Biloxi to New Orleans

We learned that NWR's are typically not manned on weekends.  Finding this information out is definitely not easily accessible online as the National Park System.  NWR's seem like they will likely be more of a retirement plan - more time to bird watch. We will stop by when they are "on our way" but going out of our way to go to NWR's does not make sense since we were often surprised with either no visitor's center or closed centers.

This bird was working very hard on his mating call.

I probably took 300+ photos of pelicans trying to capture one in flight.  Not an easy task between their flying and our riding.

Fish swimming in a pond outside a NWR

Another "bridge" alternative to allow ships to pass.

Biloxi is very commercialized...like a mini Las Vegas on the gulf coast. We did discover that there were 32 stamps to collect in Alabama that are part of Mississippi Gulf Coast National Heritage Area.  Most did not appear to be open on weekends so we did not catch too many stamps.

Biloxi roads were full of sand...quite dangerous on the bike.

Enter at your own risk

Houses along the coast come in all shapes and sizes.

We came across a cute little coastal town called "St Lou's Bay".  They had a few bar/restaurants and this beautiful Angel tree.  See the story in the picture below.

A very neat fort. Not maintained by the NPS so of course it is closed on a Sunday. We went back across the bridge because the only way you can see it is while crossing the bridge.

Nice office space

 

Our tire pressure guage indicated we had low tire pressure so we stopped at the first gas station we saw approaching New Orleans.

We were chatting with a guy at the gas station about the common interest in Honda motorcycles.  He has a sport bike.  He helped Ryan put the bike on the center stand so we could evaluate the situation and then left.  He came back a little while later to check on us...eventually taking us to his house to work on our obvious flat.

After our new friend William (Nickname Too) took Ryan to get a plug kit, Ryan started working to plug the tire...in NO fashion...it poured down rain.

William tried to convince Ryan to come in from out in the rain.

He came in for a little bit...enjoyed some fresh wings, rice and beans compliments of Too's wife Kim

 

Turns out we had two holes close to each other.  It took a while but they got it patched.

This was a good sign...holes are patched.

 

Our new New Orleans friends DJTony, DJLadi Kim, and William "Too".  They said we must be special people to ride into New Orleans and trust some guy we met at the gas station.  They said that the area we pulled into is not a very safe area...and lots of crazy folks around the area. Kim even had me come in the house to see how she was cooking the food so we knew we could "trust" that they are Good People.  We told them that someone above was looking out for us.  We typically are good judges of people.  I will admin...I was a bit nervous at first because as we drove to their neighborhood, it wasn't a little questionable.  But we trusted that William would not have come back to check on us if he wasn't a good guy...turns out we were right.  These here are friends for life!!

 

 William convinced us to stay a few miles down the road in the event we need to come back or need him to pick us up. Turns out we didn't need to go back there but we kept the hotel room for a couple nights.