DAY 150: PEARLINGTON - WAVELAND - B AY ST. LOUIS, MISSISSIPPI

I had a close encounter this morning with a travelling Turtle.

Walking US 90 towards WAVELAND, MISSISSIPPI, I came across this little guy determined to walk across the VERY busy US 90 highway.


I stopped a few feet from him / her as she ventured out into the east-bound lane and reached the center strip safely. She started to continue across the west bound lane as an 18-wheeler was bearing down on her.

I yelled at her STOP STOP STOP. She DID stop, turned to look at me, and changed her path to walk parallel to the middle stripe. The 18-wheeler missed her by a foot.

No more traffic coming, I walked over to her. She pulled in her legs and head. I gave her a shove with my foot...her shell slid along the macadam a bit...then, she poked her head out and looked at me...I told her this is NO place for a turtle, and I was going to move her to the other side of the road...her original destination.

She left her head out and extended all four feet as I picked her up by her shell and carried her to the side of the road and sat her in the grass. She pulled her feet back in, but looked at me with her extended head. I made small talk...how pretty she was...how much I liked her...she just stared at me.

I picked her up and moved her a couple more feet off the roadway, said goodbye, and continued my walk East on US 90. An hour later, when I returned, she was not to be found.

BUT, another animal WAS. About 500 feet down the road was a Dog looking animal sniffing the asphalt, looking...sniffing, then looking. Then it turned side-to-me and I saw the hind quarters looked shorter than the front shoulders...similar to a Hyena. Vehicles were approaching, so it walked calmly off the road into the swamp. Someone later told me it was probably a wild Pig: A Boar !.

It was too far away to photograph.

My friend, the Turtle, sitting in the middle of heavily travelled US 90.

PEARLINGTON, MISSISSIPPI turns out to be the name of the village we stayed in last night.,

Two new concrete bridges span Bayous along US 90. Locals told me the original bridges were washed away by and monster high water from Hurricane KATRINA.

New Trivia: Mississippi thinks of itself as the Birthplace of America's Music.

Near US 90 is the U.S. Navy Space Program Rocket Motor Testing Facility.

Many years ago, I also had a hand in the U.S. Navy Nuclear Submarine Propulsion System...and while at Cape Canaveral, watched daily as the U.S. Navy tried to get their new Missile, the POLARIS IRBM to fly. We jokingly called the POLARIS the IBRM = In The Banana River Missile (the Banana River is the inland waterway to the WEST of Cape Canaveral ), because the POLARIS often ended up crashing into the Banana River when attempting to fly.


IRBM = Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile

IBRM - In The Banana River Missile

This will surely be an historical footnote ! What I say is absolutely T R U E !!

More homes are re-built on stilts.

A bunch of Grass floating slowly along on one of the Pearl River Bayous.

Another arm of the Bayou of the Mississippi River Delta.

I have asked a number of folks about some "local" words:

CAJUN
BAYOU
ACADIA

Not a single person in Louisiana and now Mississippi could tell me the meaning or origin of these words. So, before sitting down to create this evening's Blog, I asked WIKIPEDIA. This is what I found (I would "link" if I know how, which I do not...sorry):

ACADIA: The region of French Interests in the New World including Nova Scotia and North Eastern United Stated. After the French Indian War (with Great Britian), the "Acadians" families were split up, being sent on ships sailing in all directions. Many ended up West of the Mississippi - in present day Louisiana - others spread around the globe. Highway US 190 is known as the Acadian Trail. Many Acadian travelled as far as North Dakota, but many stayed in what is now Southern Louisiana.

CAJUN: The name given - and adopted by US Congress as a "legal" identification - to the descendents of the ACADIANS. The Cajun have developed their own culture and language, and are now a strong political force in US politics.

BAYOU: A slow moving waterway in "flat" areas, often linked to a major waterway - such as the Mississippi River. Many Louisiana and Mississippi Gulf Coast waterways are called Bayous.


SPIA parking place last night. The area behind SPIA and the BUDWEISER Truck is where the following Fruit Stand was set up when I returned from my 16 - mile early morning walk.

Fruit Stand set up near SPIA when I returned from my first walk of the day.

The two stacks of Melons are both Cantaloupe. Normal Cant elope are on the left. Monster Cant elope are on the right. I actually purchased - for $3.00 - the front left one in the "monster" pile.

SPIA is again parked in a Wal*Mart for the night. When we finish posting this Blog, we will enjoy some of the cant elope.

Please say HELLO to Billy - on the left - and Andrew.

Andrew lives a bit away from PEARLINGTON, LOUISIANA, but picks up local fresh fruits and veggies and brings them to the Stand of Billy, who does the marketing.


Did not go into the background , but appears to be a win win arrangement.


A small Creek flowing an up-scale home in the village of BAY ST. LOUIS, LOUISIANA.

All cleaned up, these waterways look rather normal...instead of menacing with heave vegetation hiding gators and snakes.

US 90, main street passing through the villages of WAVELAND and BAY ST. LOUIS, LOUISIANA, which have grown into a single large town.

In 2008, a new high-rise Bridge was built over the 2.5 mile Bayou St. Louis Bay. This is the shoreline looking South towards the Gulf of Mexico.

The North shoreline harbors a number of new construction - nearly everything was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina -, including the distant large building on stilts.

The Bay St. Louis Bridge. My afternoon walk of 16 miles included walking this bridge - and back - .

From the center of the Bay St. Louis Bridge, one looks past the Railroad Bridge directly into the Gulf of Mexico.

DAILY REPORT: Walked 32 miles today...hot & humid

SEE YOUR IMPACT.ORG: Credit 32 miles @ $0.02 = $0.64 for the day.

In the morning, will drive SPIA out 16 miles, park, and continue walking US 90 towards BILOXI, MISSISSIPPI, which is about 25 miles away.