4th Installment June 1 through June 9 From New Orleans to the beginning of the Florida Keys

June 1 Wednesday

Left New Orleans this morning and backtracked a bit to the west on I-10 before going north on US Hwy 61 to Natchez, MS where we had a nice lunch at the Magnolia Grill under the bluffs at Natchez.  Restaurant was right next to the river and flooding had threatened until a couple of days ago.

US Highway 61 on way to Natchez

Barge on the Mississippi probably making net of about 1 knot/mile per hour upstream



House on the "bluff" at Natchez.  Looked historical to me -- or at least kind of old.



Mississippi River is just behind the temporary sand bagging



River had crested 2 days ago – it had been a couple feet higher



Remnant of the original Trace



Emerald Mound



Reyna in her mosquito net burka.  As I was walking around the Mound, the usual suspects attacked her as she waited in the car.

Don't know if the remaining 400 miles or so are as nice, but the parkway was perfect for crusing at Bug speed.

We probably drove about 60 miles along the trace before turning south and back to New Orleans so we could go along the coast over to Alabama to visit a friend.  As we got off I10 back in Kenner, LA to get a motel/hotel room for the night and to get some gas, we heard a big thunk from the right rear of the car.  Sure enough, the coil spring shock had broken again.  Adding insult to injury, the car wouldn’t start after we refueled.  I didn’t have the presence of mind to push the darn thing to get it going, so we called the Auto Club to have them tow us to Reyna’s cousin’s longtime boyfriend’s shop.  Her cousin, Nina, and Francisco came out about 11 at night to open the shop so we could drop the car off and  then we went home with them to Terrytown area on west side of River about 30 mintues away.  As the in-law, I certainly appreciated the way above family call of duty that this midnight run involved for Reyna's cousin.  I suppose I'd do the same thing, but it might depend on the cousin.:)

June 2 Thursday

Francisco got the car started with a push from me and his son.  He tuned it up and also replaced the shock with the “spare” I had from Dallas.  He told me the shock problem was a manufacturing defect and showed me where the shock had just come unscrewed for lack of some locktite and then it separated from the car.  So far so good since then, but I have a certain lack of confidence in how long the 4 that are on the car are really going to last.  The manufacturer/importer headquarters is in Southern California, so I'm planning to hand deliver these to them when I get home.



The first broken shock and the good one before being installed.  Notice how the spring is bent.  I think I must have driven quite a distance with it disconnected to bend the spring, but have no idea really.

While waiting for Francisco to repair the car, I went looking for a barbershop and found a Supercuts a mile or so away.  The barber lady, Jan, was very nice and after discovering we were both Scotch drinkers (not quite sure how that subject came up) we really hit it off.  She told me where to go to get a good PoBoy, which I hadn’t had yet.  She told me to try the roast beef “dressed” at the QuikChek where they cook the meat themselves.  She was right.

Had to take a picture of this ride when I saw it on the way back to Francisco’s from getting my hair cut

And Jan told me to plan for extra napkins and she was right about that too.

Went back to Francisco's and Nina’s home after the car was repaired and my stop at QuikChek and spent the rest of the day enjoying their jaccuzzi which was tepid (not 104 hot tub) and just right for lazing around in New Orleans temperature.  Frogs liked it too. 

The only frog we’ve seen on this trip.  Let me digress for a moment folks.  Something is wrong when we travel from CA to LA and see only one frog.  I heard bull frogs which I recognize from having had them in my own back yard. And some of the other noises at night may be frogs, but where are the frogs?  In CA there is evidence that pesticides are affecting the Mountain Yellow Leg population, but what is going on in the other places we've visited?  I think we all know and it isn't good.

Good toes.

After a nice dinner with Francisco and Nina where Francisco and I bonded well as we finished a bottle of Johnny Walker Black, Francisco had to show Reyna his toys.  And he promised us his newly built apartment for Mardi Gras or any other time.  We’ll be back.



Francisco showing Reyna how the ATV works.

June 3 Friday

We left Francisco and Nina’s and headed east on I10 toward Foley, Alabama where a friend of mine, Dan Byrne and his wife Laura are now living.  Dan and I started up OfficeMax’s first PowerMax Distribution Center in Las Vegas about 15 years ago.  He and Laura have been in Foley about a year now.  Foley is just about 6 or 10 miles from Gulf Shores and Orange Beach on the Gulf.  I must not have found the drive from New Orleans to Foley too scenic as I don’t have a single picture along the way.  We drove along US90 near the coast though, and I can’t believe I didn’t take any pictures..  I snap pics out the car window as I drive as you may also noticed, and it’s just not like me.to not take any, so now I’m mystified.  Since digital cameras are like computers it’s possible I missed retrieving a file of pictures.  Now I wonder where they could be.  Oh well.

