Travels with Snowbirds Monday February 9 2015 Marianna FL to Pass Christian MS

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The one about what remains of Katrina

Up very early – that stupid one hour time change is going to rock my boat for a long time. But, there sure is one good thing about being so far east in a time zone. The sky was bright at 6:00 am. The sun was up over the yard arm way before 7, and when I was on the road at 7:30 the dew had dried off the windshield.

First stop, McDonalds. I have been Jonesing for a bacon/egg/cheese/English muffin for a long time now, and it sure went down good. Funny story, but not so funny, but funny anyway. I ran out of tissues this morning, and rather than use the skinny toilet paper you have to use in RVs, I figured I would appropriate a large amount of paper napkins at McDonalds. (I use cloth napkins in the RV, she said with right pinky up in the air.) As I was walking over to the condiment area, a very tall, very broad employee was dusting the ceiling with a mop. Dust was flying everywhere. He was very conscientious about his duty, and then I realized he was a very special person who was obviously taking great pride in his work. He was so tall, he could have reached the ceiling with a dust rag!. I couldn’t get around him. I let it be.

As I am writing this I am watching Sleepy Hollow on Fox, which is filmed in Wilmington. They are on the Battleship NC with the ILM skyline in the background. I love it. We are a good substitute for Sleepy Hollow, NY.

I drove the rest of The Panhandle, about 150 miles on I10. This is a very straight road, but oh so hilly. I couldn’t use cruise control because it kept having to hit the gas to make it up the hills. The terrain is more open space rather than dense pine forrets. Lots of dead animals on the roadsides, and mostly cats of all colors. The decorations on the cement overpasses is a group of 6 air force looking jets in formation. Interesting.

The drive thru AL was uneventful, it seems that the roads into and out of Mobile take up the whole state. There was some type of event that had a very large RV rally at the Civic Center, but I couldn’t find any information on it.

After what seemed like a10 minute drive, I was in MS. I quickly got of I10 and drove the remainder of my trip on US90 West. When 90 meets up with the Gulf it is never more than 50 yards from the water, and most of the time a whole lot closer than that. I did this drive once before, from New Orleans to Biloxi, and I remember the floating casinos and beautiful waterfront mansions. The casinos have all rebuilt on the dry side of US90. The pilings stretching far out into the water are all that remain of the pre Katrina structures. I wanted to stop and play some slots, but I would have had to leave Winston in the rig with the generator running and A/C on, not a good scene for him. The sand is beautiful and white, with lots of new palm trees. There are very new looking parking areas and bathing pavilions. For mile after mile after mile on the land side I saw places where these mansions stood; all that remains is the slab, an occasional fireplace and chimney, and huge piles of trees that have not yet been removed. Very sad. Jefferson Davis’ house remains, and I do not know if it was rebuilt, or did not get touched. I wanted to stop, as seeing the President’s homes is a bucket list item for me, but by this time I had driven just under 300 miles and I was ready to stop for the day.

One quick stop at probably the largest Walmart I have ever been in. Ocean Springs, MS. For 2 boxes of tissues.

My final stop is Pass Christian (say it Pass Chris-Chee-Anne) RV Park where I would meet up with the rest of the group I am going to Mardi Gras with. This is about a 25 site RV park, mostly permanent residents living in 5^th wheels, with a few permanent structures. I am next to one of those structures. A very lovely African American Man, his blonde lady and her blonde toddler, and 6 dogs, and assorted bicycles, grills, barbecues, smokers, lawn chairs, you get the idea. All the dogs here run free and there is dog poop everywhere. The people are very lovely, just very poor. This is a Passport America park – another camping membership I have that gives half-priced sites. $14 plus tax for water, electric, sewer, and some have cable. I don’t, I have unleashed dogs. That’s not an awesome thing for Winston when he is inside and a beautiful (and I truly do mean beautiful and wonderful and loveable) black and white pitbull puppy is standing on my stairs wanting to come in. Then there’s the God awful boot kicker thing, maybe Chihuahua, that barks all the time, all the time, and nips at your heels. You get the idea, don’t you.

One of the sites has one of those fancy horse trailers that has living quarters in the back. They have put up a 5 foot fence around a grassy area and there are 2 white horses in it. Huh? Campground gossip says they are here for a few days before going on to Ocala.

The owner, Dusty, was not here when we arrived, and the residents told me he would be home later, and we could pay in the morning. He did come by about 8:00 to say hello. Nice young man. Told me a lot about Pass Christian. After Katrina, his land was under water, we are at least 1.5 miles from the gulf. Looking around, I see that all the utility poles are new, as are the sewer hook ups. The main electric transformer is on stilts. The bath house is a pre fabricated structure, also on stilts. After Katrina 95%!o(MISSING)f the retailers in town were gone, as was 75%!o(MISSING)f the residential structures. No one paid taxes. No tax income for the town, no money for schools, police, or to rebuild any of the infrastructure. There is very little building along the waterfront. The only thing that looks like it might have held up against the storm are the Waffle House restaurants. I saw empty parking lot after parking lot, with an occasional bent over sign where once a souvenir store or restaurant stood. It seems every piece of property has a for sale sign. So, if you want to buy a piece of land cheap, come here, only thing is you have to make some type of deal on the unpaid real estate taxes before you can own it. Does the cycle ever end??

Don’t know when I will post again, tomorrow starts a week of craziness at New Orleans Mardi Gras. Lots of city tours, museum visits, breakfasts at fancy restaurants, a Bal Masque, a costume party (so not me, just so not me) beignets, café au lait, oysters, king cake and a parade EVERY NIGHT!!!! Tee Hee



Kat out

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