Just a summary of my impressions and experiences for the first 10 days of our great adventure.
First of all, in the unlikely event that you would like to visit Mississippi or Louisiana I suggest you do it in January. The nights are cool, Jane would say cold, but the days are sunny in the low 70’s very pleasant plus there is no one here. The hotels and parks and restaurants are empty apparently not the tourist season. Of course, there is sea food everywhere even the gas stations advertise fresh shrimp, we didn’t try it.
We did spend a day in Biloxi MS and sat through a visitor center video that focused primarily on hurricane Katrina. There were photos of the old visitor center which was 150 years old and had with stood many hurricanes the after Katrina photo was a vacant lot. We all heard how bad it was and most of the news coverage was in New Orleans but until you hear first person accounts of how they survived and personal accounts for those who didn’t we can’t realize how truly bad it was. Wind wasn’t what caused the most damage it was the tidal surge of 37 feet in places they described it like a tsunami. Years latter you still see where a building once stood now all that remains is the cement slab.
Jane and I also drove through Mexico Beach in Florida which was just hit by hurricane Michael in Oct 10, 2018. Again, the devastation there is beyond description. Homes and businesses completely destroyed. 1,000’s of mature trees broken in half, half-way up the trunk. We drove to Tallahassee and even along Hwy. 10 which is 50-60 miles from the shore trees were broken in half.
We are now staying with friends, John and Cindy McCue in Miramar FL (east of Destine, FL). They live I a wonderful golf community. It is a large complex with 3 golf courses and many individual neighborhoods each controlled by the homeowners with an HOA.