Dan’s backyard with pond.  A nice place to arrive.  Tried fishing here a little and did get a strike from something.

June 4 Saturday

My Nikon Coolpix L5 camera that I got before we went to Brazil in early 2006 gave up the ghost yesterday, so looked for new camera at WalMart and then Target and got a Nikon S9100 little digital. Pictures are fine and it has about twice the telephoto power as the older one, but it’s got operating issues.    It sounds like a coffee grinder when the lens telephotos.  It gets stuck sometimes when changing the telephoto distance and I have to take the battery out to reboot it.  Other times it just freezes up and won’t do anything for I don’t know what reason, so out comes the battery.  And yesterday (June 19) I couldn’t get it to download the pics from the camera to the computer. As soon as I see another Target store, I’m going to try to trade it for another and hope the issues were just in the one camera and not in the entire line.  Anyhow from here on, the pics are from the S9100 camera until further notice.

After our camera excursion, we picked up Reyna and Dan took us for a tour of Orange Beach Gulf Shore area.  Lots of condos along the beach, but enough open space that it was pretty nice.  Alabama makes parking available for free along the beaches, which was a nice thing to see.  Do you think they are maybe trying to encourage visitors?

The FlorBama bar that straddles the border of both states.

Rear of the FlorBama from the beach.  Don’t know if you can read the sign on the boardwalk to the bar, but it says Must Have Shoes.  Seems dumb to me for coming from the beach.  I guess you don’t have to actually be wearing shoes, just have them. Good thing I had mysandals on.

View of Orange Beach across the back bay from Tacky Jack’s where we had lunch. Tacky Jack has 4 establishments in the greater Foley / Orange Beach / Gulf Shores area.

Those are “gator bites” appetizer on the plate in the foreground and Reyna’s oysters on the half shell are about all finished.  And gator does taste like chicken we all agreed.   Maybe it was chicken?

The bar restaurant  next to the water with the blue roof is Lulu’s.  Lulu is Jimmy Buffet’s sister.  That’s all I know.  We didn’t go there.

June 5 Sunday

Tried out the new camera's telephoto qualities this morning.  And later,we went to Orange Beach.

 

Morning reflections in Dan’s backyard

Bluebird -  about 50' from him, so telephoto and photographer wobble make him a bit fuzzy.

Cardinal from about 40' away.  We don't have any bird like this in CA, and I've really enjoyed seeing them since TX.  Amazing the picture is this sharp what with the telephoto and holding in hand.

Laura and Reyna discussing what a jerk I am to be taking pictures instead of helping Reyna shlep the rest of our stuff (in my defense, I had already taken a load to our spot on the beach).

Orange Beach

Reyna wanted to go for a ride, but she couldn’t talk anybody else into doing it with her.

Reyna in her “floaty”

Laughing Gull

Orange Beach

All of a sudden we noticed that it was getting mighty dark behind us.  It was still bright sun on us and looking out at the Gulf.  But inland was another story.

Reyna still in the sun and you can just see the front coming over us behind her

Dan and Laura appraising the situation. 

Wind started to blow and we decided to leave.  At least one of those canopy things was blown into ocean before we got off the beach.

And then it didn’t even rain.  And this area like everywhere we’ve been could have used it.  We did have some clouds though that made a nice sunset.

That night Dan, who loves to cook, made Caesar salad with homemade crutons and the traditional raw egg too.

June 6 Monday

On our way to Florida this morning.  We drove mostly on I10 although we did get off to go through Pensacola to Pensacola Beach Gulf and along the Gulf Islands National Seashore for a few miles before getting back on I10 through Tallahassee.  We got off the Interstate at exit 217 onto SR59 and went south to US19/US27/US98 to take us over to Gulf shore town of Cedar Key.  We only made it to Cross City before going for motel, Carriage Inn, as we weren’t going to make it to a campground before they closed.  Another day without taking many pictures – probably because on interstate for most of the day.  We did have a good BBQ dinner at this joint, which had the State Officer seal of approval and the local sheriff left just before I took the picture.

June 7 Tuesday

This morning we stopped at the Suwanee River near Fanning Springs just north of where it runs into Suwanee National Wildlife Refuge on the coast. 

The Suwanee River.  There were some big, i.e., about 4’, fish jumping out there.  I learned they were Gulf Sturgeon.  Had no idea there was such a thing.

up to 9’ and 300#, so the ones I saw jump were youngsters

On the fishing pier at Cedar Key

Looking back from end of pier at kind of typical waterfront development found along the Gulf with restaurants and bars

edge of town by the Cedar Key airport looking out one of the keys in the Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuge

On the way back to US19/US27/US98 we detoured over to the Lower Suwanne National Wildlife Refuge because there was a sign pointing to Shell Mound and it was about 7 miles.  You wouldn’t want to always wonder what a Shell Mound was (although I had an idea), so we made a side trip.

