Local Drive, Shepard State Park, Bad Weather, Campsite Review Page

February 28 and March 1, 2010.

Sunday the 28th was a beautiful sunny morning.  After taking Maggie and Rico for a walk, I took out the lawn chairs and sat outside in the sun with them.  Rocky and Gloria stopped by on their way home.  Joyce made some waffles and we all sat outside and talked.  I think Gloria wants to do some camping if she can persuade Rocky to buy an RV!   We really enjoyed their company and hated to say good-bye, at least till next time!

In the afternoon, Joyce and I decided to take a drive in her car over the bridge and along the beach via US90.  

We drove through Biloxi towards Gulfport and checked out a few RV parks along the way.  None of the parks we saw, were the type that we like.  They all had small lots and were close to each other.  However, these parks exist because of the location on the beach and proximity to the casinos, so they can pack people into them.  They are not destination parks!  I would call them location parks.

Afterwards we drove west along US90 back past Ocean Springs and into Gautier Ms.  We found Ms. Shepard State Park, which was going to be our plan B if we had not been able to get into Davis Bayou. The park is 10 miles east of Davis Bayou.  The park was down a street towards the bay through a residential area.

We paid the $3 to the park manager who was working the ranger station.  We told him we were interested in checking out the campground.  He offered to give us the $3 back on the way out if we were back within 15 mins.  However, he was very nice and gave us a bunch of brochures.  He also told us that his campground has been full or nearly full for the last couple months.   Because of his friendly presentation we decided he was going to keep the $3.

We drove into the campground noting the gravel road and the fact that the sites were small and amongst the trees with lots of shade. 

The elevation through the campground was somewhat irregular.  All in all a nice campground if not just a little tight for big rigs.  However, we both concluded that we are happier with our site at Davis Bayou.

Back at home, I worked on a new feature for our blog available through Google Blogspot; pages.  Pages gives me the opportunity to have a page of my campsite reviews.  So, I decided to play with it and began working on a Campsite Review Page.  It appears the software has some bugs that need to be worked out with regard to the spacing and fonts as I struggled with it to get it to look right.  I’m still not happy with it and it continues to be a work in progress!  I also still need to add some reviews. The link is in the side bar of the blog page.

March 1, 2010.  The day started off sunny and we took the dogs for a good long walk in anticipation of rain later.  Because our site and frankly none of the sites here at Davis Bayou have sewer hook-ups, I decided to empty the gray water holding tank in our rig.   I used our gray portable tank to drain the rig’s holding tank.  Our portable tank only holds 18 gallons.  The rig’s tank holds 62 gallons.  I made a couple of trips with the portable tank pulling it by hand over to the dump station and emptying it.  I’m not at all concerned about the black/ sewer tank on our rig, as I know it will contain us for over a week and we only have a couple more days before we pull out.

Later in the day, Joyce decided to go to the mall we had driven past yesterday.  She also needed to go to a grocery store.  I stayed home with Maggie and Rico and prepared for the approaching storm. 

As the storm approached from the west, the wind picked up as the rain began to fall.  By the time Joyce got home around 4:00 it was raining pretty hard.  Later in the evening the winds were really gusting and reported to be up to 50 mph.  A few good gusts shook the rig a bit.  We tried to take the dogs out after dark to relieve themselves.  However, we didn’t get far from our rig as the fierce wind and temps in the 40’s made it too cold and formidable.

We plan to leave Wednesday, March 3rd. We were ready to leave Monday, however had planned to stay two extra days due to forecasted bad weather Monday and Tuesday.  In our lifestyle, we try to work with the weather and not against it!

Good Friends, Ocean Springs, Biloxi and the Beau Rivage

February 27, 2010.

Another beautiful day with bright sunshine and temps in the upper 50’s.  We got up early looking forward to visiting with our friends Rocky and Gloria whom would be driving over from Spanish Fort, Alabama.  Rocky and Gloria have been stationed at Keesler A.F.B. during Rocky’s military career and now during his civilian career off and on for about 10 years.  They are obviously familiar with the area before and after Katrina.  They offered to show us the town and take us to a casino.

I took Maggie and Rico out for an extended walk knowing that they would be spending the greater part of the day home alone.  I swear we worry too much about them.  After all, they are dogs and when we were working we had to leave them 8-10 hrs. a day alone without a potty break.  Now it’s a lot like having kids with us!

Rocky and Gloria arrived about 12:30 and after a light lunch, we headed out.  Rocky took us for a tour of old downtown Ocean Springs along the water.  We saw house lots where Hurricane Katrina had scoured away the houses and left shells of buildings in other places.

We took a ride over the new US90 bridge connecting Oceans Springs with Biloxi.  The old span had been destroyed in the storm.

From across the bay in Ocean Springs and especially after crossing the bridge into Biloxi, the predominant feature of the skyline was of course, the casinos.

Formerly the Isle of Capris, it was known locally as the "Pile of Debris" after Katrina!  Now it is just called the Isle and it's the first casino on the West end of the bridge.

The Hard Rock Casino with its trademark guitar.

We drove though the area noting the damage from Hurricane Katrina was still evident on the roof of the building across the street from the recently rebuilt gigantic casinos.

The historic Biloxi Light House situated on US90, survived the storm.  It's made of cast metal.  

The Biloxi Lighthouse built in 1848 is the only lighthouse in the United States to stand in the middle of a four-lane highway. The lighthouse survived Hurricane Katrina and is reported to be the most photographed landmark on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

After checking out a few local marinas and fishing piers, rebuilt 

and still damaged...

It was time to visit the premier casino.  The Beau Rivage!  A goliath amongst the giants. 

The interior was absolutely beautiful and decorated to impress.

But we were here for the buffet!  At about $25 a head, we were gonna make the best of it.

The food was very good and of course we over ate.  We were all so full we jokingly asked the 4 rather large ladies at the table next to us if we could have some of their Pepto Bismal.  We all had a good chuckle as they explained they are "professionals" and have been coming to the buffet for 10 years!  We waddled out of there and the girls decided to try their luck at the slot machines.

After losing $10, it was time for Joyce to give up her attempt at a gambling career!

We walked around and made our way up to the rooftop pool. 

The moon was nearly full and bright.

A few moments later and I was able to capture four full moons!

After leaving the Beau Rivage, Rocky drove us onto Keesler A.F.B.  We checked out the beautiful base marina facilities.  Afterwards Rocky and Gloria checked into there billeting on base.  It was getting late so Rocky and Gloria drove us back to our campground at Davis Bayou.  We sat around talking and eventually called it a night.  We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and the guided tour of the area.  We said goodnight and planned to see Rocky and Gloria in the morning before they drive back home.