Some homes in Gulfport, Mississippi

It was Day 6 of my drive south from Detroit and I woke up early in a Biloxi, Mississippi motel room knowing this would be the most photo intensive day of the trip.

I planned to take photos of the beautiful Mississippi Gulf Coast homes on stilts along US 90, driving east to west, from Gulfport to Pass Christian, then on my way back US 90, I would photograph the marinas.

But first, I began with a drive around Gulfport and taking photos of the kind of houses most of us would live in. This area was close to Broad Street and the US Navy Seabee Base which was my homeport in the 1970s.

Sunset on the Mississippi Gulf Coast

Late in the afternoon of Day 5 of my trip south I had checked into a motel on US 90 in Biloxi, Mississippi then went back out to take some pictures of the Gulf.

These are all taken on a tripod looking out at the Gulf of Mexico. I wanted to experiment with High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging. HDR should bring out the detail in both the bright and dark areas and more resembles what the eye sees. I take three bracketed photos (under-exposed, normally exposed, and over-exposed) and merge them together with Photomatix to create one photo. Here's a link of some HDR photo examples.

This first picture is looking straight out at the Gulf.

The next two pictures are aimed towards the east.

The final three pictures are aimed towards the west and you can see the Gulfport, Mississippi marina.

I-10 Irish Bayou exit in Louisiana

Leaving New Orleans on I-10, driving East towards Mississippi, and before the bridge over Lake Pontchartrain, there's an exit to Irish Bayou. I decided to get off there and take some photos because of this castle house. Behind this house is I-10.

And as you're driving I-10, off to the right, you'll also see the back side of this Quonset Hut house on stilts. When I was in the Navy, we lived in Quonset Huts on the Roosevelt Roads Naval Base in Puerto Rico.

More houses on stilts.

After photographing these houses at the Irish Bayou exit I continued on I-10 and drove to the Gulf Coast of Mississippi.

Driving The French Quarter

I started the morning of Day 5 of my trip south taking video around the Manchac exit then continued on I-55 to New Orleans. I wasn't sure where I was going for the rest of the day and I saw a sign for the French Quarter Visitor Center so I went there to get directions and information. I ended up driving around the French Quarter for an hour or so after and I took more video. Here's some vidcaps. In the video (at the bottom) you'll see...

lots of cop cars

workmen

a skateboarder with a goofy hat

a guy taking a smoke break

a tour group on those two-wheel segway scooters

and a workman up in the air

Here's the video while I drove the one-way streets of the French Quarter in New Orleans, Louisiana on the morning of Friday, January 18, 2013. You'll see workmen, delivery men supplying the shops, bars and restaurants, a couple of tour groups, many police cars and a few of the local characters.

Pinwheels and such

I started with the Diva's Challenge for this week but wasn't getting anywhere, instead I ended up with these two drawings.

The first is 3 pinwheels.

This second would be the "such."

Driving Louisiana I-55 South near the Manchac Exit

It's the morning of Day 5 of my trip from Detroit going south and finally it will be a sunny day. With a week or so off work I decided to go south and leave the overcast skies of Michigan for some sun.

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I left Hammond, Louisiana early. The night before I had driven south down I-55 to scout some photo locations. First was from the Manchac Swamp Bridge near the Manchac exit and the only exit off this 22 mile bridge.

Here are three screen captures. And the video is below.

The view out the window as I drive I-55 South in Louisiana near the Manchac exit. Music is from KLRZ 100.3 FM, the Rajun' Cajun. And you can listen online. The best time is from 6 am to 10 am Central time, Monday through Friday for the Hot Sauce Express show.

Looking back, I probably should have gotten off at the Manchac exit and driven along Old US 51 that parallels the bridge. And that's the problem with driving through. You only have one chance to capture a location.

Anyway, on to New Orleans.

Down the Mississippi Delta - Part 2

It was Day 4 (January 17) of my trip south from Detroit. I got up early as usual and processed the previous day's photos and tried to map where I would drive.

I had stayed the night in Grenada, Mississippi at the Econo Lodge and what a treat. I haven't written my review for Trip Advisor yet but I agree with the others who gave this place a top rating. And I had the pleasure of also being checked in by the friendly, Shmeeka, behind the front desk.

I said back on my description of Day 2 that for the trip "all I had planned was to take back roads and listen to local radio as I drove," which I had been doing for the most part. By the way, in Kentucky and Tennessee, it was mostly Country/Western (with no Western). But in northwestern Mississippi, the music was either christian and gospel or classic rock; as I drove further south, it was mostly classic rock.

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I drove back MS 8 and turned south on US 49W. I still wanted to drive the Delta but as far as sightseeing goes, the Mississippi delta is boring, at least in January, unless you like miles and miles of flat, flooded farm land.

So when I hit Moorhead, Mississippi, I took a short drive around.

seeing a bright, green house

Anyone bother to string a level line on this before they put the rafters up?

Moorhead, Mississippi definitely has some leveling problems or everyone tilts to the left.

there were a few untilted houses too

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I didn't do much driving or taking pictures on Day 4. But it was sunny for the first time since I left Detroit. So it was a nice day.

I stayed the night in Hammond, Louisiana but it was still early and with a couple hours more of light I got back on I-55 and drove through New Orleans.

Down the Mississippi Delta - Part 1

It's the afternoon of Day 3 of my trip south from Detroit and 800 miles later, it's still cold. The sleet and freezing rain storm that swept western Tennessee the night before had dropped some light snow in northwestern Mississippi.

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I got off I-55 South and was driving MS 35 through Batesville. A policeman at one side of town was directing a dozen or more school buses into a parking lot. At the other side of town, another policeman was directing dozens of cars out a school parking lot. It was there I pulled over to take pictures of Sunny's Country Store.

and behind Sunny's were these 4 tanks.

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Somehow I had lost MS 35 and found myself on US 278 where I saw this bizarre scene. What could have made all these trees naturally grow at that angle away from the road? Like a consistent wind was pushing them over the last decade or so it would take to grow to that height.

but from that was formed this natural arch with the row of trees behind

Looking at these pictures though, I believe I've figured out how these trees have grown away from the road. What's your guess? Any idea? Leave your answer in the comment section.

And driving the back roads, with nothing but miles of nothing out the windows, the mind wants to fill that gap. So what was this place? These two brick walls mark an entrance... but an entrance to what? 

It reminded me of a couple places I ran across years ago in Florida. They were ideas, like ghost towns without the town: the beginnings of a subdivision that never quite happened. Planned and mapped, you can drive the few empty roads and see where the house lots would have been. You can imagine the glossy pamphlets with drawings of tree shaded lots, children playing or maybe a future retirement village. But they fell through. Not enough investors and not much interest.

And this place. Whatever it was intended to be, didn't happen. So trees were planted.

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I got off US 278 at Marks and started south on MS 3. It wasn't long before I took the last photos of the day at the John Lee Hooker marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail near Vance, Mississippi.

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I drove MS 3 until it became US 49 West but in January, Mississippi sunset comes fast and dark around 5:30 pm. I was far from a motel room, so it was decision time. I looked at the map.

The guy back at the Welcome Center said that between Grenada and Jackson there were no motel rooms and there certainly weren't any where I was, so I decided to beat it back to I-55 by way of MS 8 and go to Grenada, rather than sit a 2 hour drive to Jackson.