Biloxi Blues

Biloxi MS 

Day 9

I made a discovery during the night - trains don't really make a lot of noise, BUT THEIR HORNS DO!  Another thing, if they suddenly blow that horn very, very close to a sleeping person in an aluminum walled bedroom, it will make that person's body go rigid....just ask the person trying to sleep next to them! 

Yeah, it was that kind of night.  Maybe the ear-splitting horns were responsible for Jim's nightmare.  He talks often in his sleep.  Last night (between train horns) when it was actually quiet, his babbling alerted me to the fact that he was having a nightmare.  Suddenly he sat bolt-upright, grabbed my arm and anxiously asked, "Kathy, where are we?".   For a second I considered messing around with his head and telling him we were in....oh, I don't know,  maybe Newark or Harlem.  But I figured, between the trains and the nightmare, his sleep was disturbed enough.  So I slowly said, "B i l o x i,  M i s s i s s i p p i "  To which he responded, "Oh...", rolled over and went to sleep!

Woke up to a foggy morning and walked three miles.  We walked west on US90 Beach Blvd. by the shoreline.  This used to be such a pretty stretch of coastline.  As we walked we remembered the huge live oaks, the stately antebellum homes and businesses that stretched on for miles.  We were trying to guess, from the looks of the empty lots, if what stood on a foundation was a home, a hotel, or a restaurant.   On the ocean side, we walked to an area that looked to be a marina, but with some huge metal pilings in the middle.  People fishing told us they were what used to anchor the President Casino. A huge barge that Katrina lifted off those pilings and tossed back over US90 like a Frisbee, where it came to rest on top of a hotel.  Some areas here look fine, and others look as though Katrina hit last week, not 2005.

Where the President Casino once was moored

Later, since it wasn't going to be a beach day, we took a drive down the coast to Bay St. Louis and Waveland, the areas that Katrina devistated most.  Still is hard to believe...

By this time we needed some cheering up and we were getting hungry!  Last year, we stopped on the eastern side of the bridge from Biloxi, in Ocean Springs to a little shack (and I DO mean shack) called the SHED that was featured on one of our favorite shows, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.  We were looking forward to another visit, so today we had our 'Easter Dinner' in a DIVE.  And oh mama, was it good!    I had the beef brisket patter,with two sides (mac salad and coleslaw) served in a styrofoam box, with plastic utensils.  We decided to 'dine indoors' (sorta,  you can almost see through the walls)  and the view consisted of a biker gang outside.  Different from our other Easter dinners...definitely different.

Later, after we checked on the dogs, had coffee and watched the news, we drove down to the Hard Rock Casino.  This is the place that Katrina damaged so badly just two days before it's grand opening.  We didn't stay long, they have some of the rock stars outfits in glass cases.  Elton John's are something to behold!

Tomorrow we head on out of here.  As usual we will by-pass New Orleans.  Just too much crime and camping areas are in sleazy areas.  Haven't a clue where we will be tomorrow night!