4 Jan 2019 - Sunshine!! Biloxi Lighthouse, Pier, Visitor Center, Maritime Industry & Seafood Museum

4 Jan 2019
Woke up to a gorgeous sunny morning but a bit chilly.  That's OK!  Better than rain and fog.  After a quick breakfast we headed down towards Highway 90 better known as Beach Blvd.  Yes, there actually is a Gulf out there!  First time we've seen the water now that the rain and fog have cleared.  We drove east and found the Biloxi Lighthouse. 

There is a large parking lot on the beach at the Biloxi Lighthouse Pier, and the lighthouse is actually right there in the median between the eastbound and westbound lanes of Highway 90.  The Visitor Center is on the north side of Highway 90 at the lighthouse.

The lighthouse was closed because it is apparently only open from 0900-0930 hrs daily, so after we parked and snapped a couple pictures of the lighthouse from a distance and then headed over to the visitor center.

Inside the visitor center is a small museum and a gift shop.  We toured the museum and thoroughly enjoyed it.  They have displays that reflect Biloxi's history, the lighthouse, the beach area, etc.  We also watched a video about how hurricane Katrina damaged the lighthouse.

A beautiful painting of the lighthouse

One of the museum displays

A picture of the lighthouse being repaired after Hurricane Katrina.  14 months and $400,000 later it was done!

One of the many markers visible along the Gulf Coast that shows the storm surge height from Katrina.  We are up here quite a ways from the beach, so the picture here does not do it justice.  The storm surge was 22 ft above mean sea level here with waves cresting at 34.1 ft.  

Holly bushes surround the visitor center.

We will get into more detail on the lighthouse in tomorrow's blog post when Doreen is able to get inside and climb it!

We finished up in the museum and visitor center, and then headed back across Highway 90 to check out the Biloxi Lighthouse Pier and beach areas. 

Looking through the end of the pier back towards the beach.  You can see the lighthouse with the visitor center behind it.

One of the locals checking us out.

Looking west from the pier onto Biloxi Beach.  Cool, windy day and no one was here.

Looking east from the pier.  A couple folks with metal detectors out there walking the beach and the casinos in the background.

It was too windy and cold to be out there too long so we hopped back in the truck and drove east on Highway 90 past the casino's.  The entire area just west of the Ocean Springs bridge is now casinos.  None of them were here when I was down here.  

Just past the casinos before we got to the Ocean Springs bridge we turned north to an area that used to be a Coast Guard Station.  It was wiped out by Katrina, but they built a Maritime Industry and Seafood Museum there. 

The massive three story building educational displays that provide history on Biloxi's maritime and seafood industries.  It was very interesting!!

A bell that was removed from a buoy.  I had no idea they were that large!

 

This is the fifth order Fresnel lens that had been hidden during the Civil War.  It was recovered in 1866.

Artifacts from the USS Biloxi

A wooden sailing vessel restored

1960 Sports-Craft Adventurer, also beautifully restored

A display on fishing charters, a big industry here.

Oyster dredging apparatus

Crabbing

Chief at the helm LOL!

Oystering industry

The knives they use to open the oysters and remove the meat

Oyster tongs - how they used to harvest oysters by hand

Canning machine 

Many ship displays.  This is a shrimp boat.

1979 Lapeyre shrimp peeling machine.  Can peel 1000 lbs of shrimp per hour.

Boat building, another large industry in the area.

A shrimp net, lowered into the water by the long arms on the shrimp boats

The Golden Fisherman memorial - 'casting his net into eternity'.  A tribute to those who dedicated their lives to the maritime and seafood industries in the Biloxi area.

The museum also had a room dedicated to the history of hurricanes that have impacted the Biloxi areas.  One of them, Hurricane Camille, struck in August 1969, a few years before I attended Air Force electronics school down here.  The damage was still very visible in 1973.  Hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005 and wreaked havoc all they way along the Gulf Coast including New Orleans and Biloxi areas.

We watched a movie about Katrina for over 30 minutes and then left the museum and headed back west towards the FamCamp. 

We stopped at a souvenir shop Doreen had read about.     

Notice how all of these structures are built high off the ground.  Most have elevators, ramps or stairs for the customers to access them.

It was, without a doubt, one of the largest souvenir shops I have ever seen!

Doreen was amazed at the selection of lighthouse souvenirs!

This one caught my eye!

Next door there was a seafood restaurant so we had a late lunch there.  Back to the RV for a while and then Doreen had a hair appointment at the Base Exchange on Keesler.

That's it for today (that was enough!).  Tomorrow we visit the lighthouse at 0900 hrs and then back to Charlie and Elaine's for lunch!

3 Jan 2019 - A Visit with My Air Force Supervisor

3 Jan 2019
Today we drove north of Vancleave MS, about an hour from here, to visit Charlie Philbrook and his wife Elaine.  Charlie and Elaine were stationed with us in the Air Force up in Maine.  He was my first supervisor and we have maintained contact all these years.  We had a great talk with them, reminiscing about our Air Force careers and the great times we had.  As I explained before, Charlie and Elaine drove all the way up to Des Moines in 2015 to attend my military retirement.  I am so honored and thankful they would make that journey to be there as my military career came to a close.

We failed to get pictures today but we will see them again at least once before we head on west to New Orleans in a few days.  We may check out a restaurant near Pascagoula that serves a wicked shrimp poboy sandwich!!

I honor of Charlie and Elaine, here are a few pictures from the archives

Halloween party at our house in Presque Isle Maine 1976.  Elaine worked at Sears.

Snow gets a little deep up there in Aroostook County!

