After Jazz Fest ended in New Orleans, I had a few more days to explore the area and see more of the outskirts of the city. I had my Winnebago parked at Bayou Segnette State Park, which is just over the river from the city center. Gladly, that allowed me to have the best of both worlds – close enough to go anywhere and do anything, but still secluded and quiet when I wanted to get some rest. Sid, my Jack Russell Terrier, met up with his first armadillo there and I also stumbled on some interesting flooded areas under the highway that passes over near the entrance to Bayou Segnette State Park.

While I was in New Orleans, I met up with some old friends and made some new ones. The locals were extremely friendly, open to being photographed and very proud of their city. I got some tips from them and had a chance to experience a less touristy area uptown around Oak Street and ate a wonderful “Nawlins” dinner at Jacques-Imo’s Cafe, where I popped in to the kitchen for some candid shots of the staff.

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This was my first time in New Orleans and found the crowd in town during Jazz Fest to be full of fun-loving, easy-going, music enthusiasts. I’ve never been so comfortable roaming the streets of a bustling city at all hours of the night, snapping candid photos of people. Normally, I feel like I need to warm people up to the idea of a lens in their face – but in New Orleans during Jazz Fest, those barriers seemed to be absent.

In just one night, I had conversations with tipsy school teachers, spotted some mustached ladies in the street, grabbed a late night enchilada from the back of a pick up truck and enjoyed on an amazing musical performance by Soulive.

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After a week back in LA, I flew back to Houston to continue my eastward travels, first spending a few more days hanging with the locals that I had met.

I spent some time sampling beers at Flying Saucer “Draught Emporium” in downtown Houston and was lucky enough to check out The Big Easy, a dive of a jazz club with a fun-loving, energetic crowd. The interesting thing about that night was the seemingly mismatched couples that I found dancing together there.

I also went back to the Last Concert Cafe where some glow stick dancers joined the drum circle. While I was there, I played around with some low light shots in the seedy surrounding area. The street lights gave the scene a great feel; “urban etherial” as a friend put it.

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My sixth week on the road actually led me back to Los Angeles while my Winnebago (aka “home”) remained parked in Houston. I had a few meetings and errands to take care of and decided to head out into the desert for Coachella Music and Arts Festival while I was there.

It was great to meet up with my friends at Full of Life Flatbread, who were selling their wood fired flatbread pizzas in the VIP area of the festival. I ran into a few people that I knew as I roamed the festival grounds, which is actually the Empire Polo Field in Indio, CA. Luckily, one of those people was my cousin from Miami, who had a shower in his RV.

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