base in NY. We share a few places we like to explore, where you can experience something of the raw natural beauty of coastal beaches, pine barrens and a little bit of obscure military history… [read]