Charlie

Charlie and Doreen at her baby shower, laughing about something!  Check out my bride's hair!

Another snow picture, this one at the transmitter site where Charlie and I worked off-base.

Charlie and Elaine - great friends!

After we returned to the RV today, we seized the opportunity while it was not yet raining to grill some burgers and chicken.  We usually grill ahead so we can reheat in the microwave when the weather is crappy.  Speaking of crappy weather, it is raining again and the wind is blowing fiercely as I write this.  The rain is supposed to taper off tonight and we might even see some sun tomorrow but it will be cooling to the 50's.  Like everyone from Iowa says, at least it is not snowing.  True dat!

Hope to do some sightseeing tomorrow along the beach,. lighthouse, etc if the sun comes out... 

2 Jan 2019 - Arrived at Biloxi MS

2 Jan 2019

We are in Mississippi!  Biloxi MS to be exact, my old stomping grounds.  I have attended various military schools here over my career, starting with basic electronics school and advanced radio maintenance school, both in 1973. I am looking forward to seeing what has changed, and I know it has changed a lot.  When I got down here in July 1973 the area was still recovering from hurricane Camille, which happened in August 1969.  Most recently in August 2005 hurricane Katrina clobbered the area and Keesler Air Force Base was not spared.  So, more on that later.

We departed Pensacola this morning shortly after 1000 hrs and arrived at the Keesler AFB FamCamp about 1230 hrs, traveling 122 miles.  Nice, short travel day but pea-soup again with fog along most of the route!

One of the rest areas on I-10.  Looks like a southern mansion!

Keesler's FamCamp is located off-base which is a little different, but it appears to be in the middle of a 'base housing' area.  There is a wall dividing the FamCamp from the housing area. 

The campground is divided into a couple different areas, possible older and newer.  What appears to be the older area the sites are less level and tighter spaced.

Some of these sites would be tricky to use

Pretty good slopes here.

We are in what would appear to be a newer area with longer pull-through sites that are fairly level.

Fairly level, paved sites.

Good spacing between sites and a paved patio with picnic table

You can see the wall behind us

We are only going to be here five nights, from 2-7 Jan, so we will have to use our time wisely.  Tomorrow morning we will visit my first military supervisor, then SSgt Charlie Philbrook and his spouse Elaine.  We were stationed together from 1974-1977 at Loring Air Force Base near Limestone Maine.  Charlie retired from the Air Force down here and worked at Ingalls Shipyard in Pascagoula MS.  We were so honored to have both Charlie and Elaine attend my military retirement ceremony in July 2015 at Camp Dodge near Des Moines IA. 

Charlie and Elaine Philbrook, July 2015

Biloxi MS has a lighthouse right here on the beach, so Doreen is excited to see that.  We were going to try to take the boat to Ship Island and also go on a shrimp board excursion, but neither run in the winter time.  There are many other sites to see here on the Gulf Coast before we move on to New Orleans on 7 Jan. 

Stats Update:
Campsite#:  6 of 30
# States Traveled Through This Trip:  7
Baseball Parks Visited So Far This Trip:  0
Point to point travel miles:  1282 miles
  - Avg point to point travel miles:  214 miles

Vicinity miles:  1282 miles - I check the formulas. That's not a misprint!! Same as travel miles!!

  - Avg vicinity miles:  256 miles

Total miles driven:  2564 miles

Total point to point driving time:   24 hrs 30 minutes

Total fuel purchased: 202.371 gals

Total fuel cost:  $586.57

Average fuel cost:  $2.932

Max fuel cost:  $3.179

Min fuel cost:  $2.669

Average MPG:  11.89 miles/gal

# Nights at end of this stay:  38

Lodging cost:  $1059.04

 - Average lodging cost/night:  $27.87/night

31 Dec 2018 & 1 Jan 2019 - Happy New Years!

31 Dec 2018 & 1 Jan 2019
Not much going on last couple days.  Rain continues off and on.  Pea soup fog now.  Glad we got all of our touring in early.

The bay is out there somewhere!

Yesterday (New Years Eve) we spent the day indoors working on our next trip.  What?!  We just started on this trip!  Well, we have recently found out that on 28 June 2019 our son Dan will graduate from the National Fire Academy's Executive Fire Officer Program at Emmitsburg MD.  This is a four year program that involves in-residence studies there at Emmitsburg and in-depth research papers Dan has to write back home.  Successfully completing this is a huge accomplishment and he has been working very hard.  When his research papers are graded, if the grade is high enough they are 'published' and all of Dan's papers have been published.  We are obviously very proud of Danno and excited to attend his graduation!!

So we will get home from this trip on 3 May, repair, regroup, reload and head for the East Coast via the Great Smokey Mountains, shown below.  We have not nailed down each stop yet nor the exact path, but we started making plans at least to get us to Emmitsburg area.  Then as long as we are all the way out there we might as well visit Washington DC for a couple weeks so I did get reservations locked in at the FamCamp at Ft Meade, MD which will allow for easy access to the DC mass transit system. From there we will head on down the East Coast to the Florida Keys and then back before the snow flys.  The planning for this will be on-going.

Later in the day we checked out the other campground here.  We watched the New Years festivities on the East Coast called it a night!

Today (New Years Day) I spent some time cleaning out & stowing the barbecue grill and vacuuming out the truck to clean out the sand.  Doreen did laundry before we head for Biloxi MS tomorrow morning.  She also cooked a corn beef and veggies in the Instant Pot and it turned out great! No, that is not my plate vs hers!  We also celebrated with a bottle of bubbly that we did not consume last night.

That's it from Pensacola.  Happy New years everyone and next report from Biloxi MS!