Florida Bound 2012--Day 3

Another day, another road trip.

Was time to move farther east so we pulled out of Baton Rouge around 10:00 this morning. Was not in any hurry since we were only going 160 miles down Interstate 10 to Gulfport, Mississippi. Joanne and I have been to Gulfport several times, both before and after Hurricane Katrina devastated the place. U.S. Highway 90 runs along the beach for several miles going through Gulfport and Biloxi. Prior to Katrina the land side was lined with many large homes overlooking the Gulf. Katrina took most of these away along with most of the commercial buildings and casinos in an area up to four and five blocks inland. Each time we have come we have found it interesting to see what has been done to rebuild. The casinos and most of the commercial properties have been rebuilt. Only a few of the homes have been built back. Last time we were here, a couple of years ago, many of the lots had "FEMA" trailers parked on them for the owners to live in while they decided what to do. Now the trailers are gone and most of the lost are still empty. The big difference this time is most of them now have For Sale signs on them.

While here I hooked up with a fellow RVer and retired military friend. Les Crawshaw has been a full timer, meaning he has lived in his motor home, for several years. He just recently moved into the Armed Forces Retirement Home here in Gulfport. (For many years this was known as the Sailors Retirement Home but some time back it was merged in with the Army & Airman's Retirement Home in Washington, DC, and was opened up to persons from all services.) Les picked me up at the RV park and took me over to the place for a grand tour. Katrina had destroyed the old building so the military leveled it and started brand new. It is a beautiful facility now. I had always thought this would be a good place to retire but after today have pretty much changed my mind. The security procedures and numerous rules make it way to restrictive for my taste. Guess I'll just remain an Oklahoman for the time being.

After checking out the home we decided to grab something to eat before returning to the RV. We stopped at the Back Bay Seafood Restaurant for some great seafood. Really had a good afternoon visiting with an old friend and discussing RVing and the military, even if Les was not Navy but was a member of our sister service, the Marine Corps.

After returning to the coach and feeding the dogs I decided to head back down to the main drag (U.S Highway 90) and check out the casinos. Drove all the way over to the Biloxi side to the Hard Rock Casino. I'm not a big gambler and really don't normally like playing slot machines. If I'm going to "donate" my money I prefer playing Blackjack but only if I can find a table with a very low, like $1.00, minimum bet. This being Saturday night there were no cheap tables to be found. All that was available was $10.00 minimum bet. I did sit down at a .25 cent Wheel Of Fortune slot machine and played a few bucks. Wound up winning just over $36.00 so I took my winnings and headed back to the coach.