Visual Storytelling – Day 14 – Patriotic

For a week and a half at the beginning of every October, classic cars descend on the Mississippi Gulf Coast for Cruisin’ the Coast. This year’s Cruisin’ was the largest ever, with almost 7,300 vehicles registered. Cruisin’ is billed as “America’s Largest Block Party,” and I think that’s a pretty accurate description. The first couple of years that I was in Mississippi, I didn’t quite understand the appeal of Cruisin’, having come from Reno, where we have Hot August Nights every year. But this year, something clicked with me, and it was like, Ohhhhhhhh! Now I get what this is all about – It’s essentially a tailgate party that goes on for a little more than a week. Gotcha!

Don’t get me wrong – it’s still slightly annoying to have the Coast clogged with that many extra vehicles, but it’s also kind of amazing to see them all slowly crawling along Beach Boulevard, moving from one end of the Coast to the other. It’s also amazing to see all the people who are lining the beach to watch. They sit in lawn chairs, under tents, in the back of trucks. The set-ups range from the simple to the elaborate with huge camping rigs intending to stay the entire week. If you’ve been to a college tailgate – a big college tailgate – imagine that going on for 26 miles.

This year for the first time I felt like I wanted us to be out there with folks, enjoying it all. Unfortunately, I only made it out one afternoon to take photos, and I didn’t get to the one place I wanted to be. The few photos I managed to get, though, I’m fairly happy with. Don’t ask me what kind of cars they are, though. I couldn’t tell you. It’s not one of the things that I paid attention to. Ever.

I particularly liked this one with the American flag and worked to get the reflection.