Easin’ Along to Biloxi and Bay St. Louis, MS

Here’s another update on Lucy’s journey west. We’re kinda hopscotching across the south as we work our way to Arizona. Wi-Fi is spotty, so we will post updates as connections become available. We made it to Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, AL, and worked on getting Lucy organized. Today, we drove from Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, MS to LaFayette, LA for two nights at Acadiana State Park in the heart of Cajun country.

We had a delightful time in Biloxi although we were a bit apprehensive going in after reading reviews of the campground at Keesler Air Force Base. Our concerns were unwarranted. The campground facilities do have some age on them, but all of the utilities are in good working order, the showers (also aging) are clean and sporting a fresh coat of paint. Rick, the campground host is an outgoing, amiable fellow who was always working to keep the campground in good shape. His efforts have produced results, and I plan to write a good review of the campground soon.

On Saturday, we puttered around until the start of the Tennessee – Auburn basketball game at 11:00 CST. We should have puttered on…Auburn squeaked out an upset of our Number 5 ranked Vols. That afternoon, Helen (adorable wife) read up on the best places to eat in Biloxi and learned that Taranto’s Crawfish was rated number one on Trip Advisor. I was all in and hungry.

Taranto’s Crawfish is a place you would not find just driving around; it is way out in the country and down the road less traveled—way down. You could imagine our surprise when we drove up to find a full parking lot, and a line of equally hungry customers stretched out the door and onto the driveway. The wait was twenty minutes, and we were among the lucky ones. By our time to eat, the delay was twice that. The food was worth the wait.

After much discussion, we settled on splitting a Seafood Platter (fried, of course) with oysters, crawfish, shrimp, and the best catfish I’ve ever eaten. The fried crawfish were delicious, and the shrimp and oysters coated in a very light batter. Helen also ordered a cup of crawfish and shrimp bisque, and I couldn’t pass on a cup of gumbo. We devoured everything while watching diners all around feasting on large platters of boiled crawfish. Now, I love crawfish, but they do require some work to get a meal out of them. That fact didn’t seem to bother any of the crawfish lovers around us and the shells piled up. When we finished, we paid Stephanie, our very friendly server and walked out with a doggie box full of French Fries for the road. We waved to those still waiting. I shifted my toothpick to the left and gave everyone a satisfied smile.

The next item on the Saturday agenda was a drive to Bay St. Louis for the monthly event called Second Saturday Downtown. It is very similar to the event we have in Knoxville called First Friday. Most of the shops and pubs were open to visitors. The sidewalks were full. During the event, visitors had the opportunity to purchase a blue wrist band that entitled them to a small bowl of soup at every shop that participated. The blue band was $25, and the proceeds went to the local Food Pantry. All of the soups and gumbos looked incredibly enticing, and we had we not stuffed ourselves at Taranto’s, I would have one of the blue bands. We strolled the shops instead.

Bay St. Louis is charming. We drove back to Biloxi along the coastal highway, enjoying the Gulf waters, the shimmering white sand, and the stunning antebellum homes lining the road across from the beach. Helen decided we should go to the Casino that evening and hope for good luck. It wasn’t her day, but I came out $4.00 to the good. As I’ve said before, I’m only there for a good time.

On Sunday we did a 180-degree turn from the night before and streamed the 11:00 service from our church. Thankfully, Dr. Eason’s sermon was about the love and kindness of Good Samaritan and not about the evils of gambling. Dr. Eason is a very gifted speaker. In the afternoon, we visited a flea market close to the campground—an activity that we enjoy. Helen found a woven basket in one of the booths, but soon decided it didn’t match Lucy’s color scheme and put it down (whew).

Monday morning, we were both up early, loaded Butch (tow vehicle) and pulled out of Biloxi by 10:00 am, unusual for us because we rarely make it out of a campground before checkout. Please come back for an update on Lafayette. It won’t be hard to catch us…we’re Easin’ Along.