Day 33: Long Beach to Pearlington: At home in Mississippi

February 6, 2014

We left our Sunday school, as usual, with no trace that we had been there, except for a note and a small donation. We resumed pour course alongside the Gulf, with sights that had now become familiar: On the left we had that pristine white beach, and the Gulf itself. Today, as yesterday, the water was as placid as a lake. On the right were some nice houses, perhaps newly built in last years, and some situated high enough to have survived the storm. However, the most common thing was the vacant lot, with only the old lives oaks remaining. All along, each of the vacant lots has a for sale sign.

The county has a separate department that tends to the beach. We can see that, since they are running lots of equipment up and down it all the time. It certainly looks great.

So here we were, finally understanding the area and situation we were passing through. That would be the time for a change, and the change came with the big bridge over and to Bay Saint Louis. This is a new bridge from 2008. The old one had the road bed lifted by Katrina, leaving only the pylons. The temperature never rose above 5 degrees, and on the bridge the very brisk wind produced quite an impressive wind chill. Actually, I was wondering if this wind could blow us off the bridge. There was no sign of the bike wheel lifting, so despite any fears it was actually quite safe.

Since we had read that Waveland, on the other side, was Katrina ground zero, we expected to see about what we had seen around Biloxi, but not so. Admittedly, the road had swung slightly inland, but here was a standard familiar landscape of continuous fast food outlets, payday loans, car dealers, and all the rest that lines so many American (and Canadian) roads. There was nothing to show us that this was somehow a special place. Later we learned that all this stuff had indeed been destroyed, and we were looking at the repaired and rebuilt version. In fact it was explained to us that given the rotation of the storm. the west side had the power in terms of pushing water onshore, and all this area had been totally flooded. For how we learned this, read on.

As we cycled along US90 beyond Waveland a man in a pickup truck pulled over."There is rain coming", he said. "You had better get off the road and to somewhere safe. Come to my house". We thanked him, but assured him that we would be ok, and if needed would hop into a motel.

After a while, it began to hail. Ha, we thought, the man was wrong, this is just hail. In fact hail can be quite sharp, and it was, but at least it is not wet. We did know that we needed at least an indoor spot to search Google Maps for nearest motels. Pearlington looked like a real town on the map, and though it was a km or two off route, we headed that way. Well it does have streets and houses, but no businesses that were not shut down. Meanwhile the temperature continued under 5 and a moderate rain began.

Using our newly learned "trick", we looked to a nearby church. It had a tiny entry vestibule that was unlocked, but otherwise was locked and unoccupied. We piled into the vestibule, leaving the bikes in the rain. We put down our stools (thanks, Trish) and ate our sandwiches in the relative warm. Now at this spot there was no cell service, at lest that the T-Mobile SIM could find, so we were blind as far as locating motels went. We did however know of a campground and cabins in Slidell. We called them using the ATT phone, and they said they were frozen out and were closed.

At this juncture a man drove up and we ushered him into our sanctuary. He said he had seen us on the road near Bay St Louis and figured we must be frozen. He urged us to come to his house a few blocks away to warm up. We explained that we now felt warmed enough, but needed to scope out a motel. The man helped us confirm our suspicion that the nearest real option was 20-30 km away. The man said in fact we ought to stay over at his place until tomorrow.

Frankly, the discussion was a bit difficult, because of the man's accent, because he was somewhat hard of hearing, and because he just did not have a refined way of self expression. We looked at each other and wondered if socially, this could work out. Then we looked outside, at the intensifying rain, and said Thanks.

We cycled the few blocks and arrived at a small house. This was actually the house of Sam, a disabled man with bone cancer. Our benefactor was Bruce, Sam's friend, who is living at the house and caring for him. The level of housekeeping reflected two fellows living alone. We passed through some hanging blankets helping to keep the main area warm and met Sam. Two electric space heaters were trying to keep the house warm.

Since Sam needs a lot of warmth and now there were two frozen cyclists, Bruce thought to go buy some more wood for the wood stove. Of course, like a dog, I always like to go for a ride in the car to see what can be seen, I set off with Bruce on a firewood quest. This involved driving back over some of the distance we had covered on the bikes, to Waveland.

The firewood people were not an elaborate operation, but simple folk. They would go to homes where trees had fallen and salvage them, returning with the wood on a trailer to split and stack it. I chipped in the $30 cost of a trunk full. Bruce felt this was cheap, compared to buying a few sticks at the handimart.

We returned and found Dodie and Sam were having a nice chat. Bruce had mentioned he hoped this would happen. Distraction during the day is good for Sam, who is now mostly house bound.

Sam and Bruce are strong Christian believers. Now a visitor came by. It was Larry. Larry was bearing a laptop containing various bible versions and a search application. He had arrived to read scripture to Sam. We learned that Larry was from Minnesotan had come here each year since Katrina to help out. He explained that even now people are hurting and that there is plenty for him to do. In general, he said, Pearlington was still much in need of help.

Naturally questions we asked and answered on both sides, for a long time. Aside from the cycling UQs, we discussed the motive for Christian service to others, how Larry had come to his beliefs, our beliefs (or not), Sam's situation, and more. From our point of view, it was a stimulating chance for insight into local people, and the practice of Christianity here and in the States generally. We also learned that Larry has 15 children, and considers himself blessed rather than tired, as I had predicted.

We mentioned Cindy Weber and some point, and asked Larry to pray for her. Before he left, we formed a circle of hands with Larry, Bruce, and Sam and they prayed not only for Cindy, but gave thanks for meeting us, and prayed for our safety. Prayers also extended to Sam, who will need strength coping with his illness.

Bruce is from Maine, and was not here in 2005, but Sam was. He explained that water in this house had been 3/4 of the way up the wall. He is our source for understanding what we see in Pearlington, what happened to the Bay St Louis Bridge, and what happened to the bridge on I-10.

Looking beyond the housekeeping, the house here is actually in very good shape. Sam had worked on the restoration, but volunteers had also helped. Now you would not guess that it had been flooded out.

Bruce had been a cook in the navy, and he came up with dinner that was yummy. Talking about breakfast, he was not at all impressed to learn that our wake up time is 5 a.m. Perhaps we will not get to see what he would have come up with a breakfast time!

Bruce is having us evict him form his room, and will sleep on the sofa. We pushed the single bed to one side, so we have our regulation amount of floor space for our themarests and sleeping bags.

Readers, it should be obvious to you that Bruce and Sam have enough concerns, without us. Yet their good hearts have welcomed us without reserve. I mean, without any reserve. Lots of people could learn from them, and Larry.

Cell service is almost non existant here. Perhaps some photos can be uploaded now. If not, please check back.