Hurricane Alex

1st Hurricane of the Atlantic season.  We just missed this one on our Florida Vacation.

Hurricane ALEX Public Advisory Home   Public Adv   Fcst/Adv   Discussion   Wind Probs   Maps/Charts   Archive   US Watch/Warning   Storm Surge   000 WTNT31 KNHC 301750 TCPAT1 BULLETIN HURRICANE ALEX INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY NUMBER 20A NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL012010 100 PM CDT WED JUN 30 2010 ...LARGE HURRICANE ALEX...A LITTLE STRONGER...AIMS AT THE NORTHERN MEXICO AND SOUTHERN TEXAS COAST... SUMMARY OF 100 PM CDT...1800 UTC...INFORMATION ---------------------------------------------- LOCATION...24.4N 96.2W ABOUT 110 MI...175 KM ENE OF LA PESCA MEXICO ABOUT 130 MI...210 KM SSE OF BROWNSVILLE TEXAS MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...85 MPH...135 KM/HR PRESENT MOVEMENT...NW OR 320 DEGREES AT 12 MPH...18 KM/HR MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE...962 MB...28.41 INCHES

Long Road Home

We left New Orleans about 7 p.m.  We headed north on the dreaded interstates for speed and time.  We wanted to get home in time for me to rest up for my early morning at work on Saturday.  We really pushed it to get at least half way to home by morning, which ended up taking us to a truckstop at a small town in the Missouri boot heel.  Mississippi is a long boring drive normally, and even more so at night.  I've taken this route several times in my life.  The first time was in January 1978.  The BeeGee's were constantly driveling on every radio station and disco was in full swing.  I also remember Paul Simon being played a lot and there was a song -- 50 ways to leave your lover, that kept being played over and over again.  We stopped over at a cheap motel in Sardis Mississippi, and I remember it having the softest nicest bed I've ever slept in.  The next morning we all got up to an ice storm.  The weather got worse the farther north we went.  We had lunch in Sikeston Missouri.  Somewhere south of St. Louis, Mom and Debbie, my sister, who were following us in the 74 Ford Gran Torino spun out at a slick spot and got nearly stuck.  Dad, the dog Rebel, and I were in the 72 dodge pickup in the lead.  We bypassed St. Louis, which I've noticed is a path we took today.  We stopped at another truckstop somewhere midway between Kansas City and St. Louis for dinner.  I remember that truckstop food was good back then.  I also remember how hard it was snowing, which was novel for us who lived primarily in the south where it rarely snowed.  I stood under an awning at the truckstop and a big pile of snow fell off the eave and landed on my head to my amusement.  As we headed farther west, the Dodge truck's heater started failing.  I and the dog, Rebel had to curl up together for warmth and try to sleep.  We got into Kansas City early in the morning and the temperature was twelve below zero.  We checked in the Holiday Inn at Harlem, which was a run down neighborhood by the downtown airport just north of the river.  I remember it being unbearably cold and the city seemed depressing and grey.

    Thirty two years later, Suyen and I made the same trek, in another Dodge truck, with our dog, Tima.  We didn't check into that motel in Sardis, though I did glance over to see if it was there.  We stopped over in Steele Missouri after blowing through Memphis without stopping, and Arkansas -- definitely without stopping.  All the rest areas in Mississippi were closed, except one.  Arkansas didn't have any rest areas.  I didn't feel like stopping anywhere close to West Memphis anyway.  We slept in the truck in a truckstop in the Missouri boot heel.

   We got up the next morning, took off, and I stopped at a Caseys for breakfast pizza.  We passed by Sikeston, and I looked for that truck stop.  I think it is long gone, replaced by chain motels.  We only stopped once after that, south of St. Louis for fuel at St. Genevieve.  We bypassed St. Louis all together on ring highways, which was alright by me.  St. Louis is not much to look at from the interstate and traffic there is a nightmare any time of day.  We blazed across I-70 back to familiar territory.  We stopped in KC at a gas station so Suyen could pee, and we got home late in the afternoon.  Not bad for being in New Orleans the evening before.

