Tue 5th July - NOLA to Mobile ... "Let the Good Times Roll" ...

The arrangement was to leave Le Richelieu at leave at 7.30 as we're not having breakfast there, but it ends up being more like 8.15. Ho hum.

First off there's a stop for gas, then it's out of the French Quarter, out of the City and onto the bridge over lake Pontchartrain which is the 7th longest bridge in the world at nearly 24 miles end-to-end. its two separate dual carriageways that go causeway-bridge-causeway-bridge-causeway.

It goes from New Orleans to Mandeville. and is 3 miles longer than the shortest distance between England and France.

And Mandeville is where we stop for our breakfast at... LIZ'S WHERE Y'AT DINER

And an excellent breakfast it is too, the best of the trip I'd say.
Steak and eggs with spuds and toast is my choice, with lashings of coffee.

We leave Mandeville, East along Hwy 190, onto Hwy 90 at White Kitchen (aren't these place names somrthing else?), over the Pearl River, over the big bridge at Bay St. Louis,  after which Hwy 90 runs along the beachfront of beautiful white sand Gulf coast beach.

Lined with beautiful beach front properties (lots of which are on 15 foot stilts).
We all pull over to admire the view and me and a couple of others take the opportunity to go for a swim in the Gulf of Mexico. The waters lovely and warm, and the slope down under the water is very slight. Just a quick swim though. Totally unprepared for this, so it's done without any pucker bathers. Jan finds a towel for us on the van thankfully.

We stay on Hwy 9 as it runs along the beach front, through
Pass Cristian and Island View...

...through  Gulfport, Boloxi...
We leave Mississippi and enter (Sweet Home) Alabama... (it actually says that on the road sign as you cross the boundary)

Todays lunch stop is at "the Shed Barbeque and Blues Joint" , in  Ocean Springs but I dont have anything - not after that breakfast!

This is a 'quirky' place though. I don't suppose you've eaten out at a restaurant where the floor is just gravel have you?

There's an amazing of junk displayed here. I'll let the photos do the talking...

by the way, just look at the length of this articulated caravan...

From here it's about 70 miles to the city of Mobile (pronounced Mow-Beel) where our hotel is tonight, the Renaissance  Riverview Plaza, in the centre of the town. Room 1303 (13th floor)

and yes, it does have a river view - here's the one from our room...

Tonight we eat al fresco at LODA BIER GARTEN , on the corner of Dauphin St and St. Joachim St.

I order  a Reuben sandwich , and a pint of Guinness. Mrs. K has Fish n Chips

One odd thing I've noticed on this trip, is that in the bars, the beer pumps are not mounted on the bar like we do, but on the wall behind the bar, like we do with the optics for spirits, see..

no shortage of different beer here though - but then it is called he Beer Garden

After dinner we walk back towards the hotel and stop for a coffee at Serda's Coffe Co.

Mrs K has a 'Blue Dolphin' (it's a drink), me just an espresso. There's a pub quiz going on but the questions are all very obscure, and we leave after 2 rounds.