The Journey.

DAY #30

It’s moving day again.  Time to shut down, pack up, hook up, and hit the road.  Took a leisurely departure this morning.  Left around 9:30 and was only looking at a 2-1/2 hour drive to the next destination.  After conferring with my co-pilot (goggle map), I decided to take I-10 (the freeway) and stay on it through Mobile, Alabama before getting off and getting back on the good old secondary roads. Lots and lots of traffic in both direction on I-10.  I guess that’s to be expected since it is a major east-west artery.

Pretty uneventful trip, roads were good, weather was great, and I was in a good frame of mind.   I’m still not that comfortable with towing the trailer.  You always know it’s there and when a semi passes, you can feel the trailer get drawn into its wake.  Gas mileage has gone up to around 10 mpg (still sucks) and when I’m driving around without the trailer, it’s been upwards of 25-26 mpg, which for a truck are pretty solid numbers.

Made it to Big Lagoon State Park which is located just east of Pensacola.

Once there, I did have a little trouble finding the campsite, the map (I don’t think) was very accurate.  After driving around for awhile I was lucky to find a volunteer working at the park and he showed me where the site was.  Backed into the site, got set up and here I was, home sweet home for the next eight days.  Interesting campsite. all the campers are tucked away from each other and the road, while hidden away by scrub growth and pine trees.  You’ll notice no water hose to the trailer.  I’m thinking about hooking it up and testing it in the next couple of days.  I guess I’m hesitant because in the back of my mind, I’m afraid that when I turn the water on, there will be leaks everywhere.

Didn’t do much else, after all it was Sunday and we know what that means…Football!        I got to the park a little after noon so after setting things up (including scanning all available TV channels),  It was time to sit down and watched the games.  The first one at 3:00 pm watching the New Orleans Saints (Being down here, you just have to be a Saints fan), and then the Vikings  later at 7:00 pm.  After watching the Vikings game I’ve come to a conclusion;  I hate to burst your bubble Vikings fans, but I don’t think they’ll go far this post season, if at all.  they have the potential, just not the right chemistry to bring it all together.

Getting lots of TV stations although over half are evangelical in nature, and my Verizon reception is really good, so no feeling cut off from the civilized world.  Bathroom and showers just a short walk away.  I think this is going to be a nice stay.

DAY #29

Big excursion planned for today.  I went into Biloxi and took a 75 minute shrimping trip.  For $16, They take you to the outer part of the harbor on a boat that had a small rigging  to net for shrimp.  It’s a simplified version of what commercial shrimp fisherman use.

We left the dock and went out to the harbor.  It was a nice day, partly cloudy with temps in the upper 60s.

Going out the into the bay brought us closer to one of the outer islands that help protect the mainland. (Sorry, not real satisfied with these photos.)

Once out there, they dropped the net and began dragging along the bottom, that’s where the shrimp are.

After dragging the bottom for about 10 minutes, they brought the net up and let’s see what was in it.the seagulls were sure interested in what we caught.

Yes, those are shrimp.

Also brought up a blue crab. *(No crabs were harmed in the taking of these photos).

They dropped the net a second time because the guide had a fishing charter for the next day and was going to use the shrimp as bait.

I don’t like seafood and after seeing these critters up close and personal, I still don’t.

I know that he/she does.Again with the penguin, are these guys under contract?

Had to take a photo of one of the crew.  He/she would get you drinks from downstairs and bring them to the upper deck for you.

Wow, I didn’t think it could get more adventurous then going out on a pseudo shrimp boat but I had something to top it.  Next on the list was driving go-karts (or so I thought).

A bit expensive, $25.00 for about 10 minutes but what the hey, I’ll do it twice. I checked in and it was busy, took almost twenty minutes to get signed up.  Then it was off to wait until my heat was called. After another 30-40 minutes of waiting, it was finally my turn.  Got in line, was given a helmet and briefing and then wait again.  Seems someone ran into the protective rail and paramedics were called.  After more waiting, this time much of it sitting in the kart ready to go, they decided they had to do some track modifications and it would be another 30 minutes at least.  Well, it was getting dark and while it would have been fun, I resigned myself to it just not going to happen, I actually took it well remembering to “roll with the flow.”  I was able to get my money back and then I headed back to the park after spending my last full day in Southern Mississippi.

DAY #28

Just a beautiful day. Temperatures in the low 60s, light winds, and a simply marvelous blue sky.  It’s really amazing how blue sky’s along with the sun can recharge your spirits, especially after a number of cold, dark, gloomy days.