We had treked across the heartland of the former Confederacy and had seen many pine trees.  We didn't hit the major touristy spots in Florida, but we had a nice relaxing good time.  You know you've had a good vacation when you are happy to be back home.

Biloxi to New Orleans

We hit one last beach, and that was Biloxi beach.  Actually, when I lived here in the 70's, I don't remember us going to the beaches here, except to fish.  We even went fishing one night on a long dark cold pier after watching the movie "Jaws."  That was scary.  Oh, and I remember us going sand dune fishing at low tide in the darkness of night.  That too was scary.  The beaches here are severely under rated, which is just fine for me.  I like this better than the overcrowded Florida beaches where the resorts and condo's blot out the view of the beach.  Here it is laid back, with gorgeous southern homes and mansions on one side of HWY 90 (well what's left of them anyway after Katrina), and unobstructed beachfront on the other side.  Before Katrina, there was Camille.  I've often heard stories about how this area was called the Riviera of the coast.  Then Camille came and wrecked the shoreline and devastated the towns here.  Growing up here, and dealing with many threats from hurricanes often brought the stories about Camille and the documentary, that played on tv every time a hurricane came close.  Suyen and I went to the beach by the light house where I was the night before.  



A reporter from WLOX showed up to do a story on the oil slick, and its effect on the shrimping industry.


After the beach, we headed to a souvenir shop, then to a place called the Blow Fly Inn, which we had seen on food network.

We then headed over to check on the house I used to live in -- sturdy Base housing brick duplexes that were mid-century modern style ranch houses joined at the carports with their neighbors.  They were gone when we got there -- replaced by condo style duplexes.  We then headed up the coast on scenic highway 90.  Katrina really did a number on the coast here, and it still hasn't recovered after 5 years. 




We drive in to New Orleans from the east.  We were headed for Cafe du Monde for beignets.  We tried to find a place to park in the french quarter, and in the process drive down Bourbon Street, which was fun.

Beaches

We didn't have time to rent a charter and go diving to possibly, but probably not, see manatees, so we headed north into the pan handle of Florida after eating at a mom and pop restaurant...

We opted to stay away from the boring, stressful, usually jammed up highway like the garmin wanted us to take, and instead hugged the seashore as best we could...

x

We passed many summer cottages and nice beaches.  We wondered often how this area would do during a serious hurricane.  We came to Panama City in need of fuel for Betsy.  We explored the city and the beach front.  We had to try to gas stations as the service was so unfriendly at one that we opted for another.  We then stopped to eat at a bay front open porched seafood place -- finally.

Suyen kept reading online about a place called Panama City Beach, Florida, not to be confused with town of Panama City Florida.  There are a lot of little municipalities stuck together out here, so it gets confusing.  We found Panama City Beach, Florida, after searching, and found a long party beach with many resort hotels and tourist traps.  We found a neat 1950's mid century modern googie place to stay called the Plaza Motel, which bills itself as the "last of the past."  

You could imagine that at one time this strip was lined with motels like this one.  We actually loved this motel.  It was cheap, cozy, centrally located, and quiet.  It had a lot of the charm of the past too.  The room we were in had been redone, and showed a few signs of being threadbare, but that added to the charm.  I love the check in lobby, with the old coke machines and juke box plus a photo album they had of former guests.   We checked in, rested up a little, and went walking on the strip.  You could tell this was a pary beach by all the drunk college aged kids, or younger driving up and down the strip woo wooing, flashing, peeling out and generally showing off.  There are a lot of not so cheap resort hotels and condo's in this area, and they often blot out the view of the beach.  We went shopping for souvenirs and a bikini for Suyen for the next day.  One big souvenir shop was a place called Alvin's Island.

The next day we got up fairly early for a morning stroll and dip in the beach.  We had to leave poor Tima in the room as the beaches here don't allow dogs.  The waves were quite strong.  I have a paranoia about sea creatures and beaches, and sure enough, I saw a huge stingray swimming near us.  However, I got over it.

We checked out, and headed for the dog beach with Tima.  We et at a buttfey place first, which was so so.  Then we headed to the dog beach.




