Mississippi Gulf Coast - June 8-10, 2018

Friday, June 8
Ocean Springs, MS

Warm and muggy this morning.  Jack checked the water in the coach batteries (they give us low amp electricity when we are not plugged into an electrical outlet) and one was completely dry.  So, batteries are pretty much toast.  We have been RVing for 15 years and we KNOW we have to check the batteries regularly, but didn't.  Duh.  Fortunately, the batteries are at least four years old, so they were getting ready for replacement anyway.

We drove a bit west to Biloxi to enjoy the beach that runs right alongside the road.  It was just too hot to spend more than  few minutes walking the beach.

Our view at lunch

After lunch in the RV overlooking the Gulf, we headed to Batteries Plus where two young guys very nicely installed two new batteries for us.

We stopped by the small artsy town of Ocean Springs where I visited a number of interesting shops.  Ended up with just a small jar of locally made peach pepper jelly while Jack stayed cool in the RV.  Back to our campground at Gulf Islands National Seashore for a relaxing evening.

Saturday, June 9
Ocean Springs, MS to Bay St. Louis, MS

We had a bit of rain and rumbles of thunder around 5 am, but when I got up at 6:30, it was 77 degrees and humid.  We packed up the RV and drove west to the Infinity Science Center, a NASA Visitor Center two miles from the Louisiana/Mississippi border.

We drove through the Mississippi Gulf coast towns of Biloxi, Gulfport and Pass Christian.  Biloxi and Gulfport are big gambling towns with high rise fancy casinos like Beau Rivage, Harrahs, Hard Rock, etc.  We are not much into gambling and did not stop to donate.

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina's storm surge hit this area with as much as a 28' foot high wall of water (storm surge) that decimated homes and trees.  Homes and buildings have been rebuilt and most look new today.  Some of the trees have been carved into beautiful artworks, but we could only get a photo of one.

In between these towns are miles and miles and miles of beautiful public beach - pure white sand with easy access and parking.  There were also many areas roped off where we could see hundreds of nesting Plovers.








We arrived at the Infinity Science Center about noon, so we had lunch and a quick nap before going in around 1:00.  It is a relatively small museum that seems geared more to children.  They had a few interesting exhibits (pics below), but for the $15 entrance fee, we thought it was overpriced and a bit anemic, especially when compared to the spectacular Maritime Museum we blogged about when we were in Mobile.

Life-size replica of the Space Station

Infrared Cathy taking selfie

The primary reason I wanted to stop was a behind-the-scenes bus tour that provides the only public access to the Stennis Space Center.  Unfortunately, tours for the entire day were already filled.  If we wanted to return early the next day and sign up for a tour (no advance reservations), we would have to pay the admission of $30 again.  Disappointingly poor policy in my opinion.  We will not return.

We backtracked a few miles to Buccaneer State Park just outside Bay St. Louis.  We got a grassy site right across a two-lane road from the Gulf.  Snacks included cream cheese and the peach-pepper jelly I bought the day before - excellent - as good as our local Rina's apricot-pepper jelly at home.

View from our campsite