766 April 4, 2022 Dauphin Island

I walked this morning along the top of the levee along the Mississippi River.  I saw two eagles.

Ships on the river.

A snowy egret hunting in the marshy area below the levee.

There are so many houses with blue tarp on the roof.  When we came through here after Hurricane Laura, there were lots of houses with damage and lots of blue tarps.  We wonder if these houses still have not been repaired or if they have sustained damage from subsequent storms.  This area is at such extraordinary risk.  When traveling through on elevated highways with so much water below, you can appreciate how easily this area could be affected by flooding.  Lake Pontchartrain, rivers, the Gulf of Mexico and so much marsh.  The land masses sit at or below sea level.  Add wind and rain and rising tides and it has been devastating.  Large piles of debris still sit awaiting removal.

Today Tim drove past New Orleans.

Into Mississippi, and then Alabama.  

We decided to dip down south of 10 and visit Dauphin Island.  This a barrier island in the Mississippi Sound.  Tim rode my bike and I went for a walk to explore the island.  I walked to Fort Gaines.

Then out on the boardwalk at the Alabama Aquarium. 

NOAA has weather observation equipment here on the coast.

Most coastal towns have a Coast Guard Station.  We saw the helicopters out and about this afternoon.

This evening we went back to the boardwalk at the aquarium for our dinner.  While we were there Tim decided to try the Hurricane Machine.  We couldn’t get our credit card to work and so we were looking for cash.  Another couple was there watching and they donated a dollar to watch Tim experience hurricane force winds.  The machine registered wind speeds of 78mph…but it looked fairly tame.  The interesting part of the evening was talking to Hillary and Rob.  They have recently completed a school bus conversion and have been traveling fulltime for the past 7 weeks or so.  It was fun talking to like minded people albeit much younger and more adventuresome than us!  We wish them well as they embark on this new path.  We just might see them in Wyoming this summer!