We didn't  have any time for the big mall by where we were (thank Ghod) er, I mean, Suyen was really disappointed.  

We headed up the coast to Alabama, and Mississippi after stocking up on groceries for the ride...

I took the long way via the beach roads, as much as I could.

We drove through Pensacola, we didn't stop, but someday I'd like to.  We found out later that oil had come ashore at Pensacola on the day we drove through, and the beaches were closed to the public.

We only stopped at a gas station for a bathroom break.  We then headed into Alabama.  Suyen was harping that we didn't have any Florida pictures of us, so I stopped on the state line.  She didn't want to get out though for fear of alligators.

The pan handle of Alabama was a much longer drive than I thought it would be.  We passed through some small towns, and each seemed to have thriving art communities by the looks of the galleries we passed...


We then came to Mobile bay, and Mobile Alabama.  I have memories of this place from the 1970's.  We would rarely visit this area, but when we did, it was usually to visit the USS Alabama.

We then got on I-10 -- it was inevitable.  We took it to Ocean Springs, where I hoped to eat at a BBQ place featured on the food network.  However, unfortunately, we arrived 10 minutes after closing.

We drove through Ocean Springs, Mississippi, and on into Biloxi to look for a motel.  We found one that had been relocated by Hurricane Katrina.  Actually, the old Broadway Inn Express had been destroyed, and the replacement was pretty much brand new.

We settled in for the night, save for me driving up HWY 90 with Tima to take care of bidness.  We went to the lighthouse, and I was going to try some night photography, but I forgot the media card.   It was just a well, because it seemed like a lot of scary lowlifes hang out on this part of the beach at night.

Ringling Museum, Exploring Tampa Bay and Up the West Coast of Florida

Today, our last day in Sarasota, we had many false starts, as we did heading this way on Thursday.  We met up with Stella and family, then we headed to the one art/museum/cultural bit of tourism we've done on this trip -- the Ringling grounds.  We left Tima with Stella.  After Ringling, we got Tima and planned on Meeting Ken's friend, Shannon, back at the Pastry Art coffeehouse.  However, her new infant was figiting too much, so she had to leave before we were able to get there.  We said our goodbyes to Stella, and headed to the coffeehouse.  Then we had to go back to Stella's, because we forgot Tima's leash.  After finally saying our goodbyes for real, we headed to the barrier keys to explore and enjoy the beach.

  A nice afternoon thunderstorm rolled in and I talked to a family of Scots on the beach because they saw me trying to teach Tima how to swim.  Actually, Tima knows how to swim as all dogs naturally do, it is just getting her to take to the water and enjoy it without thinking she is somehow being punished.  We then started slowly meandering north.  As we did so, the nice afternoon thundershower turned into an evening of drenching rain for our drive through Tampa.

 Suyen enjoyed the beach so much she decided that we should beach hop our way north instead of doing something touristy like Orlando.



 However, our plans sort of hit a rough spot as there aren't many good beaches north of Tampa and south of the panhandle.  We took 19 north to hug the coast as best we can, and had somebody in a white Dodge extra cab truck want to drag race us.  I guess he saw that we had the cummins diesel and he wanted to try it out with his souped up hemi.  We didn't oblige.  We've ended up in the Port Hotel and Marina in Crystal River, where there are Manatees.  This hotels claim to fame is that Elvis stayed here in 1960, and, of course, the manatees.  

Fishing

1st Day in Sarasota

We met up with Suyen's friend from the Philippines at her house in Sarasota.  Our friend, Ken, also got us in contact with a friend of his, who now lives in Sarasota -- Shannon.  We are still wiped out from last night, so the first part of the day was spent getting up and around, and going over to the house and getting re-aquainted.  I took a nap which wiped out my grogginess.  I had to spend the early morning hours fighting with the computer as an update from Apple screwed some things up that I was trying to do.  Suyen, Stella, her mother, Tima and I met up with Shannon at a nice coffeehouse downtown.  I haven't been to southern Florida since I was little in 1973.  I went to the panhandle of Florida in 1995, when I was in the Air Force Reserves doing Silver Flag training at Tyndal Air Force base.  We got visited by a nice hurricane then called Erin.