Home Archives Links Français

January February March April May June July August September October November December

1 to 15 April 2014 16 to 30 April 2014

Tuesday April 1, 2014

After 10 good days here, it is time to get back on the road.
Goodbye Charles and Agnes, it was a pleasure to see you again and we hope to see you again soon.

Even before we got on the interstate we saw this guy walking his ... donkey!

There is a lot of French names in southern Louisiana.

Water is everywhere in southern Louisiana.

We stopped a Camping World to purchase a propane campfire. More details in the next few weeks.

Mississippi are just like Louisiana, not in great shape. We have to be very careful when we open cabinets because everything has moved compare to normal.

A soon as we are in Mississippi we leave behind I-10 and use US-90 and travel along the beach by the Mississippi sound.

We finally get to the beach and the white sand.

Our new home in Biloxi, Mississippi.

The RV park has a gas fire pit that is on every night.

This white post is where all your hook-ups are located, except sewer off course. Really neat and make it look very clean.

Ready for the evening...

It is a nice RV park.

Wednesday April 2, 2014

During our walk in the RV park we came across this alligator. The pool is not heated, but still not too bad.
The free internet is actually very fast.

Biloxi is more of a resort town with all the beach type of stores.

The Biloxi lighthouse. It has withstood many storms, but Katrina damaged it, but it was repaired.

On August 29th, 2005, hurricane Katrina slammed into Biloxi and the Gulf coast. All the casinos were damaged.
Here is one being demolished to make room for a future casino.

One of the many fishing pier.

Biloxi has a very rich history.

Charles sent me an email with a picture of a crawfish laying in the corner where I was sitting last night.
He mentioned that I probably have "dropped" by accident!
I am looking at the photo and trying to figure out how it could have happened!

Thursday April 3, 2014

The Sharkheads was re-built, it sells all kinds of beach stuff.

We are at the information center to get on the train tour of Biloxi.

One thing that surprised us, all the parking along the beach are free!

This Canadian hero played and important role in the gulf coast region.

We are in the "Biloxi Tour Train" with Carla, she is our driver as well as our guide for the tour. We are getting the usual directive before we hit the road.

The train is actually a jeep pulling two trailers behind.
We are on the one o'clock tour, but first let me tell you about timing. The train arrived 15 minutes after one, but on the positive side, the tour is for 90 minutes, but if it takes longer, oh well! It turns out our tour was two hours long.
I guess when you live by the beach, time is different!

The plate house! Really!

During one of our many stops, I noticed this pole with all the tar melted from it and laying on the sidewalk. It must be some hot in the summer to do this.

City hall with the mayor, A.J.Holloway, he has been in office since 1993 and he is on his sixth term. This is his last term because he wants to retire, he is 75 years old. Our guide stopped in front of his office and made us yell "Hey A.J." and usually he comes out , but he was not in his office today.
Everybody loves him. One time he had to make wage cuts for the city employee so he started with himself and gave up his $90,000.00 salary for one year. I do not know any politician who did that. The world needs more like him.

The Katrina Memorial.

Just to give an idea of how high the water got, the surge touched the ceiling of the second floor and the wind blew everything out of the third floor.

On the left photo, you can see the blue line on the pole that is how high the water was. On the right photo, there is a sign stating how high the water got in this area.

This street is 8.2 meter or 27 feet above sea level and there was still three feet of water on the street.

The fishing industry is very strong on the gulf coast.

90 % of all buildings by the beach were destroyed.
Between the big live oaks were big mansion from the turn of the century, all gone now.

The chimney is all that is left from the mansion that was there!

This house is the only house that survived and is located right across the street from the beach.

This witch weather vane has survived over 100 years of hurricanes, even Katrina.

The Hard Rock Cafe Casino was heavily damaged from Katrina, but the guitar was hardly damaged. It was protected from the strong wind by the building itself.

If you ever go by Biloxi, I strongly encourage you to do the tour and you will learn a lot about this city and the Mississippi gulf coast.

The beach with its white sand.

Our site, we have had better and worse.

We had a pleasant surprised, our neighbors are Bill and Crissy whom we meet at Lee's RV park in Florida a few years back.
What are the chance of being on the same RV park, but right next to each other?
We are pretty happy to meet them again and we had a lot of catching up to do.