Started out today with the itinerary of visiting Pascagoula (and area), and then drifting around the gulf cost of Alabama.  Off I went heading eastbound on US 90.   To get into Pascagoula, you need to cross the bridge over the Pascagoula river.

Looking out at the bay after crossing the bridge.

Pascagoula is the home to Ingalls Shipyards which builds ships for the U.S. Navy.

While Pascagoula does have a downtown area, it’s not something that stands out.  I’ve felt a bit disappointed by the city centers along the gulf in Mississippi for their lack of historic feel.  It still exists but only in a building here and a building there way.  One example is the railway station.  Sadly it’s no longer in use (service stopped after Hurricane Katrina in 2005).

When was the last time you saw one of these?I’ve figured out what I’m looking for (and why my disappointment) and its not found along the coast.  I’m looking for city centers that have town squares with court houses and such (the old south),  the kind of towns that are commonly found farther north.

Pascagoula is a city with a diversity of housing.  From simple homes to modern-day plantation style houses along the bay.

I seem to like these guys.

Left Pascagoula (such a cool name) and headed towards the southwest corner of Alabama as far as Dauphin Island.

Heading to the western side of Dauphin Island you find sand, sand, everywhere.

Looks to be largely weekend beach houses, and I’m not sure how many will be left standing after the next hurricane.

The other side of the island is mainly trees and looks like much of Southern Alabama away from the water.

One thing I’ve noticed in my short time around here, there are a lot of Mercedes on the road. Life must not be too bad down in these parts.

Driving down the road I saw a number of stands selling Satsumas. Do you know what they are? (Hint, their orange in color). Also saw a couple of small fields of cotton. Again, no big deal, but I think it’s neat to see.

Made it back to camp a little after dark, man the sun is setting too early.

 

 

 

 

DAY #28

The night had been a cold one, I think the coldest so far, but with my newest friend, the space heater, the trailer remained warm and cozy thru the night.

Even though the day was cool (low 50s), the sun had returned and it just gave you a whole new get up and get out feeling. I decided to get off my behind and take a walk down a short trail that originally had been created by the CCC.

For those scratching your head going what? CCC?  The Civilian Conservation Corps was created by the government during the great depression of the 1930s. Its purpose was to create jobs while helping to build and refurbish our federal parks and other federal lands.

About all that’s left of this encampment is some cement foundations that of course, I didn’t take any photos of.Kind of spectacular when you think about it,  considering that civilization is just a hop, skip and jump away.  It puts you in a gulf shores state of mind.

Coming back after dark I saw a opossum (I’ll call him Jim Bob).  An ugly little critter, but one that eats a lot of stuff that we want to stay away from us (like bugs and such).  I don’t get to see many opossum’s so I thought it was neat.

 

 

DAY #27

I thought yesterday was a washout of a day, today was even worse.  The rain and gloom continued and the temperature was even colder (high of 41 degrees).

I decided to take the truck to get an oil/filter change and tire rotation.  Did some checking on the internet (it really is an amazing tool), found a dealer not too far away  (Astro Ford in D’Iberville, MS) and away I went.  I took the long way there and back and I did get to see some more of the area.  It was not what I would call an exciting adventure but a necessary one.  Got in right away and was out in less than an hour. With towing the trailer I’m thinking one should change the oil more frequently and it had been around four thousand miles since the last change.  I may be a bit conservative here but better safe than sorry.

It’s supposed to get down to 32 degrees tonight, oh baby, crank up that heater.

Here’s a question on a touchy subject (This is what happens when you stay in a little box for too long);  I’m not passing judgment, I’m looking for an answer.  it’s just a question that I think about.

God tells us repeatedly in the commandments that we are to have no other gods before us, yet when I look at Christianity (in general) and the Catholic Church (in specific), with its history, its structure, and its pomp and circumstances,  I do question the role of the church’s position.  I see what looks to me as less than total worship to God and more of an interweaving of God and man.  It isn’t just the Catholic church but they seem to be prolific in examples of and use of what some would call, false gods (e.g. role of pope, saints, symbols).  In Islam and Judaism, you find no tools (if you will) such as crosses, or the anointing of saints, or elaborate alters, but in Christianity and Catholicism, it’s common, it’s part of the religion.

Here’s my question; Does Christianity and the Catholic church worship man? Or does it worship God?  Or is it an amalgamation of the two?   My concern is that Catholicism and with it Christianity are a religion that’s an amalgam that links the church and God into a kind of partnership between the two. If so, doesn’t this go against what God asks of us?

DAY #26

The cold and rain continued, so like the other animals in the park, I decided to just hang out and hibernate for the day.                                 (Stock photo, I did not take this).

