Shepard State Park, Mississippi

November 28, 2022

Shepard State Park.

Our drive into Mississippi was quite scenic, as we hugged the coast of white sand beaches for some time. If it had been a sunny day, it would have been even prettier.

Soon after entering Mississippi, the road followed along the coast.

We were surprised to see that the entire beach along the Gulf coast appeared to be public access.

We passed a strip of casinos in Biloxi.

We arrived at our campsite at Shepard State Park with rain threatening, but fortunately it didn't materialize while we were setting up. We had a very nice site with a view of a tidal marsh.

These pictures were taken on a sunnier day.

The next day was beautiful--sunny and near 70, and we took a short 6 mile bike ride around the park. Julie was excited to discover that we finally found autumn, as the deciduous trees appeared to be at their peak color.

We walked along a boardwalk in excellent condition (a rarity in the storm-prone coastal south).

We saw a bunch of crabs in the water.

A couple of photo-spheres taken from the board walk.

We basically rode everything in the park that we could.

Thanksgiving was very nice - the morning started off with Rick's favorite sausage potato casserole for breakfast.

Mmmm - tasty goodness!

The weather was overcast with rain in the forecast, but the fall colors made the scenery pop. We took a little walk near our campground loop before dinner.

We discovered this little abandoned swing overhanging the marsh.

Our view outside the kitchen window.

For Thanksgiving dinner, we got creative and decided to try some Cornish hens this year instead of  turkey breast (which all were way too large for the 2 of us).  Along with our little "turkeys", we also picked up some single serving pies and made our favorite sides.  Turned out to be fun and tasty without overloading us with leftovers.

All ready to pop in the oven

They're done! (Actually they weren't--we had to do some microwaving afterward 😏)

"Carving" the hens (hacking them in half)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Half a "turkey" and plenty of sides for each.

Sunday brought good weather again , so it was time to head out on the bikes for a 10.5 mile ride around the area and investigate the surrounding neighborhoods.

Part of our ride took us through a ritzy area with boat houses along a canal leading to the Gulf.

Rick's long Nuts and Bolts section (no pretty pictures here):

Water pump:

On Friday morning I was brushing my teeth, and the water pump didn't turn on . . .  uhhh ohhh.  Messed with the pump a bit and if I wiggled the connector on the pressure switch it would briefly turn on.  I pulled the connectors off of the pressure switch, and those looked fine. The multi-meter on the switch indicated that the switch was dead.  

Well - I would really prefer to deal with this after my shower and breakfast so I just adjusted the bypass screw enough so the pump could just run continuously.  I took a chunk of wire and hot-wired around the pressure switch so the pump would just run until we switched the pump off at the main switch.  That got us through breakfast.  After that, I took everything apart and determined that a nice little microswitch needed replacing.

Well - Digikey had the microswitch for a couple of bucks - but that wouldn't do us any good as we didn't really have any shipping location. Amazon had some options - Full pump for $80, replacement pressure switch assembly for $20, and a 5 pack of the micro-switches for $20 . . . but none of those options would get to an Amazon box until Monday at the earliest. 

In the interest of getting our water working properly again, Julie started calling around local RV places to see what we could find.  One RV place had a pump for $185 (ouch).  She kept calling places farther and farther away, trying to find the pressure switch assembly which no one seemed to stock (many were happy to order one). Finally, a place that was about 40 minutes away gave a glimmer of hope - they didn't have one in stock but they did have a new pump of the same model that had another piece on it broken off - they suggested that they could just take off the pressure switch and sell it to us - Sold!  

We laughed a bit that we were going to end up shopping on Black Friday, as we usually avoid stores on that day.  Once back at the camper, the repair was quick, and we had water again!

Internet:  

Argggg - another location with really bad cellular service (Visible).  We were able to have a video chat one evening, but streaming anything at night had been a non-starter.  We were already going out on Saturday for some shopping, so it was time to buy materials to rig up a taller mast for the cell booster antenna!  

The existing booster antenna already had two short extensions (12 inches and 18 inches) that I already had on the roof (we don't travel with those in place).  The idea was to just attach one existing extension to the roof ladder, and the other existing extension to the antenna and then stuff those inside some sort of longer pipe.  I took off one of the extensions and took it with me to Lowes and scrounged around until we found a length of PVC pipe that just barely fit over the extensions. 

Once back at the camper it was raining, but I was determined to be able to stream some entertainment that night, so I went up on the roof in the rain (Julie's eyes rolling) and installed the extension pole (which added around 45" to the antenna height).  A quick speed test later - Yea! - we now were connected to a new cell tower that we had never connected to at this location and it was giving us streaming speeds - amazing what another 4 feet of height can do at some locations! 

We were both a bit worried about the stress on the ladder where I mounted the antenna (with an antenna that was now over 6 feet tall hanging off of it), so on Sunday morning I went into scrounging mode to find something to provide some extra support.  I ended up using the extra left over portion of PVC pipe, some pipe clamps (to provide end points for the new PVC pipe), and some temporary tie wraps to hold things in place (I have to take this down when we move!)

This looks like it will do an adequate job of supporting the ladder in its weak direction.  The antenna isn't really that big so we don't think there will be much surface area to catch the wind, and with the new support it shouldn't swing around nearly as much.

View from the ground

View from the roof - over 6' now!

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