Eastbound: New Orleans LA, though AL and MS to Pensacola FL

In which Sid and Doris see bayous, stilt houses and Spanish moss, the Stennis Space Centre and stay in historic Pensacola.

Sid and Doris leave New Orleans via some of the low-lying areas they saw featuring in the museum on Storm Katrina, then stay south by the coast to go through the bayous. Soon Mr Jolly is posing under our first sighting of Spanish Moss – at last he is incontrovertibly Down South.

The land here is so low lying that many of the houses are up on stilts, and Doris enjoys herself taking pictures of lots of them.

The original plan was to use a route over the West Pearl River, taking a vertical lifting bridge.  Sadly the bridge is out of commission after a safety inspection. The next crossing north, the Chef Menteur Pass is at Fort Macomb. It is one of the biggest swing bridges in the region but also looks quite rusty. Wiki has a picture of the bridge open.

We had decided against going all the way down to Cape Canaveral where we have just found Artemis 1 is being prepared for launch – partly because it would be a really big detour and partly because all the tours are booked up (due to Artemis 1 etc…). Instead we stop at Stennis Space Center (MS) where NASA assembles and tests rocket engines, especially the RS-25 engines that will be used in the next generation Artemis missions back to the moon. The re-use of this old technology is not what NASA would choose but the Senators for Alabama wanted the jobs. Mr Musk’s Space-Ex engines are much cheaper.

There is a section in the museum given over to local lad Fred Haise and the return of Apollo 13. Fabulous work.

It is strange to think that in 1959 when Mr Jolly was built Luna 2 went to the moon. The space age fins were no coincidence. See those rockets glow. John Herschel Glenn circled the earth in 1962, when Doris was born.

As a child Doris was sure she would be able to go into space. Here is the opportunity to step into a space suit. Recreational space travel is not yet a thing. There is still time.

On this four-state day, next up is Alabama. We do not divert to the USS Alabama, which lead the US fleet into Tokyo Bay in 1945, but do catch this Phantom on a stick.

As Sid writes, Nina Simone’s powerful 1964 Mississippi God Damn is playing on the hotel sound system. Do look it up.

We stop in Pensacola and at the Brewery listen to a couple of dudes from the US Americas Cup team telling when-I stories. The team is in the process of moving from NZ to Pensacola, as the bay apparently has the perfect conditions for the next phase of boat preparation.  Some of the team will move, others will be hired locally, and this conversation looks like an early-days sounding-out much in the manner of two dogs… maybe we should stop that metaphor now.

Back on the subject of sailing, the Spanish came to Pensacola from Mexico in 1559 but the day they landed many of their ships were blasted by a freak storm and much of their materiel was lost. Pensacola has been variously locally run, Spanish, French, Confederate and American. It has decided not to become part of the Redneck Riviera, is rather quiet and probably declining. The Americas Cup team should bring good yachtie publicity.

The town has been careful to preserve old houses over a few blocks with both a Commerce and an Industry Museum. Christ Church is the oldest church building on its original plot in Florida and was possibly designed by Sir Christopher Wren. Mmm.

We visit some of the houses and are surprised to see Her Majesty promoting English tea time. But it is time for Sid and Doris to move along.