Laundry Day and The Shed Barbeque and Blues Joint

March 02, 2010.

It was a cold, windy gloomy day.  Temperatures were in the 40’s but the wind was wicked.  Maggie was comfortable snuggling in her crate.

Joyce went into town to do the laundry and once again I stayed home with Maggie and Rico. I stayed inside most of the day and worked a bit on my Campsite Review Page and returned some e-mails.  Rico was wanting to go outside.

Later I took the dogs for a long walk, but it was still very windy and cold. We just can't seem to catch a break with the weather!  I did some minor preparations for our travel day tomorrow.    

We plan to travel to Fontainebleau State Park in Mandeville, La.  My brother and his family live in the area and so we plan to visit with them this weekend.

After Joyce got back from doing the laundry, we decided to try the highly recommended restaurant, The Shed Barbeque and Blues Joint.  

The front door, almost makes you think twice about entering!

The outside certainly doesn’t look inviting.  I noticed they had plastic up to cover the open areas from the foul weather.  They have a small outdoor stage on the other side of this mess!

The inside wasn’t very impressive either.  More of a junkyard atmosphere.  The menu claims that the owner is infamous for dumpster diving for junk!

However, the barbecue was spectacular!  Perhaps a bit pricey given the lack of ambience and the fact that the meals are served in a to-go styrofoam container with a plastic fork.  $31 for the two of us!  It appears a famous food critic , Guy Fieri from the Food Network cable T.V. show, Diners, Drive-ins and Dives was at The Shed in 2008.

Across the dirt parking lot is an RV park that we decided to check out.  The friendly clerk opened the gate for us and allowed us to take a quick look around.  Definitely not our type of park!  I’ll leave it at that.

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.

Tandem Bike Tour of Davis Bayou

February 26, 2010.  We awoke to bright sunshine and temps in the upper 30’s.  However, with the bright sun, it warmed up quickly to the upper 50’s.

We started the day as usual with a walk for Maggie and Rico.  After breakfast, we decided to take our Cannondale Tandem road bike out for a spin around the Gulf Islands National Seashore Park, Davis Bayou.

We rode past the rental cabins which are on the road to the boat ramp.

We stopped and took some photos of the boat ramp.

A couple kayaking were making their way back to the boat ramp.  The wind was picking up from out of the South making it too rough and difficult to kayak.

We rode on through the park and over this bridge which crosses a small bayou on our way to the Visitor Center.

The Visitor Center is located at the Southeast end of the park.

There wasn’t much inside except for some cheesy ocean/ bayou displays and a small gift shop.  The building was very large but there just wasn’t anything of substance inside. 

There is a large boardwalk style porch on the back of the visitor center. 

Joyce decided to take a break in the bright warm sun.

The boardwalk looks out over the bayou.

After visiting the Visitor Center, we took a ride along the roads within the park even riding back to US90 on Park Road.  However, US90 did not have any bike lanes and did not look at all bike friendly, so we returned riding back through the park.  It’s interesting that the main road, Park Road also leads to residential neighborhoods.  We ended up taking a route through one of these neighborhoods trying to head east.  However the wind was making it cold and we decided after a few miles to head home.

Later in the afternoon, we ventured out for a car ride to Biloxi.  We drove past a couple of casinos along US90 and marveled at the fact that they were building right on the beach!  I guess getting wiped out from a hurricane is just part of the cost of business.  I’m sure our friends Rocky and Gloria will have more to say on that topic when we see them tomorrow, Saturday.

We picked up a few things from Walmart just a mile or so from the park.  The rest of the evening we spent just hanging out and preparing for the forecasted rain.

Travel Day to Gulf Islands National Seashore, Davis Bayou Campground

February 25, 2010 travel day.  The day started out sunny but cold with temps in the mid 30’s.  However, it was dry and the wind had died down, making it a much better day for traveling than the previous day.

We got busy packing up to get on the road.  I wanted to be out of the gate by 10:00.  I knew the campground we were headed to at the Gulf Islands National Seashore, Davis Bayou would fill up quickly if it wasn’t already full.

