Wednesday, November 4 Alabama Line to Biloxi, Miss
Welcome to Mississippi at 3:17. I stop at the Mississippi Visitors Center and change my plans. I had planned to go north and take Alabama 26 across the state, but I picked up some motel coupons and decide to stay on I-10 to Biloxi instead, over the Mississippi flood plain, with waterways snaking through the saw grass and marsh grass, a causeway over it all, maybe a mile long, totally flat in all directions, the sky about 50/50 blue and clouds, maybe a little more sky. I get off at exit 38 and head for the gulf on Miss 605 (the Traditions Scenic Highway with a power plant off my left), the sky now almost completely cloud free, a few clouds on the horizon. Well, I screwed up again. But this time I had help from the coupon, which said Exit 38/46A. Instead it should have been Exit 46A. So after getting to the Gulf and not finding Beach Boulevard, I turn around and go back to I-10 then head east to I-110. Since the signs there are also confusing, I have to back up again and finally get on I-110 to the Gulf, onto US90 alongside the beach. I'm ready to give up so I stop at another motel, where the bill would be $90. The woman there tells me US90 is Beach Boulevard. So I head west, checking out house numbers. There's a beautiful sunset, the sun touching the ocean, a couple of purple clouds above it with gold and silver and pink and yellow lining. I finally find the Flamingo Beach Motel at 5:18, odometer 108987, across the street from the gulf. My 1st credit card hangs on their phone so I have to use a different credit card and have no trouble with that one. The cost, across the street from the Gulf and the beach, is less than $40. The Oriental woman who runs it is not particularly friendly. 2 of the 3 lamps don't work and she did not enjoy being disturbed. It turns out they were just not plugged in. There's the standard king bed with 2 standard small tables on either side with space underneath and a drawer, 2 wall lamps, a small wooden table with one slightly padded armchair, minifridge, microwave, another wall lamp. Across from the bed is a 3-drawer dresser with a TV in an alcove on its top, another padded armchair in the corner, an alcove with a large sink counter, the usual shelf above hangers and underneath a bench-type thing instead of the foldaway suitcase holder. Not terribly great but clean and a place to sleep. I take a walk across the street to a kind of souvenir store, mostly ocean stuff. Later I go across the street for a BLT and sweet tea at the Waffle House. Not exactly what I wanted, but there's a dearth of eating places in the area
Thursday, November 5 Biloxi, Miss to the Louisiana line
Up at 8:30. For some reason my right big toe has started to hurt. On to US 90 at 9:51, 80 degrees, odometer 108987. I stop at a Shell for $20.50 of $1.969 gas. A large seabird (a cormorant?) flaps laboriously across US 90. The sky is pretty much blue, kind of hazy, clouds on all horizons. The Treasure Bay Casino and Hotel, Souvenir City. I pass the Jefferson Davis Home and realize I should have stopped (Rule #3) but it's too late and it's very hard to turn around with the Jersey barrier between lanes. A Spanish style house. There are ghostly buildings over the ocean to my left, slowly taking form--a couple of big cranes, ship area, bays, piers, whatever you call them. It looks like serious inhabited area ahead of me so I take 49 to I-10 through a city-type area, lots of buidings. Jay Jay's pawn and Jewelry, Quick Cash Pawn, Austin's Antiques, Thai Lotus Vietnamese cuisine. I-10 at 10:46, temp 82, cloudy all around but the sun is shining, nearly complete cloud over with a few small patches of blue. Over the Pearl River.