Our trip from Gulf Shores, AL to Lakeshore, MS was alternately enchanting and depressing, with lovely scenery interspersed with still-not-cleaned-up devastation from Katrina.
This first photo is of the park where we stopped for a picnic lunch on the west shore of Mobile Bay. The second is of the sycamore trees that form a canopy over some of the streets in Mobile itself, streets on which you'll find homes such as the one in the third photo.
Then there's the empty lots with only foundations of houses remaining, and other scenes of on-going reconstruction – after all, it's only been two years and some months since Katrina struck. Apparently the major problem for "the little people" is the insurance industry which has delayed and denied payment in many cases. According to a couple we talked with along the road in Mississippi, many former residents have given up on rebuilding their homes and moved somewhere else. Those that have not either live in FEMA trailers or in trailer-size factory-built modular homes on their lots.
We had researched state parks in Mississippi and had settled on one called Buccaneer State Park, even consulted its web-site for hours of operation, facilities, etc. When we arrived there we found that it was closed due to damage from Katrina that had not yet (two years, remember?) been cleaned up.
But no problem – only a mile down the road there was a brand spankin' new casino!! Built since Katrina struck, open only a year! With a brand spankin' new RV park, open only two weeks! Actually it wasn't quite finished yet but it provided a safe and powered-up site for the night for ourselves and another couple who actually were spending several nights so they could "enjoy" the casino!
So that is the story as it appeared to us – little or no reconstruction assistance to the "little people," little or no reconstruction on public facilities, plenty of workers and money for new commercial projects . . .
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