The Ray Adventures: Gulport & Tallahassee April 12

It's only been 18 days since we left Rockport, we've traveled to four states and covered almost 1,000 miles. We promised ourselves to take more time at each destination on this trip. The weather has been beautiful although it's a little hot here in Tallahassee.

Wednesday, April 12. We left Lakeside RV Park after filling our propane tank, it's been over a year since we last filled. We arrived at Shields Fam Camp, Seabee Construction Base Gulfport, Ms., about 11:30 after a short 107 mile drive, we'll be here for 7 nights. Our third time here, what a great place, miles and miles of white, white sandy beaches that run almost the length of the Mississippi Gulf coastline. The beautiful weather continues, it was 80 degrees before noon with a light breeze. I was able to get a doctor appointment at 4, I stubbed my toe about 6 weeks ago and it's getting sorer. It seems like a stupid thing to be "fussing" about but if the big toe ain't happy....... I was referred to a podiatrist Friday at 8am (arggghh very early for us) at their clinic in Gautier, about 25 miles toward Alabama. Ron, our CPA called with some questions about our taxes, he thinks he'll get them finished to file on time. Gary wanted to go out to dinner, we drove to Pass Christian to "Shaggy's", on a pier surrounded by marina's. We dined alfresco watching the silly pelicans dive for their dinner.

Thursday, April 13. We ran several errands, we needed to get a new bike rack to replace the old one that was damaged, a trip to commissary, picked up our Epcot tickets from Community Recreation (saved about $90.00) and took Luci to the dog park. I washed my car and Gary spruced up the tire rims, big day!

Friday, April 14. We were up and out the door by 7:00, my appointment was scheduled for 8, we weren't sure what traffic would be like. Since we'll be in the area for less than 5 days now, the Dr. wants me to wait until we get somewhere where we'll be there a couple of weeks so they can take off my toe nail and monitor the healing. Looks like I'll be wearing sandals a little longer. We were planning to re-visit Bellingrath Gardens near Mobile, Al. so we continued a little further east. Two years ago we visited the home in early February, but not the gardens (1) Not much in bloom and (2) it was REALLY cold and windy. Mr Bellingrath was Mobile's first Coca Cola bottler in the early 1900's, he bought the fish camp on the Fowl River in 1917 and turned the 65 acre property into a showcase. The house features Mrs. Bellingrath's collections of antiques, silver, china, crystal and cut glass. I remember from the house tour, Mrs. B. would get together with her butler every morning to choose the china, crystal and silver for every meal of the day, mine is Dixie's finest with Oneida and our every day crystal of Solo Cups. Saves a lot of time that way. The Boardwalk along the Fowl River was closed for maintenance, we did walk it in the cold weather 2 years ago, you can sometimes see birds, fish, turtles, deer and alligators. Our last stop on the walk was the Asian/American gardens, we were disappointed, the Asian Gardens needed maintenance. I found out 2 days later that Gary saw a big black snake as we entered. He was wise not to mention it to me. I'm sure I would have been running and screaming to the exit at fast as I my short little legs would have carried me. The gardens began to develop in 1927, fountains, flagstone pathways, and the formal rose garden and conservatoryvwere all part of the original design. In 1932 the Bellingrath's placed an ad in the Mobile newspapers inviting the locals to see the spring flowers, over 4,700 people came, after that the Bellingrath Gardens were open to the public year around. Mrs. B. died in 1943. In 1955 Mr B. died, since they had no children a foundation was created to oversee the gardens and home and provide scholarships. The flowers were so beautiful, I've never seen hydrangea's bloom so big. The rose garden wasn't quite in it's prime but I did get to "sniff" a few. It was a beautiful day, I tried to envision, where if I lived there, would I enjoy sitting "out" the most. Certainly not the Asian garden LOL!!! We drove to Ocean Spring, Mississippi for lunch, 2 years ago we met Ron and Sharon, they were on their cross continental bike ride from St. Augustine to Santa Monica, we joined them at a cute brew pub, now a Tapa's restaurant so we walked across the street to "Off The Hook" instead. Pretty tasty! I had grilled grouper and Gary had fish tacos. After lunch we drove back to Gulfport rescue Luci from her prison in the coach.

Saturday, April 15. Gary and I both rode our bikes around the base, well I just did 3 miles and Gary rode the perimeter of the base. I had a pedi appointment at 11, sore toe and all. After lunch we went downtown to mail some money to Uncle Sam. We did some geo cacheing at Gulfport Marina before running into a snag at the pier. Lots of walking.

Sunday, April 16. Happy Easter. I started the day with anothe bike ride, a bit breezy, the last half of the ride was into a head wind. We went to the base Chapel for Easter Service. The Chaplain wore jeans, a plaid shirt and a guitar, the message was good but short, only a half hour. After church I went to the store to pick up groceries to make Easter dinner. Unknowingly Gary had lunch while I was gone, so I put dinner off until 3:30.

Monday, April 17. A lovely morning, no wind, I had a nice bike ride with out a headwind. I did some cleaning before we went to Triplett Drug lunch counter for beignets, yummmmmy, basically a gob of goo, deep fried and smothered in powdered sugar. What's not to like? After, we walked the beach to burn off the calories. We decided to invest some of our hard earned cash into Mississippi's economy, we drove to Biloxi to the Beau Rivage Casino...We waited in line to join the players club to get $10.00 each playing money. Low and behold, I won $50.00, Gary lost $1.00. I quit before I lost my earnings. I think I like gambling after all. After a quick trip to Keesler AFB Exchange we went to lunch at Shaggy's Biloxi. I bought!

Tuesday, April 18. Our last day in Gulfport. Our new bike rack came in to Cyclist Choice and Fitness. The Saris bike rack is so much better than our old one, very study. One of the features that sold us is the bike lock built right in so no need for a cable and a padlock. There were still 2 things I needed to do. A trip to the wonderful quilt store, beautiful fabrics, I left the store empty handed, no time for quilting until we get back to Rockport. You know the saying "shopping with your husband is like hunting with the game warden", I left Gary behind while I visited the Outlet Mall, they have some great stores there including my favorite, Talbots. I bought some new tank tops and a pair of shorts-what restraint. Our rule - bring something new in - toss something out. Keeps you honest. When I got back to the coach we did some prep for our departure in the morning. We put our outside "stuff" away and loaded the bikes so we could make a quick getaway. I fixed one of Gary's favorite dinners, chicken curry and rice for dinner, I just had salad.

Wednesday, April 19. We left Gulfport a little after 9 for our 308 mile drive to Tallahassee. We stopped at the Florida Welcome Center to pick up some Tallahassee brochures. After a quick lunch we were on the road again, arriving at 5:00 EDT, settling in our site was nice and easy, no pesky trees to get in the way and best of all we have satellite service. Tallahassee has a population of close to 200,000 with an elevation of 216. The city has 7 hills, just like Rome. The Spanish explorer de Sota discovered the area in 1538 on his way to explore North America.

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

TTFN

Gary and Pam