The only action I did was to go out to Canes Chicken Fingers to pick up dinner.  Still haven’t gotten the hang of preparing meals at the trailer (slow starter) .  Now you may be asking what the heck are chicken fingers?  They’re chicken tenders and not bad although I like popeyes better (not something I should be bragging about, being a fast food connoisseur).

Used the space heater last night and it kept the trailer nice and cozy, plus, since I don’t need to use the furnace (and burn LP), it saves me $$$.

 

Biloxi Bay at low tide.  Man, what a difference.

Just kidding.

DAY #25

Cold, rainy day.  About all I did (other than sleep) was to research space heaters on-line and then off to Walmart to buy a space heater for the trailer.  the temperatures over the next few nights is going to get really cold, like 32 degree cold and I don’t want to go through all my propane. If I can find a space heater and it will do the job, so be it.  The campsite includes electric so why not use it.  I am a bit concerned about space heaters and especially using them in Travel Trailers.  Most heaters are 1500 watts and that’s a lot of juice.  That translates to approx. 12.5 amps and the trailer has a 20 amp circuits.  So that one appliance uses about 60% of available power on that one circuit.  after careful consideration, I decided to live dangerous and go ahead and use the space heater.

You know you’re down south.

DAY #24

Made it to Gulfport and without any of the drama of the day before.  I got to the harbor and yea…the dolphin cruise was on.  There were seven of us in total going out on a 60′ ship.  The weather was around 60 and the sky partly cloudy so all in all, not a bad day.  We left on time and slowly moved away from the dock and out into open water.

In honor of Veterans Day.

One of Gulfports finest resident.I like being on the water and I love the ocean so this tour was for me fun.  I know it’s not hair raising exciting or adrenaline charging, but I still find it very satisfying.

The view of Gulfport from the ship.

Looking along the coast from Gulfport towards Biloxi.

He wanted another photo taken of him.

The tour ran ninety minutes and took you out a few miles into the bay.

Here’s a photo of what we saw on our dolphin watching excursion. You guessed it, we didn’t see as much as one dolphin.  I guess because it was Sunday, they were all watching the football games.  One thing about going on a cruise like this, you go out (or you should) with the understanding that you may not see dolphins.  They’re not captive or trained and I don’t want it any other way.  Today I was a bit disappointed, but it only reinforced in me the feeling you get when you do see them.

We did see people enjoying the day sailing in the bay.

and a dredger working to keep the shipping lanes open.

Drove through downtown gulfport and while it’s light years more than Biloxi, it’s still a pretty small quiet area.  I was surprised to find out that Gulfport is the second largest city in the state.  It has a quiet & mellow vibe down near the water.  It’s only when you get north of the bay dies it start to take on the look and feel of a big city.  Here’s a few examples of the buildings in Downtown Gulfport.

I like the old advertisements on the wall.

Survivor of Katrina being refurbished.

Interesting story the building of Carnegie library’s across the country.

Hey what can I say, the kid just likes to be photographed.

DAY #23

The weather had cleared and gone was the rain & humidity.  In its place though came plummeting temperatures (high in the low 50s) and a brisk wind out of the north (Brrr…).  I had turned on the furnace the night before to take the chill out of the trailer.  When I fell asleep everything was cool, waking up a few hours later and man, why is it so hot in here?  I get up and looked at the thermostat and it’s reading 88 degrees and then I notice, the furnace is still on, it’s been on all night. My first thought was (you guessed it), doom and gloom followed by whoa is me. This is just great, where am I going to get this fixed and how long will it take, yada, yada, yada.  I checked the batteries and they seemed to have died, at  least that’s what I was hoping for.  I changed the batteries, pushed the unit back onto the wall and took the furnace for a test drive.  Sweet Jesus, it’s now working as it’s supposed to and I am happy.  I am a little curious that the batteries died after only a couple of months. Checked my LP level on my app and wow, the furnace running through the night consumed about 40% of the tank.

After that rocky start, my plan for the day was to drive to Gulfport and go on a dolphin watching cruise, but first I wanted to see if I could do anything about my lousy “Hot Spot” connection.

I was bummed because the campsite has no WiFi (geez, not spoiled am I), and my cell service is bad, really bad, dial-up speed bad.  I do get TV but none of the channels offer much to watch, and forget about watching Netflix or Prime through my phone/tablets “Hot Spot”.  I decided to see if I could do something about it.  I went online and found a Verizon store near by.  In checking, I found the plan I had does allow my phone and/or tablet to be used as a “Hot Spot” but its output is capped at 600kps (.06 mps) which is like nothing.   I found a Verizon store in the area and went to see them. I was able to modify my plan to one that has no restrictions on Hot Spot speed up to 15GB per month, then it drops down to 600kps (ouch).  It’s going to cost $7.00 more per month but after the experience here, might just be worth it.  Of course you still need decent mps and that’s not going to happen here, I’ll check on it next stop?