We walked the dogs and said our final goodbyes to our neighbors and the managers of Avalon Landings RV Park, Jim and Wendy.  They are a terrific couple, and I enjoyed having long discussions with them in the office during inclement weather.  They offered to have us back as workampers in the future.  Something we might consider over the winter months in a year or so. 

Preparing to pull out of our site, 10 at Avalon Landings Rv Park.

Rico and Maggie in the back seat of the truck were ready to hit the road!

We got on the road about 10:30 a.m.  Joyce in her car and I pulling the rig with the truck. We traveled west on I-10 through Pensacola, Mobile and the George C. Wallace Tunnel.  We passed through Mobile around 11:30 a.m. so traffic wasn’t bad.  However, I could certainly see the potential for gridlock during rush hours.  Much of this area and the local bridges suffered damage from hurricanes Ivan and Katrina in 2004 and 2005 respectively.

We crossed into Mississippi and finally, we were more that one state away from Florida.  Our furthest trip out of Florida to date in our rig had been an incursion into Moultrie, Georgia last October for the Southeast Agricultural Expo.  Today as we crossed into Mississippi, we felt a little like a chick having flown from the nest after having lived in Florida for the past 30 plus years.

We arrived at the Gulf Shores National Seashore Park, Davis Bayou, in Ocean Springs, Ms. just east of Biloxi, Ms. at 12:30 hrs having traveled about 120 miles. 

About 2 miles inside the park is the entrance to the campground.  There were no fee stations coming into the park.

This park is a first come first serve park that does not take reservations.  That’s fine with me as I hate to make reservations! 

We had our self pick of about 10 sites. However, we could only fit into maybe half of the available sites. 

There were a couple of sites available with shade however, we chose a large site in the open field with full sun.  The temps only rose to 55 degrees today with more cold weather expected.  So a sunny site would fit the bill for us.

Our site was not big enough for two vehicles to be parked on the narrow asphalt.  So Joyce parked her car in a parking space a short distance from our rig.

Certainly not one of the prettiest or spacious sites we’ve had to date.  However, it does have 50 amps and water for only $16 a night.  There is no sewer hook-up, but the campground has a dump station.

The picture below is a shot down the center of the main loop.  The road circles around out of view.  Our rig is dead center between the two trees in the center of the photo.

The campground which is about 2 miles south of US98 on Park Road, appears to abut to a neighborhood that can be seen through the thin winter foliage. We decided to pay for a week. We spent the rest of the afternoon setting up and walking the dogs.  

I got the satellite dish set-up after a minor struggle.  However, there are about 15 channels available via the antennae.  We still had the local channels for the Milton area.  However, Joyce called to get the local channels on our Dish for our new site.  Dish erased our previous local channels and told us to wait for the new locals to appear in our channel guide.  Well after waiting, Joyce called back and after much discussion, learned that the only local channels for Dish in this are is a PBS channel, no national network channels.  We didn’t realize that some areas didn’t receive local network channels via Dish.  We since learned that on the Dish website you can plug in your address to learn what local network channels are available.  Something we will do next time before having them clear what we have.

I took a walk and took some pictures of the campground which is divided into two loops.  We are in the much larger loop.  The smaller loop is surrounded by trees.  Both loops quickly filled up. The bathhouse is old and needs updating.

Later in the afternoon, I watched as several RVs drove through looking for sites but there were no more RV size sights available.  I had suspected that this park would fill quickly as it is just outside of the casino strips in Biloxi and its cheap!  The entire park outside of the campground appears to be quite large and will demand some exploration later.

Later we spoke with our friends Rocky and Gloria whom live in Spanish Fort, Alabama.  Rocky was once stationed at Keesler A.F.B. right here in Biloxi, Ms.  They were able to get a room on Keesler A.F.B. (retired military).  So we plan to spend the day together Saturday as they show us around Biloxi.  We are looking forward to spending the day with them.