The crawfish story continues.
I replied back to Charles email and asked him from which bag did the crawfish really come from?
I think he is just pulling my leg.

Friday April 4, 2014

Bill and Crissy are leaving this morning. Have a good trip back home and drive safe.

The information center has a small museum and like many museums here in Biloxi, it is free!
One of the sculpture made out of pieces of wood found on the beach.

It is a good little museum and tells the history of Biloxi through time.

Our neighbor belong to an antic car club. They are very generous with their time and show you everything you want to look at and even asked me if I wanted a photo with me in the car! WOW!

Another very good day.
In the last few days I did a lot of biking and walking on the beach.

The crawfish story continues.
I got another email from Charles with a crawfish in a different location this time!
I finally get it, it was April Fool's day on Tuesday. Charles, you got me!

Saturday April 5, 2014

The forecast for today is colder and miserable all day with some rain this evening.
We are staying home.

Our neighbors are leaving for a ride.

We are looking at our next stop and planning our route.

Sunday April 6, 2014

It is warmer today (+21 C) and the humidity is back, but the rain is with us most of the day.
Off to the mall to check it out.
Our plans are for us to stay in Mobile for a few days and after that on to Birmingham, the capital of Alabama.

Monday April 7, 2014

The Hard Rock Cafe Casino offers a free buffet when you register for the first time. We are in!

The buffet is really free, a $12.95 value.
We ate like p%#@.
Here is a sample of our plates. Many trips and a chance to taste every dish.

We did spend a few dollars in the casino, a big $3.00.
Then we went back home and could not move we were so full!
A nice sunset.

We must be good people because all around Biloxi (100 km) there are big thunderstorms and we get nothing!

Tuesday April 8, 2014

Departure day. We will travel on US-90 for the first part and then back on the interstate 10.

For about an hour we travel by the Gulf of Mexico.

The US-90 is just plain perfect.

We wonder what they sell?

Just like Texas, the oil industry is very active here and again, nobody is freaking out about it! Not like Canada!

A few hours later we are at our new home in Mobile for a few days.

It does not matter how long you pull the car behind the motorhome, you still have to wash it ASAP to remove all the sand and dirt on the windows to keep them from scratching.

We spend the afternoon thrift shop hopping.

Wednesday April 9, 2014

Since we are spending only two nights here in Mobile, we decide to go to the beach at Dauphin Island and the Gulf of Mexico.

I just love it when trees are all the way across the road.

The bridges are so high along the coast.

Look at those cute little house, and then we see them sideways. They are very small indeed!

We drive the Beach Road with all the houses on stilts. They had a lot of rain in the last few days.

We have to walk on the beach and get our feet wet. The water is nice at 65 F. The wind has a bite to it, but it is very nice anyway.

We had an hour long walk, ahhhhh!

We are back home. This is what it looks like. This is primarily a mobile home park with a few spot for RV. It is very clean and well-kept.

At $15 a night with all services and internet, it is nice.

While taking a stroll in the park, we came upon one of the new mobile home being installed and noticed that they all have anchor points all around. Must be to protect them from tornado!

Two nights is a little to short, so next time we come by this way we will probably stay one week, we will see!

Thursday April 10, 2014

We are on our way north to Birmingham, Alabama. About a six hour drive for us.
We just love all the French names we see all along the roads.

Shortly after we left Mobile we got off the I-50 and took US-43 north.

As we mentioned before, we prefer the secondary roads to the Interstates, more to see and a lot less traffic.
Speaking of things to see, we came across this catfish farm.

More we travel north, more the land changes to low hills.

Our new home is in Hoover, a suburb of Birmingham. Our RV park is actually part of the Hoover Baseball Stadium.

They converted a part of the parking lot into an RV park. It is full services and free, fast internet for only $160 a week, not bad at all.

Our site for the next week...

The forecast is for good weather for the next few days.

Friday April 11, 2014

Our first visit in Birmingham is at the Birmingham Civil Right Institute (B.C.R.I.), a walk through history.
Our friends Charles and Agnes recommended this museum.
Sadly we could not take any photos inside.
The museum is divided in six galleries, the barriers gallery, the confrontation gallery, movement gallery, the milestones gallery, the human right gallery and finally the Richard Arrington, JR, resource gallery.
Here we are at the entrance of the B.C.R.I.

