Ice and Wind

Saturday, March 25…

Our fridge is always watery inside and the ice-fur in the freezer is deepening exponentially, so we decided it's time to defrost. As we’re removing things, Greg’s complaining that if there were a proper drain hose we wouldn’t have this problem. Then he discovers there is a drain hose, but it's plugged. Now he has something to fix, which he promptly did, so hopefully we won’t have to defrost in another 3 months.

'Mater?

Around 10am we headed west to Gulfport (pop 70,000) with our new Ohio friends to visit a couple free museums. First was the Busted Wrench Garage (and gift shop, of course). A variety of project vehicles, some fully restored, others waiting to regain their glory. All kinda crammed together, but a few had colorful histories. On the way out I picked up a T-shirt for Chris, who’s in the process of replacing the engine in his ’96 Jeep. While the gal was processing my credit card, I noticed a dish of Busted Wrench Garage LIP BALM and handed her a couple $1’s – the idea of Garage Lip Balm struck me as highly humorous.

Love this guy!

On to lunch at the Shrimp Basket. Great onion rings! (None of the rest matters.) Then it was off to the Mississippi Coast Model RR Museum. Three birthday parties in progress (mostly outside), but plenty to look at inside. The Lionel table had 7 trains running on various tracks, but I didn’t see an engine that matched the train Santa brought me back in ’54 or ’55 (and is still occasionally used). Tons of Legos too. It was a very “busy” place.  

One small corner of the Lego Town

Lion-El is the club mascot. (Each car on the train running near the ceiling
carries the name of a club member. There's a 2^nd member train in the Lego Room.

Getting back into the car we noticed that the wind had picked up considerably. (A big storm had been predicted.) The entire drive home (maybe 30 minutes) is along the coast, ending with the 1.6-mile Biloxi Bay Bridge to Ocean Springs. As we’re driving toward that bridge, we can feel the wind playing with Greg’s M3. We have no serious concerns, but the gusts are definitely strong. (Sand was clumped at the curbs, and we could see it flying across the beach and hear it striking the car. But there were still a few folks in the gulf.) At the last light before the bridge, we’re behind 5 young guys on relatively light motorcycles. They’re very animated, and – sure enough – it’s all about who's first when the light changes. The eventual leader took off like the proverbial bat, and they were all well ahead of us as we crossed uneventfully. Approaching the campground we were pelted with rain, but not for long. After just a few minutes, the “big storm" was over.

BlogThoughts… Since we were passing through Biloxi anyway, we did seek out the crusty bread bakery. It was late afternoon by then (not prime time for bakery shopping), but we came home w/ a cranberry-walnut loaf (real bread, not cake-like) and 2 wonderfully flaky turnovers (sour-cream lemon & cherry), which we thoroughly enjoyed later.  

Gator Loaf