From New Orleans, we checked our map to see which direction we wanted to head before we go north again towards Nashville, TN. Since it was the 10th year anniversary of Katrina, we wanted to see the National Coast Line which was so terribly devastated by this hurricane. There was absolutely no trace of the devastation left, only major pro-active improvements such as very high bridges and homes and structures on very high pilings. Yes, when I say high… they are high… well over 12 ft up in the air, everything from homes to restaurants. The coastline was beautiful, white sand beaches on one side and restored magnificent homes on the other side. Here and there we still see some empty lots with the concrete foundation left, but where previous shanties littered the coastline, now stand new homes on pilings. | |
We also had the fortunate luck to visit a couple of folks we met during our tour of Mt. Rushmore. Gene and Anne happen to live in Saucier only a few miles from Gulfport and they graciously invited us to visit should we happen to travel to their area. Gene even trimmed his trees so that chubby Gertrude can fit in their driveway.
Gene & Anne toured us all over the Gulf Coast, from the shrimp boats where they sell fresh shrimp, to the little towns where they have the best bread, and for my love of trees they showed us the ‘Friendship Tree’ at the University, a 500 year old Oak Tree which survived Katrina…Truly AMAZING…
Oh, I almost forgot... to Allan's delight, we had dinner with their son Kevin, wife Samantha (Sam) and his two fun teenage girls, Madison and Ellie at the Blow Fly Inn! Hey, what more is there..... well, the evening did not end there.
We all went to Kevin's home to have wine by his fire pit in the backyard.
We had loads of fun!
Gene & Anne toured us all over the Gulf Coast, from the shrimp boats where they sell fresh shrimp, to the little towns where they have the best bread, and for my love of trees they showed us the ‘Friendship Tree’ at the University, a 500 year old Oak Tree which survived Katrina…Truly AMAZING…
Oh, I almost forgot... to Allan's delight, we had dinner with their son Kevin, wife Samantha (Sam) and his two fun teenage girls, Madison and Ellie at the Blow Fly Inn! Hey, what more is there..... well, the evening did not end there.
We all went to Kevin's home to have wine by his fire pit in the backyard.
We had loads of fun!
It just so happens that both Gene and Allan are motor-heads and when Gene told Allan that there will be a week long Classic Car event on the Coast, we put the pedal to the metal and headed on over.
Gene did put us to work and volunteered us to help with giving out brochures and directing traffic for the attendees. We gladly volunteered, since this gave us the opportunity to see all those amazing cars.
BTW, Gene and Anne are classical MG owners and they have 3 beautiful MGs which made both of us drool! Check it out!
The weather was cold, the cars were awesome and the old motor tunes were keeping everyone swaying to the old songs.
Allan was wishing he still had his T-bucket! :-)
What beauties… check out our ‘Travel in pictures’ to see the full Monty.