RV City: For Parties and Peace

Mardi Gras encompasses almost an entire month in Mobile. In between the parades and parties, here in “RV City there's a lot of downtime.

“Kinda quiet, kinda peaceful,” says Freddy with the Conde Cavaliers. “You make a lot of friends, every time I come down here I make new friends that I didn't have before.” His trailer is littered with throws and other Mardi Gras swag. When he's not talking about the last parade or getting ready for the next one, Freddy's checking his e-mail and handling business in his real life.

“I own my own business but I have a small office set-up here,” says Freddy. “I have the opportunity to do that, most people don't.” These guys spend about a month living under what is essentially the interstate but apart from the rush hour traffic they say it's pretty peaceful around here.

“If there's nothing going on it's kind of a peaceful time, sit around, trailer, enjoy the peace and quiet for a change, listen to the cars go by,” says Freddy. Most of the people here live in the region--so they only make periodic stops to their campers during the week. This year there are 183 mobile campers here, about 10-percent more than last year.

“There's just so many people that are noticing we have a party down here that they want to be a part of it,” says RV city organizer Peggy Jimenez. Those campers translate to a minimum of 200 revelers. For now things are quiet, but when the parades get going, things get hopping.

“If you don't come down here and stay in a camper you're missing one heck of a party and a bunch of good people,” says Jimenez.