Rice fields, Louisiana. We didn’t see any bird life until we stopped.

We ambled out about 9:30 am from our cush Mobile room. We knew we wanted to check out a Mobile marina, and figuried making it into Texas that eve was a bit of a stretch.  The marina folks were congenial, and the rates reasonable. Good datapoint for future planning. Other than marinas. there’s not much else in the area. The nearest grocery store was about 4 miles away, but the kayak potential directly off the maraina looked good.

White sands and mansions in the Gulfport and Biloxi Mississippi area. Image liberated from WikiCommons.

We nipped the tip of Alabama and Louisiana, so it didn’t take long before we were cruising Mississippi. Much as we could, we skirted the Gulf Coast, taking in its waterfront mansions, seafood and BBQ restaurants. It was cool. but we had miles to burn, so we whizzed past….

Restaurant in the Biloxi Mississippi area.

Somewhere in the Biloxi area was the weirdest food combo I’ve seen for a restaurant — street tacos and dim sum Not that I have anything against either, but going to a place that claimed to specialize in both struck me as way too odd. Someone will probably tell me I really missed out by trying nothing more than a snapshot take while driving past.

Lake Arthur, Mississippi, showing signs of a recent overabundance of rain.

We finally stopped at Lake Arthur to stretch our legs and use the facilities. The other towns we passed through were either too big and busy, like Biloxi or blink-and-you’ll-miss-’ems.

It wasn’t even a town where we saw these guineafowl scuttling across the road.

We don’t listen to the radio, or podcasts, or books on tape much if at all on long road trips. Instead we focus on where we are and just see what see. Like these guineafowl….

Bridge over Lake Charles, Mississippi, near the East Texas border.

Once again, we got lucky in our last minute lodging choice. When we’re not sure how far we’ll drive, we wait until we’re two hours or less from calling it a day, then use Google maps to find a decent location and rate. I chose the Quality Inn because it was across the street from Lake Charles and close to downtown. It was a good choice. We had enough time to cross the street and watch the sun set over Lake Charles and the bridge that spans it.

Lake Charles’ Ryan Street had good bones. There was some great 18th century architecture for a couple blocks both sides this placard.

I got up at 6:30, grabbed a cup of tea and headed out to Lake Charles’ downtown historic district. It started only two blocks from “our” hotel.

Bank, Lake Charles downtown historic district.

Most of the buildings in Lake Charles downtown historic district were built in the 1800s.

City Hall, Lake Charles, Mississippi.

This handsome City Hall (or was it the courthouse?) seemed like a logical turn-around point. I swung by the promenade next to Lake Charles. The area was taken over by pigeons (or doves, pigeons with better PR). I watched them get fed by locals who looked like it was not their first pigeon-feeding rodeo, then headed back to get ready to hit the road.

One of many pigeons hanging around the Lake Charles shoreline.

Still catching up on posts. Tonight we are in Roswell, New Mexico. It is our sixth day of travel.