Awake: 7:12am Temp 58 sleep 6+50 sunny overnight @ Gulfport, MS.
Driving the Suzuki, we head southwest on I-10 to US-90 & along the Mississippi Coast; we see workers steadily rebuilding the (26) mile-long sand beach. With little effort, we can easily spot numerous homes, business buildings, Deluxe Condos, closed roads, etc due to Hurricane Katrina over (3) yrs ago. What we missed the 1st few miles were the wooden carvings of: Pelicans, fish, dolphins, birds, sea horse, owl, etc; carved into the remaining trunks of live oak trees, the branches of which had been broken & blown off.
We temporarily reverse course to stop & take pictures of these stump carvings; roadwork in progress was in our favor for parking as one-lane was blocked off.
Next we park & visit St. Michael’s Catholic Church, commonly known as the “fisherman’s church.” The church was closed today but advertised a Sat & Sun Mass schedule. Damage was evident as we walked around the round structure; old stained glass windows broken, entry door battered, roof tiles missing, etc.
Doing a tour of Main Street in Biloxi was like touring a ghost town; very little activity on a Saturday. Many of the downtown buildings however, were either completely rebuilt or razed & started anew. We did our grid touring, seeing both cleanup & messed up. Also in downtown Biloxi, we stop @ the Katrina Memorial, take pictures & read the inscription.
Kathy programs our Lady Garmen to find the “inline ‘ice’ hockey without the ice.” Sure enough, hockey can now be played without the audience wearing heavy jackets, coats or blankets. We witnessed this happening & took pictures right there in Gulfport, MS as we watched an inline hockey competition. This complex also contains (2) large outdoor areas for skateboarding.
We make a short visit to Wal-Mart before returning to our bus. When it rains it pours: The campground manager: Big John, paid us a visit about (30) min before our leaving time for Saturday church. He’s such a nice guy; was stationed in Kodiak with the Navy & knows Alaska & just wanted to talk about it. After about (25) good min of reminiscing, he takes the hint & will meet us tomorrow. As we are walking out the door, buddy Barry calls traveling down I-95 to Miami, FL. We apologize that we can only talk for a few min; we’re on our way to church.
5:00pm vigil Mass @ Saint Joseph Catholic church was crowded. The officiating priest was from Nigeria & was very personable & very funny.
Dinner: spaghetti with leftover meat sauce & fresh spinach salad.
No movie tonight so we work crossword puzzles.
Lights out: 12:14am
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