We are in front of the B.C.R.I. where it relates the African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955 - 1968).
It is simply unbelievable to see this happened, not 200 years ago, but a little over 50 years ago!

The 16th Street Baptist Church where many bombs were exploded to stop the desegregation. This is also where a bomb killed four 14 years old black girls. Again, so much we do not know about our history and the one of our neighbor.

The Kelly Ingram park in front of the B.C.R.I. is where many of the sit-ins and other peaceful demonstration took place.
A statue of Martin Luther King, one of the leaders in the non-violent movement for desegregation of the south.

This statue is dedicated to all the young people who lost there lives during the demonstration.

L to R, James Bevel, Martin Luther King and Fred Shuttlesworth.

This statue is taken from a real event that was photographed.

This one represents when the young people were "attacked" with firefighter high-pressure water hoses.

"I ain't afraid of your jail" was what the young school student took to the street and were put in prisons, all 1200 of them.

For some good reading, check out this link, the Birmingham campaign.

Saturday April 12, 2014

Today in the parking lot of the stadium is the "Color Me Rad" race.
It almost looks like a party. The runners cover themselves with coloured corn starch and run/walk a 5 k race to raise money for a locale charity. In this case, it is for the Ronald MacDonald's house in Birmingham.
This kind of race is also taking places in major cities in Canada, Montréal included.

People from all walk of life, some are even wearing costumes.

One of the many stations where the runners get "splashed" with more corned starch.

In the distance you can see a yellow station.

A nice sunny day with a +28 C.
Michèle spent the day shopping in Thrift Shops. I just stayed home a did some serious reading.

Sunday April 13, 2014

Another beautiful day ahead of us. So, we are off to the Vulcan Park of Birmingham.

This park is located on the south-east part of Birmingham on one of the many hills surrounding Birmingham.
The statue was built for the St.Louis World's Fair in Missouri.
After the fair, it was brought back to Birmingham and placed on to of red mountain.

The museum tells the story of the city of Birmingham since 1871. It was also named the "Magic City"

What the inside of Vulcan..

Need I say more!

Another view of Vulcan.

During restoration of 1971 an elevator was added.

Once we are on the platform we have a very good view of the city of Birmingham and the surrounding towns.

Just in front of the museum a map of the locale area is carved and shows the city of Birmingham and area.

Birmingham!

The visit only took us a little over an hour.

The forecast for tomorrow is rain and thunderstorms. It will be a day of rest.

Monday April 14, 2014

A stay at-home kind of day.

Tuesday April 15, 2014

I am off to the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum & Barber Motorsports Park by myself. Michele is not really interested in rare cars and motorcycles museum.

The Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum has more than 1200 motorcycles in its collection, but only about 600 are in the museum at any given time.
The museum also has the largest collection of Lotus race cars in the world.
The racetrack with its 3.83 km and 16 turns is the site of the Indy Car Series races since 2010.
The red arrow indicates the museum.

Even the road signs are all related to racing.

This is the first thing you see when you come in the museum.

After you pay, the next thing is this motorcycle...

The lady at the reception recommends I start the visit on the 5th floor and work your way down the museum.
Unbelievable the amount of motorcycles!

I am not going to repeat what the signs say, so you have some reading to do!

This motorcycle has the throttle on the left hand handle so the soldier can fire his weapon!!!

You can see the basement and all the cars that are finished or still being worked on.
It is off-limit to the public...

Even the top of the elevator has a racing car on it.

It is not a real one, the tiger and the policeman!.

WOW!

I am not sure if I would want to try it!

An Erie 1905, a Shaw 1909 and a Marsh 1905.

The early version of the French vélo-solex.

Check out the belt drive.

Another look at the basement. At each corner of the elevator you have 15 motorcycles from the basement to the ceiling.

The Lotus.

Between each floor you have like a tree made up of motorcycles.

Mario Andretti's number 2 car.

More Lotus.

A different look at the basement.

If you ever watched the TV show "The rate patrol" you remember this one.

From the Indian motorcycle manufacturer . The Papoose.

A folding motorcycle?

A motorcycle wall.

The only car that is not a racing car.

Again, the basement.

I came out of the museum after three hours. I really loved this museum even if I am not into motorcycles.
If you are ever in the Birmingham area for a few days, I would recommend you come here for a visit.

Until next time.

Life is good...