Now you know too

Along the trail to the Mound

The slope is created by the Mound of shells and the path is solid shell leading up to a level about 25' or so above where I was standing.  A lot of Indians ate a lot of oysters for a lot of years in this spot.

Continuing back to US19/US27/US98 and then on south, our next stop was at end of road 494 leading to Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge.  At least, I think that’s where we were when I walked over to the water’s edge where there were some docks and I saw the last half of a manatee submerge.  It never came back up around me.  Got a good picture of the cloud of mud wake left in the water by it’s passing.

Brown spot in middle of picture is where the manatee was.

From here we continued on down US19/US27/US98 and then stayed on US19 through Clearwater/St. Petersburg and Tampa to a campground called Tierra Verde, which is right at the mouth of Tampa Bay.  The campground was very nice with shaded sites and grass between the sites and the bay waters. 

Our campsite at Tierra Verde with Reyna in chair in front of our tent.  Bay is right in front of us about 40' across the grass.

White Ibis – a first for me – breeding adults according to my Field Guide to the Birds

Laughing Gull - again.  They really are everywhere.

The fly in the ointment at our beautiful camp site beach

Reyna hadn't seen the sign on the beach, so she was considering whether or not she believes the sign after I mentioned it. She decided not to venture out.

June 8 Wednesday

Today we continued to head south and got onto I275 for awhile from St. Petersburg to cross the Bay but got off right away at US41 (which is known as the Tamiami Trail) toward Sarasota.

The toll bridge on I275 to go south from St. Petersburg was short drive from Tierra Verde

I liked the supports on the bridge.

The structure out to the right of the bridge is a fishing pier that you can drive out on.  It’s several miles long.  There’s one on the north side of the bay too.  Florida really makes it easy for people to fish even if you don't have a boat.

I think this beach was on Siesta Key just south of Sarasota.  The Gulf beaches in both Alabama and Florida really do have white, soft sand.

From here we continued south on US41 to Ft. Myers to campground at Ft. Myers Beach.  From the campground it is only a few miles over to the islands of Sanibel and Captiva that are known for beautiful beaches with lots of shells, which is why I wanted to come here.  We got here kind of late in the day, so after leaving Reyna at the camp site as she wished, I rushed over to Sanibel and Captiva.  What a disappointment starting with $6.50 toll for bridge to get to Sanibel.  Both islands are wall to wall houses with almost no beach access except at the very ends and one spot in the middle.  Pay for parking at rate of $2.00 per hour.  And as for the shelling, there are lots of shells if you are searching for small, worn and broken varieties.  I walked a couple miles along the beach at Captiva and then drove back to other end to a beach on Sanibel, but it was all the same and just ordinary compared to all the other beaches we had seen.  On the other hand, I could have been in the office back in Fullerton.


Kids collecting shells at the beach on Captiva Island



Snowy Plover – according to bird guide it is uncommon and declining on the Gulf Coast.  Maybe there’s something to be said for Captiva after all.

Killdeer – said to be common.  This one's plumage is a bit shabby.

Sunset from Sanibel – I waited quite awhile and took lots of pics hoping that it would really go off and brighten up / redden up, but it didn’t.

This was our campsite at Ft. Myers Beach.  We pitched the tent on the concrete pad.  Reyna didn’t care for this place too much.  She should have gone to Captiva and Sanibel with me.  Maybe next time.



It looks better from this angle

June 9 Thursday

Today we are going to cross the Everglades and hope to camp in the Florida Keys tonight.

US41 Tamiami Trail

Along US41 -- I have about 8 pics in a row just like this. 

We took a little side trip to this place which is just north of US41 on State Hwy 29.  The Strand is on higher ground that cypress and other trees require.

Black Vultures which have black heads vs the red heads of Turkey Vultures.  These were just standing around. 

We drove down this dirt road through cypress tree area (has the cypress trees because it is a “hammock” which is an elevated area in the ‘glades) for about 7 miles of 9 to the end before deciding we’d seen enough and turned around.  It was exactly the same for 7 miles back.

Worn out from our 15 mile detour through the Fakahatchee Strand we crossed US41 and went down to Everglades City for lunch.  

In spite of the advertising stone crab season is October until May 15, so we missed it. Nuts.  Was really looking forward to some.  And the concept of “all you can eat” stone crabs was particularly appealing.  We’ll have to return.

Back on the Tamiami Trail going east and that is a fire burning ahead of us.

The fire was threatening the Mocosukee Indian village.  This was on the news that evening at the motel we ended up staying at.

There's a helicopter in the middle of the pic.

We called ahead to the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park in Key Largo to see if they had camping spots available.  They did, but we were told that thunderstorm expected that night, so we opted to stay in motel in Florida City which is last place before entering the Keys.  We start the Keys tomorrow.  Stay tuned.  And it didn’t rain at all by the way.