On Thursday we also took our bikes over to a park to Pascagoula, Ms. It is the next small city from where we are camping. Lovely coastal town on the gulf, no beach to speak of but this shipyard is at the point. You can see it when driving over the Pascagoula River to get to the gulf. We rode our bikes along the beach on the sidewalk, maybe only about a 6 mile trip but they have signs along the way in front of the homes that sit across the street from the gulf. These homes are mostly rebuilt, tons of history at all of them but Katrina took all or most of it in 2005. A man was approaching us in a golf cart and stopped to chat. He was a local, very nice so we struck up a conversation. I asked him did he live on that road, he said he lived about 1 1/2 miles inland, then I asked if all the lots that were empty, did they use to have a home. Yes they all had homes, with him 1 1/2 miles back he had 4 1/2 feet of water in his house when Katrina hit. It is devastating to see this in person. TV does nothing for the real thing.
Anyway after we got our history lesson we continued to ride and rode to the ship yard. It was started in 1848, still in operation and employs over 12k people. They build vessels for the Marines, Navy, and Coast Guard. I know you can’t see this super good but if you can zoom it you can. I have always been intrigued by ports in cities that are on the waters. The person that started this company had a home place on the waterfront so that he could have a place for any and all dignitaries that came to the city to stay. Nice day we had, biking in the day and baseball at night. Until next stop, be groovy!! S & J
