Goodbye Louisiana, Hello Mississippi

(Gulfport, MS) Hi 83 Lo 69 – In yesterday's blog we gave an incorrect explanation of the cemeteries in southern Louisiana. After reading it, Betty sent us an email with the correct information. Here's a quote from her email:

"I looked on your blog at the pics you took of the cemetery behind St. Mary Magdalen church.  You mentioned that bodies are buried 'above' ground…let me just say that that is not always the truth….the only time they are buried above ground is when they are in a mausoleum.  The tombs as a rule go down 6’ (as is my father’s and mother’s tomb), but there are those cement structures above the tomb.  Those are usually done sort of as a memorial to the dead.  Some are fancier and more expensive than others.  Some people just bury the caskets in a tomb and do not put the 'memorial' as I call it on top….My parents are both buried in one tomb (with 2 different caskets) with one of those 'slabs' on top made up of marble instead of concrete.  It usually is a matter of preference.  Many people who come here mistake the idea that because of these slabs, they think the bodies are above ground. Just wanted to clarify that….it is a very common misconception. Now like I said, the mausoleums are above ground and have 'drawers' like a cabinet within which to put the caskets in."

Thanks for setting us straight Betty.

Another thing we learned about is crawfish mounds. They're all over the place. The crawfish come out at night looking for food. We've learned so much in this area!
 



We had a great trip today Gulfport, MS. We crossed Henderson Swamp, which is huge! (Click on the pictures to enlarge.)






The pictures aren’t real clear but gives an idea how a big swamp looks from the road. It's part of the Atchafalaya National Wildlife Refuge. We crossed it on a very long bridge/causeway. You can see water between the bridge lanes in this photo.


After about four hours we arrived at the Navy Construction Battalion Center in Gulfport.


The NCBC is the eastern U.S. home of the Navy's Seabees. This is the first Navy base we’ve been to since I traded cars, so I needed to visit the pass & registration office to register my car and get a windshield sticker. Jim went ahead to the RV Park and checked in. When I was done I caught up with Jim just as he was pulling into our site.


After getting set up we went for a drive around the base and through downtown Gulfport. I didn't get any pictures of the base, but here are a few of the beach area.




There’s a lot of sand on the road, we think from hurricane Isaac last month.




We were both hungry so Jim used his smart phone to look up a place to eat. We picked out a local BBQ place, but when we got there we discovered it was a Jamaican place. We decided to eat there anyway, and are very glad we did. There was only one guy there doing the cooking and waiting on people. The food was so good! Jim had jerk chicken (very spice!), and I had garlic shrimp. They both came with a side dish of seasoned cabbage, which also was good.

Jerk Chicken


Garlic Shrimp and rice


We came home and settled in for the night. It was another great day of traveling, with some sightseeing planned for tomorrow.