Rainy Travel Day -Beach Style

After an overnight stop in Biloxi for a seminar at the Imperial Palace Casino, its finally time for the last leg of or spousal unit birthday retreat.

If you have a choice, stay away from most casino hotels.  They can try as best they can, but the  smoke smell will be with you long after you leave.

While the spousal unit was in her seminar, I made a stop at LeBakery.  They are known for their baked bread but their turnovers are to die for!  I got there a little before their opening at 8:30. The door was open so in I went.   The little Vietnamese woman begins yelling at me "bread not Read, you come back at 8:45!". I said " I'm here for the turnovers!". She says "OK, you good looking man, I take care of you!". Another little Vietnamese woman entered the store and the two began yapping.  After the customer left I told her that I was glad I didn't understand Vietnamese because that sounded like a whole lot of gossip!  She laughed and said, " you funny.  Tell you what, buy twelve turnovers and I give you one free!"

Time for roadie trip to begin, but first a lunch stop in Ocean Springs.  The spousal unit heard about Mikey's on the Bayou.  My momma often says "well it looked good from the outside!"

While the outside didn't meet my mom's definition, we hoped the food would be awesome!  Turned out to be my kinda hole in the wall.  Had the roast beef poboy, pretty good.  Spousal

 Unit's oyster poboy, not so much.  Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained.....

When you get to Mobile, You have two choices, the I-10 tunnel, or the Bay Bridge.  When the traffic is heavy the tunnel can be very stressful.  We have pretty much opted for the Bay Bridge.  We normally take hwy 98 from Hattiesburg, then take hwy 63 to Moss Point to get on I-10.  We then take I-65 north to I-165 and take the Bay Bridge Exit.  This is only about 8 miles out of the way, but the bridge is pretty cool!

 You end up back near the end of the tunnel and merge back on the interstate in just a few miles.  Plus there are several nice restaurants along the way.

If you are traveling through Florida, chances are you will find several roads that require a toll charge.  You can stop at the Florida rest stop and pick up a "Sun Pass" out of a vending machine for $5.40.  You activate the pass online and load money on it via credit card.  You load your tag info in the process.  The pass goes on the outside of the windshield.

 This sucker worked on our first toll.  We went through the pay booth just in case, and the pass registered a message "funds low".  The attendant waved us through, YES!  There are some locations where your car is electronically scanned, no booth.  Your sun pass is scanned, or they get your tag number and send you a bill, including a small administrative fee.

During the ride we encountered a lot of rain showers.  The outlook for the rest of the week is all rain.  Once we got to the beach, and our chosen restaurant, the view removed any doubt about this trip!  A rain filled day is worth 10 days at home any day!

Our first night in Destin is at a Hampton Inn, next to IHOP (yes!), and with the outlet mall across the street.  We get the condo tomorrow, but if its raining, the women pretty much know plan B!

Can't wait to see what the sun rise will bring!