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Published: August 24th 2014
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BILOXI BEFORE AND AFTER KATRINA This small community is still recovering from the havoc Katrina caused in 2005. I was looking online at some of the before and after images of Gulfport, Biloxi and Pass Christian, all small towns along the Gulf Coast Beach Boulevard strip. The images are shocking. Large, historic plantation mansions emulsified to shreds, marinas ripped right out, the beautiful beach awash with debris. We all remember the horrific images on TV during the reporting of the storm. But the area is making a comeback. While there are many empty lots down Beach Boulevard, many buildings have already been restored and repaired, and the beach is clean and inviting once again, its white powdery sand shimmering in the hot 98 degree sun this afternoon. There isn't much on the boulevard other than hotels, motels, a handful of two story balconied mansions and a few sporadic restaurants. It's quite a stark contrast to Galveston.
We chose to spend our last day before "turning north for home" on the beach once more. It continues to be incredibly humid. The beach is empty aside from a few late in the season Gulf travellers like ourselves. We learned today that
school in the south is back in session at the beginning of August, which would account for the lack of vacationing families in the area. Ian wanted to swim with the sharks this afternoon, but was disappointed to find hot, brown, shallow murky ocean water, which again we learned is typical for August on the Gulf. No wind, no surf, no waves. Just flat beach, with inch deep water for metres, just about boiling in the heat. He pratted about, kneeling down for a photo so it looked like he was knee deep. Hotel pool instead?
We rode an expensive, short trolley ride down Beach Boulevard. We had travelled about 2 miles to casino city at the east end of the quiet strip, where sunlight is blocked by several large casinos. Here the bus pulled into the transit station where everyone but us alit. We sat still, hoping to just ride the loop and get the lay of the land, but the stressed driver who was running behind in her tight schedule barked it would be another $3 fare for us to stay on, which would get us as far as Hooters, wherein you enter a new fare zone,
so another $3 please to continue on to the mall at the other end of the boulevard. And then the same on the return trip to the hotel. Or, we could each get a day pass for $6. OK, we'll give you another $9 for two day passes seeing as we already deposited $3 when we first boarded outside our hotel. Nope, doesn't work that way Sir, I need an additional $12 for the machine to print two day tickets. What option did we have - walk back 2 miles in extreme heat and humidity, or pull out the wallet again. In all, it was a rather disappointing experience, as we didn't see anything more than yesterday when riding the bikes into town. Chalk it down to live and learn.
We had definitely heard good things about Shaggy's Grill across the street, so enjoyed appetizers and dinner there. It was a terrific, colourful beach bar on stilts, with shuttered windows open to an ever so slight ocean breeze, but still so hot given the lack of air conditioning. Even the servers were dripping, and attempting to stay cool by sucking on popsicles between orders. Whose idea was it to
come down South in August anyway? :-O
Carolyn, Ian says you would love it here - white sandy beaches, casinos, heat, no bugs, no swamps!!!
Our ride from the bayou yesterday was twice as long as planned. I had a brilliant idea to ride an hour out of the swamp and into the outskirts of Baton Rouge for breakfast. I found a great restaurant on Trip Advisor called Another Broken Egg, and the menu looked great - sweet potato pancakes, biscuits and gravy, cajun omelettes, good southern style fare. I wrote down the address, which we learned well into the ride was wrong. It was not a good morning for getting the route right. After riding the longest air bridge in the country which spans 18 miles across the Atchafayala Swamp Bayou, we made our first turnoff to route 76 to avoid the hysteria of Highway 10 coming through Baton Rouge. However, we missed the first branching of 76, and ended up riding an extra 20 miles through very pretty farmlands, with several fields being sprayed by bright yellow crop dusters, the land dotted with small, tidy, imaculate brick houses and meticulously manicured gardens and lawns. It was
worth the unintentional detour. Back onto 190 east, which skirts downtown Baton Rouge to the east, we found the exit to 426 which was supposed to lead us directly to breakfast. Well, the lead rider and navigator read the sign incorrectly (yes, that would be me), and we went west for a few miles before realizing the error. A big clue might have been the GPS mileage countdown going up, perhaps? Thank goodness for our wifi friend McDonalds. We were back on track and able to enjoy breakfast at Another Broken Egg, albeit one and a half hours behind schedule. The grits were worth it.
The rest of our travel was tedious and slow going. Route 190 east and 90 south into Gulfport takes you through small town after small town, red light after red light, police enforced school zone after school zone. There was a stretch of a few miles where I had to spray my teeshirt down at almost each red light just to stay cool. I'm sure onlookers wondered where the contest was? Still on route 90, and rounding that last corner once off the Bay St Louis bridge, the vista takes your breath away. You're
awestruck with white, white, white beach for as far as you can see in both directions. It's a beautiful sight, and you marvel at mother nature's ability to recreate herself after such a devastating storm almost 9 years ago. This area would definitely have a bigger buzz about it in June and July, but today we have enjoyed the tranquility and peace. It seems a fitting preparation for the mad rush to get home before school starts. Talk to you tomorrow, from somewhere north and west from here!
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