The Fort and the Beach

The day had no particular plan, with only two objectives.  When researching this area of the world for potential exploration, an old military fort presented itself as an intriguing situation. The other goal was nothing more than time on that beach made of sugar, splashing around in the crystal clear water, enjoying a little sun, watching the later fade into starlight.

A quick journey to the Seville Historic District of Pensacola for breakfast found things frozen in time.  The architecture mirrored much of what is usually seen in New Orleans, without the appearance or stench of decay.  It all appeared rather well maintained.  Bodacious Brew lived up to its namesake with a fantastic fare.  There was not much time to linger, but a quick glance at a nearby park found a memorial to one of the founding fathers of Pensacola, William Dudley Chipley, squarely in Plaza Ferdinand VII.

Fort Pickens area of Gulf Islands National Seashore loomed as the primary mission of the day.  In the climbing temperatures, the excursion encouraged an early start.  It proved an impressive tour through the history of this particular end of the barrier island, Santa Rosa Island.  While defenses at this fortification are certainly impressive, nature is winning the war, gently and quietly reclaiming land and relocating everything else.

Reservations for sunset reservations on the beach rendered just enough time to run back to East Hill and pick up another of our crew that had stayed in for the day.  Traffic lights enabled one chance to capture The Crystal Ice House, a vintage ice station from 1932.  With a green light, it faded into the rearview mirror as the urgency grew to collect fare for the evening and escort the food truck prize quickly back to the beach.  

The daylight held on long enough to stake a solid claim on a relatively empty stretch of beach.  Some color remained and lingered quite a good while. One by one, stars arrived on duty, slowly cascading into the darkening sky, and the galaxy slowly swam into view.  It is no wonder so many abandon themselves to life near the surf.  

. . .

Further Reading

Bodacious Brew Café

Pensacola, FL

Plaza Ferdinand VII

National Park Service

William Dudley Chipley

Wikipedia

Fort Pickens Area

Gulf Islands National Seashore

National Park Service

Crystal Ice House

RoadsideAmerica

Pensacola Beach

VisitPensacola.com

Reaching the Beachhead

It took very little effort to achieve the intended goal for the day.  Skies were clear, then stormy, then clear again; typical coastal weather for this time of year.  It was still hot, but Gulf breezes began to push some of that away.  The journey proved mostly uneventful through the billion acre forest of Mississippi, then Alabama to Mobile.

Mobile offered up the George Wallace Tunnel for amusement, diving 12 meters under the Mobile River, emerging nearly 1,000 meters on Blakeley Island.  Opened in 1973, it is named after the infamous Democratic senator from Alabama, a staunch segregationist, populist politician and two time presidential contender.  A new name has not yet been chosen for the tunnel,  but given his record and the state of affairs, it is likely in the works.

Señor GoPro unknowingly went on break just before the Alabama/Florida line, likely out of boredom induced by the interstate monotony.  Traffic crawled in west bound lanes, as the beaches emptied from the revelry of the 4th of July.  East bound proved to be the usual interstate game of push or be pushed down the road.

Arriving in Pensacola in no time at all, Señor GoPro rose from his siesta in time to catch the Bay Bridge crossing and down to accommodations for the next several days and nights.  Google completely mucked up the directions though, believing it more interesting to scale a 10 meter wall to access Gulf Coast Inn than to simply enter off the parkway.  It all worked out, with a little meandering, and the little roadside spot proved an excellent find for this occasion.

Connecting with friends, sustenance became the first order of business and they quickly identified the ideal location.  Shaggy's served up a delicious fare.  Had there not been a hurricane a few years ago, the original location in Christian Pass might have been our first encounter, but this was just as well, and well worth the wait.

A full belly sent us further east along the beach in search of less populated areas. As luck would have it, the first stop proved to be the perfect location for lounging about and catching up further with friends.  Toes were dipped, sand was put under construction and a good time had by all.

A need for relief led back to the parking lot, at some point. This led to the discovery of of something the Chinese first noted in the 9th century.  Marco Polo also reference the phenomenon in his crossing of the Gobi Desert, indicating the dunes filled the air "with the sounds of all kinds of musical instruments ... ," In these times, the best label society can conjure is "squeaky sand."

The conversation continued from there, listening and watching the gentle surf along the eastern end of Pensacola Beach.  The wind lightly made it s presence known every so often and the sun sank lower and lower on the horizon behind us.

The position of things, along with other necessities, prompted another visit to view that horizon on the other side of the dunes.  One of our posse passed around between the dunes, to capture the view without interference, while the position among the tall grass seemed sufficient for this particular evening.

As if on queue, the wind kicked up a steady pace, and the surrounding world turned blue. Conversation continued on into the darkness for a moment or three.  Weird tiny biting bugs came out to play on the beach, and earlier memories of random crabs popping out of holes encouraged departure before long.

The last moments of the day were s pent enjoying a fire.  At first, it seemed a little ridiculous in the 32°C temperatures.  Someone explained the effectiveness of its chasing away mosquitoes though, and suddenly, the proposition did not seem all that preposterous after all.  It had been an eventful day, and their company stood undesirable.

. . .

