Continuing with my Buffett subtheme, I started yesterday afternoon in Pensacola Beach, Florida and four hours later I fpuns myself in Pascagoula, Mississippi. Pascagoula is the birthplace of Buffett (as well as Trent Lott and Channing Tatum).
First time ever in this state. My observations from the drive are similar to those from previous posts. The Florida part was discouraging for the dilapidated appearance of so many places. Alabama was mostly farm land except around Mobile. As you see from the photos below, there were some gorgeous Southern homes but a mile later it was outdated Southern sprawl. When I came into Mississippi on US 90, the first things I saw were three large churches. Then more of the same that you would see along any highway in the south.
Pascaguola is like so many Southern towns it size - four lane road through town, a railroad track, every fast food chain store (no Chick-fila), strip shopping centers that date back to the 60s or 70s with empty stores or second or third generation tenants, cash loan stores, car repair businesses with their bay doors open to the highway. Most everything looked tired but for the new CVS and Walgreens located diagonally across an intersection. Oh, and the hospital looked relatively new. Ingalls Shipbuilding has a large factory just west of town where they build ships for the Navy. Chevron has an oil refinery here - massive facility. The Singing River passes through here; it is the longest single flow river in the United States.
And from Wikipedia:
In October 1973, an alleged UFO sighting and alien abduction is said to have occurred when co-workers Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker claimed they were abducted by aliens while fishing near Pascagoula. The incident earned substantial media attention. In June 2019, Pascagoula placed an historical marker near the alleged abduction site.
Whoa. Sort of a negative review of Pascaguola. I guess I wouldn’t want to llive here! But the pine trees and live oaks are beautiful!! And they do play the Tams on the radio.
From Pascaguola’s Gulf shire:
Here are some photos from Mobile.