Last Gulf Coast Hurrah

It was raining lightly when I started out from Fairhope, Alabama this time, heading out on the homestretch of my trip after a second visit with my friend there. From her house to I-10 is about 10 miles, then it's freeway all the way to the Mississippi border. Within the first 30 miles on I-10, I saw the aftermath of three accidents. And they make fun of Californians for not being able to drive in the rain... Of course I have no way of knowing that the accidents didn't involve California drivers 😊

I cut over to the coast at Biloxi and I came across the visitor center just as I was looking for a place to use the restroom. Right across from the visitor center is a pier:


And the beach that was the site of some important civil rights demonstrations:


Inside the visitor center I saw this postcard on display:


I had suspected mosquitos were bad here and now it's confirmed. By visiting the Southeast in January, I've gotten off very easy bug-wise. I'm sure I've gotten much more favorable impressions of the places I've visited than I would have if I experienced them at certain other times of the year.

Speaking of insects, I was about to take a shortcut across the grass when I noticed this:


It is wise to stay on the sidewalks in fire ant country. Fire ant mounds are enormous compared to ant hills I'm accustomed to. Fire ant mounds can be 18 inches tall and are easily seen along the side of the road while driving at highway speeds. I've been seeing them in several states and I have no desire to get a closer look.

West of Biloxi is another enticing stretch of highway that goes right along the Gulf Coast, and I knew I wanted to take it on my way to Baton Rouge. It would be my last coastal drive on this trip. It was cloudy and a little rainy, but I got some glimpses of sun through the clouds as you can see in the photos above.

Why go to Baton Rouge and not New Orleans? It's been a while, but I've been to New Orleans. It's a cool place, but it's really tourist oriented. It was actually right around this time of year when I was there for the Super Bowl in 1997. (Surely that's not 23 years?!?) I still have a polo shirt with this logo on it:

My hope is that Baton Rouge will have plenty of what I liked about New Orleans and less of what I didn't like about New Orleans. The Mississippi River is at flood stage at Baton Rouge, but it's supposed to crest in the next couple of days just short of major flood stage.

Side note: There's another fire ant mound right outside my hotel window in Walker, the town with the best hotel value near Baton Rouge:


FYI, Fire ant mounds don't have a hole in the top like regular ant mounds do (source: https://www.amdro.com/learn/fire-ants/understanding-a-fire-ant-colony). I'm sticking to the sidewalks as long as I'm in fire ant country. 😎

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