We left the campground at 9:15 and hopped on I-10 with more traffic this morning compared to yesterday. Maybe some of the traffic was from morning rush hour. Let’s hope. We crossed the border into Alabama and drove over Mobile Bay.
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From a distance, we got a good view of the city of Mobile’s skyline.
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Crossing the causeway over Mobile Bay, we got a look at the USS Alabama sitting at the dock. What a beautiful sight!
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Once we were over the bay, we entered a tunnel that took us under the Mobile River.
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It was kind of freaky when you thought about where you actually were as you traveled through the tunnel. It was only about 1/2 mile long and soon we were out the other side.
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(We just got word from back home in Palmetto that the police were driving through the park letting people know that a mandatory evacuation went into effect at noon Eastern time today.) (Another side note: We heard on the news this morning that Ibis birds are the last to leave the area when a storm is approaching and the Ibis are the first to return after the storm. Keep your eyes open for those ibis to return after Hurricane Irma exits the area.) Once we crossed over into Mississippi, it was all new to us. We had never been this way before by land other than in New Orleans.
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As we traveled on I-10 today, we saw many more utility trucks heading east, hopefully to set up somewhere and prepare to assist with problems from the storm. Gas in Mississippi is $2.29 per gallon. That’s nice! We crossed the long expanse of bridge over Lake Pontchartrain called the Pontchartrain Causeway–the world’s longest bridge over a body of water. It was 23.8 miles long.
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We were now in Louisiana. The skies were blue with not a cloud in the sky. The temperature was a pleasant 83 degrees. We couldn’t ask for a better day!
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We arrived at our campground at 1:00, Three Oaks and a Pine, for the next 2 nights.
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We look forward to going into New Orleans in the French Quarter tomorrow and eating some of that Louisiana creole cooking. We will try to take our mind off of what’s going on at home in Tropic Isles for a few hours, but our hearts and prayers will be with our friends and neighbors wherever they may be waiting out the storm. Be safe! We set up camp and enjoyed some quiet time outdoors. The campground is small and quiet, but convenient to the French Quarter.
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Auggie got to spend his afternoon sniffing around for geckos. After the storm makes landfall on Saturday, we’ll sit down and decide what our best course of action is going to be. To continue on…or not to continue on…that is the question!