Well, the story must have been good, because of the meatiness of the discussion it precipitated.
I'll join in to say that, while I do sympathize with Lolo, I think he is struggling with a problem of his own making. As was pointed out in the story, he can always go north. His dilemma stems from the fact that he just can't let his "stuff" go. Yes, it sucks when everything you have worked for is now worthless, but that is life. It happens (war, banking crisis, dot-com bubble, etc.). Stop your whining and deal with it. Move to where things are better.
And on that topic, I really wonder why east is never mentioned in this story. The east coast regions of North America rarely experience major droughts. Why was east not presented as an option?