After getting that taken care it was off to Gulfport.  You can take the freeway but I think the best way is to take U.S. 90 (Beach Blvd).  You drive with the Gulf right out your window.

Despite the stop at lights (and there’s a lot of them), traffic moves well and you get to your destination without delays (or so I thought).  I had left early so that my drive could be a leisurely one and it’s a good thing I did.  A couple of blocks from the harbor in Gulfport, traffic came to a stop.  Up ahead I could see fire trucks and police, and on my way there a paramedic unit had passed so I thought they must be there too. I was curious about what was going on (accident, fuel spill in the bay, fire,etc) and getting anxious about getting to my destination, and on time.  Cars were turning off and so I followed, I thought maybe I could get to the harbor another way.  After driving around and around, I found myself back where I started.  Great, I thought, now I’m going to miss the boat. That was quickly followed by a moment of;  poor-poor me, it’s not fair, blah-blah-blah.

Then I began to notice a lot of people, mainly young walking in the area wearing military uniforms.  seeing this, I remembered a story that had been on one of the local TV channels about a ceremony in Gulfport on Saturday.  I didn’t remember where it was going to be, and I guess I didn’t need to, I found it!  About this time the ceremony began breaking up (thank you, thank you, thank you) and when I asked a  police officer when the road was going to reopen he responded by saying, I’ll move my car and you can turn.  Sweet…life was good again I thought.

I made it to the harbor and still had twenty-five minutes before the tour began.  While waiting I checked my e-mail and lo and behold, there was an email from the excursion operator.  It read; due to high winds, today’s excursion has been cancelled.  After all the anxiety of getting here and now this, I could only shrug my shoulders and laugh.  In all fairness to the tour operator, the email had been sent early enough, I just didn’t check my email.  I was able to talk to one of the employees who told me they were going to do the trip tomorrow and I could get on the list for that, I said OK and resolved to do it again the next day.  I left thinking that it wasn’t high winds that caused the cancellation, it wasn’t that bad out, I think it was a lack of people, given this is the tail end of the season.  Overall, I’ve not been that wowed by my photos.  They need to be crisper and cleaner.  I’m always impressed by my cousin Barb’s photos.  They’re always so clear.  Thinking about her photos is inspiring me to do better.

Finished the day by checking out WHATABURGER. You can’t find these in Minnesota so, yea, kind of cool.

I had been to one last year in Florida and at the time…meh. I decided to try it again and this time I liked it much better.  The burgers and buns are bigger in size than the competition, and the fries were pretty good as while.  I don’t go gaga over the place but yea, I’ll stop again.

DAY #22

Started the day by walking one of the trails at the campsite.  The weather still warm, rainy (off & on), and the humidity slight less intense than it has been, I’d say its been downgraded to muggy.

The trail ran for 1/2 mile and provided some good exercise for this fat boy.  I felt good after walking it, one, I was still alive and two, I finally did what I need to do and heck, should want to do.

The park is located in the Gulf Islands National Seashore, a small vestige of nature remaining in the area.

Other areas of the park (off the trail) show it’s salt marsh structure

The trail wasn’t very well marked and there were a lot of side paths created by others over time.  I ended up going down a few different paths (kind of like life) and was getting a tad nervous until I found the road, I guess sometimes civilization is good.

He/she didn’t seem to concerned about me, too busy storing up for winter.

I think you can rent these. I like how they’ve kept the architecture of the houses true to the region.

You can see the moss in the trees.

After my little walk I was ready to hit the road and check out the back country of South Mississippi.  It turned out to be a six hour day in which I drove a lot of back roads and in doing so, came to see South Mississippi.

Trees, lots of pine trees.  I believe they’re southern yellow pine which if I remember correctly from watching a “This Old House” episode, it’s a sought after wood.  Kind of a hard softwood (if that makes any sense).

As I said, It had been very warm and humid went I left.  Driving down one of the many roads I took today, it began to rain heavy with a strong wind coming out of the north, and just like that, the weather changed.  The temperature dropped from 72 degrees to 54 degrees with a stiff northerly wind. It continued to rain the rest of the day and hence, no other photos.

I stopped at a small restaurant in Wiggins, MS.  So much more character in these local owned diners when compared to the likes of Applebees, Chili’s, etc.  The food was served fast, tasted good, and all came at a good price.  It was an experience the likes I’m looking to have on this journey.

It was a pretty full day.