The Ray Adventures: Panama City, Fl., Gulfport, Ms., & Belle Chasse,La

Still heading toward our winter destination, Rockport, Tx, we are now at NASJRB Belle Chasse, La, just across the river from the Big Easy for five nights.  NASJRB is home to the 159th fighter wing, USCG Reserve, Marine Reserve, Army & Navy. The joint base supports the 159th homeland security, homeland defense and search and rescue.

Saturday, Oct. 17 Happy Birthday Talena, it's her 45th birthday today, she was only 8 when I became her "spare" Mom. Sunny and breezy & cooling down. Gary took Luci out for a walk, our neighbor across the street told us a bear was sniffing around our BBQ this morning, we didn't have a clue he/she was out there. I guess I was wise not to take the nature walk. Pretty quiet day, dog park, quilt store and the commissary were the highlights of the day. Watched some football, we couldn't get the Oregon game but they won without our help. Yea!!!

Sunday, Oct. 18 Sunny and breezy again, temps in the 70's, another quiet day. I cleaned house while watching football. Seahawks lost in overtime to the Panthers. Boo!

Monday, Oct. 19 It's cooled down, we had to turn the heat on to take the chill off. Moving day again, we left before 9 for our 246 mile drive to Gulfport, we are staying at Shields, a Seabee base, for four nights. We drove along the Gulf Shore Hwy, but saw mostly pine trees. We left Gulfport nine months ago heading North. We arrived about 3:30, a nice park with large spaces and concrete pad, especially after the dust bowl in Panama City.

Tuesday, Oct. 20. Another quiet day, we took Luci to the dog park before going to Triplett Drug and Soda Counter for Beignets, they were so good last winter we had to give them another try. Yum, Yum, Yum! After recovering from my beignet hangover I drove to the quilt store and also discovered the Outlet Mall, picked up a cute pair of $50. shorts for $12.

Wednesday, Oct. 21 After taking Luci to the dog park we drove down to the University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast in Long Beach, less than 10 miles to see the Friendship Oak. A spectacular Live Oak tree, it spreads 120 feet with foliage so thick during a heavy rain it remains dry within a diameter of 70 feet. Believed to be over 500 years old, it has survived many hurricanes including Katrina. Many Live Oaks in the area weren't so lucky but out of disaster came beauty, a wood carver has made over 50 carvings from standing dead oaks along Hwy 90. We headed down the coast to Pass Christian, it's so sad to see the empty waterfront lots with remains of foundations. Many were for sale, I did notice that a number of them had "price reduced" or "new price" on the signs. There are a quite a few beautiful homes close to Pass Christian that were spared Katrina's wrath. It's been 10 years and you still see signs of her devastation. We stopped at "Shaggy"s", for lunch, a cute "dive" on the wharf at P.C.

Thursday, Oct. 22 The highlight of the day was a visit to the Mississippi Model Railroad Museum, several layouts were set-up making conversation difficult because of the noise when all the trains were running.  Later we went to the Outlet Mall, finding a couple pairs of shorts and shirts for Gary.

Friday, Oct. 23 Moving day, we left about 10 for our 97 mile drive to Belle Chasse, La. We drove Hwy 90 along the coast, the white sand beaches run for miles. Just before getting on I-10 we stopped at the John C. Stennis Space Center, a NASA rocket testing facility on the banks of the Pearl River at the border of Mississippi and Louisiana. The location was chosen for the sparse population and the river to ship the Saturn V rocket too for large transportation overland. Five communities were relocated, necessary because of the noise of the rocket testing. 13,500 acres were acquired for the test site in addition 125,000 acres for an acoustical buffer zone, a wildlife refuge now, the animals are safe from hunters but have bad hearing. The Rocket Propulsion Test Site, built in 1965, played an important role in development of the Saturn V rocket, used in the Apollo flights. The 3 test stands are 200 feet tall, made of concrete and steel, are capable of withstanding thrust loads of 1 million pounds and temperatures up to 6,000 degrees F. We got to Belle Chasse NASJB around 2:00, as we drove in, there were about 30 egrets in the ditch along the road, all of which took flight as we passed. We'll be here five nights. The remnants of Hurricane Patricia will hit here Sunday night, we have been warned there might be tornadoes as well as heavy wind and rain.

Saturday, Oct. 24 With the foreboding weather forecast we decided it would be a good day to re-visit New Orleans. We caught the Algier Ferry (for$1.00 ea) across the Mississippi to Canal Street, saving a lot of stress and parking fees. We walked down to the French Quarter, since I was starving lunch was first on our agenda. We ate at New Orleans Seafood and Hamburger Co. sitting on the balcony overlooking Charles St. Gary had the Shrimpzilla PoBoy and I had red beans and rice, both were delish! We took the trolley down as far as we could to Mardi Gras World, where the floats are made for the Mardi Gras festivals. We had to walk past the full length of the convention center, what a hike!   The tour gives you a overview of the history of Mardi Gras, you can try on costumes before going to the float den. The artists work year around crafting the floats with Styrofoam and paper mache.   We did get to see a couple of artists working on next years floats. We were surprised to be so up close and personal with the finished floats from previous years. The size surprised us, some of them were double deckers. Krewes own the carriages, which can cost $80,000 from start to finish, the following years the cost is around 3 to 5 thousand dollars for re- decoration, MGW reuses the props, just changing some props and color. The Mardi Gras Festival, which runs for 2 weeks prior to Fat Tuesday benefits the economy of New Orleans in the millions of dollars. A Krewe is an organization that sponsors a float or ball for the season. Members are assessed fees to pay for the floats, some of the Krewes are exclusive organizations limited to relatives of previous years and others you just need to be able to pay the fee. After looking at the floats and taking pictures we caught the shuttle back to Canal St. where we caught the trolley back to the French Quarter, walking through the French Market, checking out the architecture on the less touristy streets we finished up our day with Happy Hour at Café Pontallsa at Jackson Square before heading back to the ferry. The weather cooperated, it was mostly overcast and breezy with temps in the 70's. Perfect.

That's it for this week, enjoy the pic's.

TTFN

Gary and Pam