Day 45 – Ha! Yesterday we said that “we’ve been awfully lucky so far”. Our luck continued big-time today! Mississippi Sandhill Cranes and a tornado scare.
Got up at 6:30, very humid, cloudy & 73 degrees. We left early to try to find the illusive Crane. Followed the route we took yesterday and visited all the places the volunteer from the National Wildlife Refuge told us about. We were, however, fully aware that it was very unlikely we’d see any of these birds, let alone come close enough to photograph them. We got to the very end of the last place on our map and VOILA!; a pair of Mississippi Sandhill Cranes in a field walking around & eating breakfast. We were close enough for Rob to get some unobstructed shots. We drove away quite pleased.
It was still early-ish and the rain wasn’t supposed to start ’til noon so we decided to drive around and see what else we could find. We drove some more along the Gulf, stopped at a boat launch/observation area not far east of Ocean Springs, Rob got out of the car and while I was waiting for him, a woman approached and started up a conversation. (These people from the South sure do like to talk. They are smiling, welcoming and friendly, and they want to know everything about you, but before you can answer their questions, they’ve started telling you all about themselves, or in some cases they are inventing a tall tale to tell you. Pretty amusing.) She’d asked, “Hi! Where you all from?” And before I could answer she said, “Oh, it’s so beautiful here; I just luv it chair, don’t chew? Oh, I just luv your lil’ boats. Are you all going out on the water in them? Oh, it’s so wonderful here, don’t y’all think?” I said, yes, it’s beautiful here, and I don’t think we’ll go out in the kayaks today because there’s supposed to be thunderstorms. She said, “Now don’t chall worry about a lil’ ole storm. We’re in a lil’ cove here and we never get storms here. They all go up north of here above the Interstate.” Then she giggled and covered her mouth with her hand and said, “Now you just watch, dear, since I said that we’ll just have the biggest storm ever.” She giggled again, waved and said, “Y’all just have a nice lil’ day, you hear.” And off she went.
We went back to the Wildlife Refuge to let the volunteer who helped us yesterday know how much we appreciated the map she gave us, and that we’d seen two of the Cranes. Then we headed North and East on small country roads to the Pascagoula River Wildlife Management Area. The sky was darkening but we wanted to see the areas north of the campground, too. We took a dirt road along a swampy area reminiscent of the Georgia swamplands. If there hadn’t been a forecast of thunderstorms, we would have kayaked some. Really pretty area. There were some signs that said flooded roadways could occur quickly, and turn around, don’t drown. But we didn’t think too much about it then.
Came back to the campground around noon and as we opened the RV door, we heard thunder in the distance. Ah, made it home just in time. We weren’t back more than 10 minutes when a pickup truck with the woman in the trailer next to us and her little daughter pulled up, and she starts running around covering things up frantically, runs into the trailer, grabs some stuff, runs back out and takes off. Meanwhile, the cell phone started beeping and it said we were in a tornado warning, a tornado was imminent and take cover immediately. Looked at the map on the phone and the thunderstorm was heading right for us. The sky was really dark, there was some wind, and it started raining hard. We’re like OMG, we’re in an RV and there’s gonna be a tornado, what do we do and where do we go?! So we started running around like chickens, putting away everything that was heavy enough to do damage if it was flying around, stashing the kitties under the couch, and in general, feeling a bit helpless. I mean, where DO you go in this situation? There’s nowhere to hide.
So we brought the 3 slides in and sat and watched the phone and the sky outside. And waited. And waited. The storm passed us by. Turns out a tornado did touch down between Ocean Springs and Gautier in the vicinity of where the woman said, “We never get storms here.” And one was spotted north and west of us in the exact area where we had driven and saw the signs about turn around, don’t drown.
It’s 2:45 p.m. right now and raining lightly, 66 degrees. We’re holed up in the RV catching up on some things. We’re leaving tomorrow for Louisiana. Enough excitement for the day.
I was thinking this morning when we were driving around, what if I was told I had 10 years to live; what would I do with that time? And my immediate answer was, just what I’m doing right now. I had told Rob about my thoughts and he said the same thing. We feel very lucky to be in a place where we feel that way and can do this. But just maybe we’ll have some wine (me) and beer (Rob) tonight.
Camp Journey’s End, 7501 MS-57, Ocean Springs, MS 39565, (228) 875-2100. We were assigned Site #71, full hook-ups including sewer. We would not stay here again & suspect they may be closing or going out of business soon when the widening of Route 57 takes place & almost half of the campground is lost. At one time this was probably a decent place, but now it’s run down, noisy, right by the busy highway AND Interstate 10. Sites are close together and most of the campground is occupied by people who live there. They do not accept credit cards.
Wow. So glad you are safe. Can’t imagine how frightening that was. Good to know you are both doing exactly what you want to do! (I don’t read all of your posts…but glad I read this one!) And all of your photographs are beautiful!