Daily Narrative    The day began with that steamy, sweaty air that we have gotten used to.  At 8:00am the temperature was already in the high 80's and the humidity was looking ugly.   We awoke in the very pretty community of Alligator Point on the northwestern coastline of Florida, and proceeded to head west for New Orleans.  Today was mostly a day of driving.  We drove along the gorgeous northwestern Florida coast for three or four hours before hitting the sprawl of Pensacola.  With no way to avoid it, we worked our way through Pensacola and dropped back down to the coast as soon as we could, and then drove into Alabama. Always on the look out for ways to avoid urban centers, we saw that a ferry cut across the mouth of Mobile Bay, letting us avoid Mobile itself, and headed for it.  We picked up a schedule that told us we should be able to just make it, if we hurried.  We got to Fort Morgan just in time, but were one car too late for the ferry's capacity and had to wait an hour an a half for the next one.  This felt really unfortunate in the heat and humidity, and with as far as we were trying to get today.  Brian wandered around looking at the ruins of Fort Morgan, a Spanish-American war battery, and Theresa took a break at the dock.  We caught the next ferry, and became the on board entertainment for a few groups that "have always wanted to go to Alaska".  We'll have to tell you how many people we have met that "have always wanted to go to Alaska" when we get the chance...  On the other side of the boat ride, we drove through the remainder of coastal Alabama and into Mississippi.  The chunk of the road prior to Biloxi was an interesting and scenic collection of bayous and small towns.  When we did reach the fascinating sprawl of Biloxi and Gulfport, we saw for the first time the phenomenon of "offshore gambling", which apparently means that if you build your casino over water it is okay.  These structures don't look like they even have the potential of floating, but they are all on the beach.  There were miles and miles of them.  Very weird and not a very nice thing to do to a beach.  We moved on across the Mississippi coast line and crossed into Louisiana at sunset, stopping just outside of New Orleans in our air conditioned Kamping Kabin.  We know, we're wimps, but we're happy wimps.

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Daily Pictures

Morning in Alligator Point, FL, next to palm trees and the Gulf of Mexico	Lot of ducks stopped in to talk about our Alaska plates.  No, I'm sorry, that was Floridians
We've been seeing a lot of these ducks that appear to have chicken faces.  Theresa has dubbed them "Chucks"	A couple of guys fishing on a pier.  Pier fishing is very big in this part of the country.  This is a relatively wimpy pier.
The road along the northwestern Florida coast from Alligator Point to Pensacola was very scenic and almost made up for the endless strip malls of yesterday	The weather, however, was erratic
The view from Brian's perch this morning.  No, his calves have not grown as much as this perspective would suggest	The PowerBook is taking on a well traveled look, no?
Folks fishing and playing in one of the many bays around Pensacola	A lady in historical garb leading a tour at Fort Morgan in Alabama
Fort Morgan was a huge military battery (weapons storage site) for the Spanish American war	Having a scant understanding of the Spanish American war (and not having taken the lady's tour) we aren't sure what the importance of Mobile Bay was in the war...
...but Brian found a 1942 Kubelwagen (Germany military Volkswagen) he was very impressed with	The Mobile Bay is chock full of natural gas rigs
Although we were actually here for a shortcut around Mobile...	...and we weren't the only ones enjoying the ride
We think our lamp from the Maine Prison Showroom rounds out the bus' nautical theme	Off the ferry at Dalphin Point
And a wrong turn takes us out to Dalphin Island, by far the classiest stilted subdivision we have seen to date	An interesting looking boat dry-docked next to a bayou in rural Mississippi
We don't know, they all seemed a little hot to us...	A church in rural Mississippi, closed with Kudzu seeping out the doors
A church in Biloxi, with what we believe was a clamshell roof.  Kind of a contrast to those New England churches, we think	She that huge Spanish galleon?  In Biloxi that's called a "casino"
Nope, not taken that night or on that road, but darkened up a little to try to blend in...	A gorgeous sunset just inside (or maybe just outside) Louisiana

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