School me: Southern Mississippi/NOLA

An opportunity has come up for me at the Stennis Space Center in southern MS (one the border of MS and LA) and I know nothing about the area except for humidity, hurricanes, mosquitoes and good food. I'm just not sure how much the good food makes up for the other three.

Living on the coast sounds interesting, but I'd also like quick access to the city if possible. Bay Saint Louis and Diamondhead are on my radar for the MS side and the Slidel area looks cool in LA. I'm headed down for an interview this weekend so I'd like to have a few areas lined up to check out by then.

 

I live in New Orleans. From New Hampshire originally. Don't miss the snow. Summers are tough but bearable with AC. I know people who worked at Stennis and commuted from City. I'd recommend that. I'm here for New Orleans and not Louisiana. I'm a biased Yankee though so take that into the equation.

NOLA Motorsports is fun. Number of dirt trails out there when track is not available.

Happy to discuss more.

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I'm going to add...

Live on the coast if not in NOLA. Bay St. Louis, Pass Christian, etc.
Plan on buying a boat too.

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How's your banjo skills?

 

I believe the area is known as the Redneck Riviera.

 

I thought that was Florida's panhandle?

 

Figure out the rush hour traffic, then figure out from where can you reverse commute. I-10 sucks.
Personally, I'd look for something at least 20' above sea level. That means North.

The best food is at a boil in someone's backyard. Emiril is over-rated.

 

Be prepared to learn how to understand French Boomhauer.

 

Where do you live now? If you come here in July or August from any location not south of the Mason-Dixon line, you will die. If you have ever thrown a live crab into a pot of boiling water, you have a pretty good idea of the fate that awaits you.

 

Check YouTube thread for a lesson in language AND cooking.

 

The heat/humidity is my #1 concern about the area. I'm in central TX now and I'm growing tired of my life existing in climate controlled spaces. I'm from Chicago originally and thought the same thing about the snow until I moved to TX and now I think it would be a nice to have weather that gets under 55°.

What parts of the city are worth looking at? How bad is hurricane season?

 

I live in central TX now and we just had two weeks where the temps were over 100°, so I'm used to heat, but don't think I'm fully prepared for the humidity.

 

Heat and humidity you’ve never felt before. You wear it. South MS has some good ADV bike riding But not much if any off road areas unless you pay. National forest stuff is mostly gravel roads and anything off the road is reserved for horse riders. ATVs are huge here and somehow They find a way to get drunk and ride them everywhere. Street bike riding is horrible here the roads will beat a Sportbike to pieces. Stick to a ADV bike it’ll take the beating.

Living close to Nola I never go there. I did when the track was open and I have a few friends I visit in and around Nola but that’s rare. Never been impressed with any riding down there.

I spend most my off time and vacation time leaving MS. I’m only here for the job and what’s left of my aging family. Outside that I would have been gone long ago.

I’m serious you haven’t felt heat and humidity like this place. The tornadoes are frequent all over the state during early spring and into fall. Then there’s the occasional hurricane coming up the MS River. We do have a few days of nice spring and fall weather, Count to ten on both hands. That’s literally it. Winters can be mild or wet/cold and just nasty. Last place on earth I’d be trying to move to.

 

It's brutal. But you'll get used to it. I was born there. Then moved up here to SC in 1970. Today it was 97 with 100% humidity. Then massive effin thunderstorms. Normal stuff. If you're in TX then just spread that to any state in the South. And welcome.

 

This explains a F(*^&(ING LOT.

Like tons.

Like Mountains.

You should be required to start every F*&%$*%*ING sentence with that phrase.


Seriously.

 

Did my USAF Tech Schools at Keesler....there's a reason they call it "Biloxi Hot".

 

OMG, that’s fucking perfect!

It’s a mix of a long southern drawl, mixed with some backwoods Cajun French.

When you get really on down there, into the Fourchon, Grand Isle, Galliano, area...you’ll have a very hard time understanding those fuckers.

I once had to get someone to translate a conversation I was trying to have with a dude who lived less than 3hrs away. I couldn’t understand a damn thing that dude was saying.

 

Actually, our fall and spring are quite pleasant. The people are overwhelmingly pleasant. Cost of living is well below the national average. Street bikes are useless here, but we are close to a few tracks. Any place is what you make of it. We are also the insect capital of the universe. As soon as my kids graduate from college, I'm headed for my North Carolina mountaintop and I'm not looking back.

 

Charleston, SC is/was actually the worst for heat and humidity if you're going by heat index, but don't think it's strictly a Southern phenomenon. NYC is the pits when the temps reach mid-80ºs+...beads of sweat drippin' down the crack of your ass and you haven't even walked to the first corner yet. I'd rather be in Phoenix with 112º.
.............

OG, when you settle down there in the Bayou Metropolitan, you need to experience something...a weekly occurrence for more than twenty years.* (I'll have to get the current time/place to meet up.) You'll know it when you see 20-100+ motorcycles, all fast, sittin' around cokin'-n-jokin'...I'm sure there's some shit-talk goin' on, too. Anyway, at some point, someone fires up their bike and everyone takes off East on I-10. By the time they get to the "twin span", that's an uninterrupted stretch of bridge to Slidell that goes on for miles, they start backin' up traffic. Two bikes line up in the left lane, second gear (usually), three head nods and it's a rollin' dragrace from 55mph to WFO. As soon as those two bikes clear, the next two take off, and so on and so forth. They all end up at one of the first two exits in Slidell at some country kitchen or someshit (I'll check for that current location, too), get a bite, then turn around and do the same thing on the return trip. It's completely illegal, obviously, there can be some serious bets laid down and, yes, there can be heartbreak with a ride in the flashybox. Most of 'em just do it for the win but then someone will want to challenge the winner...it's what the return trip is for. Once you get off the twin span on the return, you can dive off onto 190 with a handful of guys and actually find some corners...at a TT rate of velocity.
The next week, you pick up where you left off.
(Just throwin' it out there. You don't have to get into the left lane.)
I honestly can't believe it still goes on...decades now. In a two year period, I saw cops once at the Slidell end of the run, sittin' in the bushes. Once.

There's more closer to NOLA, 1/4 mile stuff, but the prevalence of busted dreams and carnage is higher...no "corner" workers, etc. and spectators misjudge the closing speeds, throttles stick, curbs jump out at front wheels...

On the far side of NOLA, if you got nothin' better to do at 0-dark-thirty, head out to 3127. WFO forever, or until you get pulled over...or hit something like, I don't know, a deer...at 180+.
(There's some sick bikes out there, 200mph+. They use the area as a real-world dyno. )

*Or so I've been told.

 

humidity toughens you up! Also requires a good washing machine!