As you can see, we didn't cover a lot of ground yesterday.  I could make a number of excuses on the lack of progress, but the bottom line is we encountered many geographical obstacles that I really didn't anticipate..we went off the beaten path to get to Mobile, seeing beautful vistas of the Gulf, many beautiful forests and many small Southern towns.
When we got to Lafayette I noticed that the water, when taking a shower was very soft, you know when you take a shower you rinse and rinse and rinse but just don't feel like you've gotten all of the soap off?  It has continued through last nights stop in Milton...must be a southern thing.  Another thing you may have noticed is that every day we leave the scenic areas and retreat to I-10 at night.  We have to get out to the freeway (or as they refer to them here)  the "Interstate".  I had a difficult time trying to get to I-10, actually a difficult time communicating my desire to find the freeway after getting hopelessly lost comming out of Grand Isle the other day with a woman working at a coffee shop in a small restaurant, in God knows what little town we where in, in Louisiana.  When she finally got what I was asking for...easily a 5 minute conversation her directions were equally confusing, " go down the road thissa a way, take a right at the third blacktopped road, take that until it deadends then take a right go about 5 miles then go left".  The highway signs leave a lot to be desired, they don't tell you where the road goes, just the highway number!
I'm trying not to use GPS...I know.just not a techie!

I found out from my good friend Otis Favre ( distant 3rd cousin to you know who!)  Otis is a Chrysler dealer just outside of New Orleans that his former partner Larry Hart was in town..apparently a rare occurance!  Larry is the Chrysler dealer in Biloxi.  I've known Larry for 20 years and is one of the all time great guys beside being one of the most avid fisherman I know.  No wonder I like him so much!
The Longhorn shirt was bought as a way to get Ruby and I out of Texas safely!  We went a number of places yesterday were people were giving me the "hook 'em horns" sign.  It took me a little while to figure out what the hell they were doing!  Stupid me...I forgot that I had this shirt on!

Despite what we may believe in California the Confederacy lives on in the hearts of many people in the South.

Biloxi is the home of Jefferson Davis..1st ( and only President) of the Confederacy.  These pictures are of  Davis' home..Beauvoir.  Biloxi is now more famous for being the home to some of the largest casino's this side of Vegas.  They are everwhere!
I asked Larry where the old mansions in Biloxi where and he kind of laughed and said "there aren't any anymore, they all where on the coast and were destroyed by Katrina"

As stated earlier we took the long ways around Mobile and also Pensacola, 2 very large, beautiful bays.  There were homes around Pensacola Bay that were absolutley stunning with stunning views of the bay and the Gulf....very niiicce!
Here we encountered the newly placed U.S.S. Alabama (Mobile Bay).  It costs $5 to enter..I passed and asked the lady at the entrance booth if I could turn around and take pictures of the ship, she said "just as long as you don't try to go in without paying" Hmmm..do I look that devious...don't answer that!

Meet John!  We pulled into a reststop outside of Pensacola (I don't normally stop at them)...remember the scene from "Something About Mary"?.  When I went to the restroom I couldn't help but to notice how clean and spotless the mens room was.  I've never seen a reststop so immaculate!
While walking Ruby I couldn't help but to notice this large man watching us.  I thought he was a truck driver.  I said hi to him, he said hi and said "my that's a handsome dog that you have there".  Upon seeing him smile Ruby went over to him and immediately she had a new buddy!  I have never seen a dog that has the ability to make people happy...she is truly a unique dog.
Anyway, after talking with John and seeing his shirt we learned that he was in charge of the reststop.  I complemented him on the cleanliness of the stop...he said that it was his job to keep everything clean to show people from "not around here" what a great place Florida was"!
 John is a simple man, one who probably doesn't want for much but he does want to make sure that his job (not a glamorous one to be sure) is done correctly and to the best of his abilities day in and day out.  I really wish that there were more people in this world like John, who are happy to have a job and do everything possible to insure that they do it the right way and not just go through the motions.  Imagine the effect on the national debt if there were more people like John! 

I still love flowers!  I got this trait from my mom at a very early age...this picture was shot just before sunset when the light was slanting accross the terrain as it does before sunset.  I thought the brilliance of the colors should be included in todays entries.  Hope no one cares!