Mississippi - Days 2 & 3

Buccaneer State Park
Thursday, 2 and Friday, 3 January 2020

On Thursday it rained intermittently, and on Friday it rained hard for much of the day.  The permanent buildings in this park, which are all new since Katrina, are elevated - some even to the 3rd story level, and these boxes up on high stilts look really weird.  That all makes sense, though, given that the Gulf is less than a quarter-mile down the street.  Seriously, to get here I drove along Beach Blvd. which is (surprise!) along the beach, and turned into the main gates of the park.  My campsite is not much more than a quarter-mile from the water.

What's odd to me, though, is that the streets weren't graded properly when they were paved, and there's almost no provision for storm water, so even with a mild amount of rain there are patches of roadway covered by an inch or more of water.  Now that we're having some real rain, I'd guess it's close to half the roads that are covered.  Granted that's not exactly dangerous, but it makes walking difficult, and lots of people walk in campgrounds.  And why would they go to all that trouble elevating the buildings and ignore the roadways altogether?  Simple drainage ditches would have been a basic first step and shouldn't be too expensive.  Very strange.

There are a lot of campers here (and lots of dogs), though the campground's only a little more than half full.  There may be more coming in tonight (weekend beginning), even though there's rain, because the weekend forecast is for sun.  The rain's actually been a help to me because fewer people are wanting to take their dogs out for long walks, so I can walk mine without worrying about much more than them getting really wet.

I expected a lot of folks from northern states, and they're here - 2 separate groups are from Québec, even.  But about half the campers are from Mississippi and Louisiana and Texas - not exactly folks who are avoiding bad winter weather.

I've spent the time here finishing my Alabama posts and starting the Mississippi ones.  I made a doctor appointment in Gautier (which is apparently pronounced GO-shay here) because I'm running out of blood pressure medicine - not something there's an over-the-counter equivalent for.  And I've found another campground not far from there to move to after here.

I've also taken a good look at the map to plan some sightseeing, and I've discovered that Biloxi - in fact, most of those towns along the coast - are connected to the rest of the state by very long bridges.  I know I must have gone over one or more when Momma and I came this way, because I remember driving through some of these places, and you have to drive across at least one bridge to get to Jefferson Davis's house, which we went to.  But that was in Momma's Honda Civic, an entirely different proposition than this RV.

Still, I don't want to let my fears (which aren't well grounded in reality anyway) hold me back from seeing things I want to see, so I'm working out a route that will minimize the bridge bit.  Did you know there's a lighthouse in Biloxi that's in the middle of U.S. Hwy. 90, which is called Beach Blvd. as it runs through town?  It hasn't operated as a lighthouse since 1968, I think - it's now owned by the City of Biloxi which offers regular tours.  But it's apparently right on the water and withstood Katrina, and I'd like to see it.  So I'm working on all this.

And since I'm almost to the state line with Louisiana, I'll go up to the Welcome Center near here and see what information I can find about traveling the state.