Further Reading

George Wallace Tunnel

Wikipedia

Shaggy's

Penscaola Beach, FL

Pensacola Beach

VisitPensacola.com

Of Granular Material and Singing Sands

Scientific American

Crossing the Mississippi Delta

Wandering down out of the Ozark Highlands on a southeasterly bearing, it might have been easy enough to just slide over to Memphis and follow the interstate system.  A particular loathing has grown significantly for that route though.  It is as homogenized as it gets, at a high speed.

The expedition headed immediately southeast towards a little known spot in Arkansas relevant to the history of the state before it was a state.  Indeed, relevant to many the western states before they were even states.

Little more than a marker in a swamp, Louisiana Purchase State Park commemorates the planting of a survey marker.  It is not just any survey marker though.  This boulder in a swamp preserves the initial point of beginning for surveys of all land acquired in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803.  It is puzzling why such a location was chosen, when plenty of wide open solid land surrounds the area.

Continuing across the massive floodplain of the Mississippi River into a state by the same name, the remainder of the day moved lazily down the road, like the the barges on the Mississippi River.   The seven and a half driving hours for the day bypassed all the major metropolitan areas.  Indeed, US-49 seemed to bypass pretty much everything, except the heat.  The radio confirmed that it was 44°C near Webb, mockingly following that up with news that there would be a low of 42°C overnight.

Skies became increasingly cloudy near Greenwood, just as the journey turns into the southern pine belt. It proved a little cooler there too; a chilly 38°C.  Humidity in both of these instances stood at the precipice of raining, without ever going there.  Stepping out of air conditioning into this pea soup equal  only to being slammed in the chest with a sledgehammer, while trying to swallow a gallon of water.

Pine forest consumes much of the landscape after that point. Two-lane highways begin to twist and wind their way through this land mass.  It is amazing that this far south, even after all the years, this part of the world maintains one of the highest percentages of forest cover in the nation.  Then again, with the heat they experience regularly, maybe not so surprising.  Storm never quite caught up, though made a gallant effort, apparently raging everywhere around.  The most witnessed firsthand on this outing amounted to little more than a few splatters here and there.

Arriving at camp for the night unscathed, accommodations were found satisfactory, and a quick journey into Laurel for sustenance proved successful.  Some friendly folks dining nearby at the bar asked if we had come to see the related to the HGTV series "Home Town."  They appeared amused and somewhat relieved that we had no idea what that was all about and immediately offered a few interesting alternatives.  Though a few suggestions seemed interesting enough, our destination was the beach though.  The only real purpose for stopping in this town was to enable a three hour journey to attain that goal.

The journey back to camp seemed much longer than the dusk travel into Laurel.  Everything grows right up to the side of the two-lane blacktop here.  Additionally, a settling fog and shadows challenged  expedient navigation.  At camp, the night stood blissfully absent of human intervention.  Frogs and crickets set the tone for the night.  One little tree frog came inside for a brief visit, but had to be evicted after attempting to scale the walls. 

. . .

Further Reading

Louisiana Purchase State Park
Arkansas State Parks

The forest cover of the United States mapped

Vivid Maps

"Home Town"

HGTV

First Jim Kress Mission

Beyond Big Creek Natural Area (above), an excellent little hike down through the bluffline along and down to that feature is contained within a larger space known as Jim Kress Wildlife Management Area.  While mostly ignored, it recently sparked some curiosity, where it was resolved to return and dive down many of the other paths it offers on the next encounter.

Following a logging road one afternoon led roughly 1.6 kilometers down to Big Creek.  There was no surprise there, though access to the same did not seem a wise choice at the time. After passing a gate that seemed to have a primarily purpose of blocking road traffic, nearing the creek found a settler.  A lone pickup shrouded with a variety of blankets, towels, and the sort did not encourage much more than a solitary hiker back the way he had come.  

Warren Mountain Logging Road 1a, as it was dubbed for this occasion, is not a particularly challenging  path, but a pleasant stroll overall, with any sound of humanity completely erased from the landscape. Numerous similar roads  criss-cross the landscape in this area, which appears little more than a huge pine tree farm for the state of Arkansas.   It is likely a great place to hunt also, so care will need taken on future intrusions into this land.

. . .

Further Reading

Big Creek Natural Area

Arkansas Game & Fish Commission

Jim Kress WMA

Arkansas Game & Fish Commission

Setting Tone for the Beach

Heading south late in the afternoon, a rocket ride across Missouri and into north central Arkansas proved mostly uneventful.  A minor diversion uncovered very little beyond beautifully empty roads, crops and livestock.  Skies were charitably clear, though temperatures remained around 32 °C, and surprisingly dry.

Much of the same sort of weather followed the next day, to include an abundance of clouds, but not so many as to spoil the view of the blue.  Adventures in hiking the usual local haunts throughout the morning gave way naps in the afternoon for one, while more hiking followed for the other.  An enjoyable performance by a couple of folks that previously appeared on the television show "The Voice" topped off a perfectly unplanned day.

Cardboard boat races, swimming at Sandy Beach, more hiking about, and yet more swimming rounded things out another day.  Spiderman seemed to be the star in an event otherwise circus-themed event. It was good to finally return to this fun little fiasco.  More photos and video from this even can be found at the link below.

. . .

Further Reading

country, cardboard, & fireworks

phocas.net