Day 42(Monday, May 30):Biloxi, MS to Dauphin Island,AL–71 miles

We are out of Biloxi before dawn breaks–5:20. How can it already be hot at this hour of the “night”?
The streets are empty; neither cars nor people disturb the early morning quiet.
I see the historic Biloxi Lighthouse, built in 1848 and one of only two left out of an original total of twelve, purportedly the most photographed structure on the Gulf Coast. Of course I stop to snap a few frames.
Before we know it we are across a few more biker friendly bridges and in Ocean Springs. Joe stops, points to a sign, and says we are on Highway 398. Yes, the sign is green and white, but it is the gas price, not the road number. It’s early, 6:15am; life should get better…
We cross the Singing River, named for an Indian Legend. Supposedly the whole Pascagoula tribe walked arm in arm, singing, into this river, rather than be subjugated by the adjoining Biloxis. One may be fortunate to hear their song if one listens closely. We are now 25 miles out as we pass through Pascagoula, home to Ingalls Shipbuilding, the largest employer in the state. We see what appear to be Navy destroyers at the mouth of the harbor.
This morning we thought our day could be 25, 50 or 70 miles. We feel fine at 25 miles and continue on.
I see Joe talking to a bicyclist up the road a bit. Please meet Mr.Coleman Wingate, American Vet, originally from Virginia, now living in Pascagoula, and biking to the local Walmarts to do daily shopping. I secretly visualize him as a Walmart greeter; his bicycle is a vision of red, white and blue, festooned with 5, count ’em, 5, American flags and plastic baskets in equally patriotic colors. The crowning touch: blue duct tape holding the bike seat together. What a perfect character to run into on Memorial Day! Coleman, thanks for the memories!
Next stop: Bayou La Batre at 50 miles. The town fits in nicely on the Coast2Coast Film Tour: it was a featured setting for the 1994 film “Forrest Gump” and the book of the same name. Gump’s friend Bubba hailed from here and Gump lived here awhile while working as a shrimper. Yet one more film fact emerged; in April 2005, Disney Studios launched a secretly built pirate ship, the Black Pearl, out of the village, in order to film sequels to “The Pirates of the Caribbean”. Not bad; this is getting to be fun.
We are not yet tired, though, and after a stop at the local friendly Waffle House for “the usual” we are on our way again after making motel reservations for the night as we now have a final destination. I will save Room Reservation Roulette for Saturday nights when the game is at its most exciting!
20 more miles to go.
Oh, I forgot, we are now in Alabama! We are on the Scenic Alabama Coastal Access Route;
there are even some rolling hills.
We keep hydrating, but somehow Joe has a headache he can’t shake; now it’s a sharp pain behind his right eye. We are still 12 miles out, but thankfully a country diner, the first we have seen the whole day, is a few hundred yards off. We stop for the AC and the ice cold drinks. Within a few minutes Joe both looks and feels better.
We are off yet again. Soon we see a seemingly endless causeway and adjoining bridge, over Mobile Bay, which connects Dauphin Island to the mainland. I see the island!
We are now settled in at the Gulf Breeze Motel, preparing for yet another day.
Tomorrow we take the ferry to Fort Morgan and then…. Yes, Florida, here we come…

For the diehards amongst you: A really obscure film reference: in the 2004 Coen brothers(second mention for them on my film tour)black comedy “Ladykillers”, starring Tom Hanks, the main character Mrs.Munson says her neighbor is going to the Costco(nonexistent) in Pascagoula.
Tom Hanks also seems to be racking up some points on the Film Tour!

Day 34(Sunday, May 22):Liberty to Vidor,TX–52 miles

Another day is done. Furthermore we anticipate this being our last night in the large and extremely friendly state of Texas. Perhaps a ceremonial burning of the wrinkled, frayed map that has been our trusty guide for the last 19 days and 900 miles is in order!
The winds continue from the SE; the humidity continues in the 80% range.  There is nothing new there, so I’ll move on to other subjects.
It is a good thing we stopped in Liberty last night; the small hamlets we passed through today offered nothing in the way of lodging.
The people, however, were great.  In Devers we stop at 7:30 am on this Sunday for a water break in front of Shamrock Equipment Rental.  As we ready to leave, the owner shows up and asks if he can get us water or anything; of course I ask about using the facilities. No problem.  Bless this kind man!
We pass through Nome, believe it or not named during the Texan Oil Rush after the gold rush town of the same name in Alaska.
Our next stop is in China, named for the Chinaberry tree; besides being yet another rail and then oil boomtown on our route, it was also a venue for the Walt Disney Company.   First for  pre screenings of the movie “Mulan”, complete with a giant Great Wall of China in the town football field and then a release party for “Shanghai Knights”, this time with a giant eggroll accompanying the show.  Remember this is the Fenn Fun,Film and Food Festival Bike Tour.
I found yet another interesting  factoid about the towns around here; during WWII they housed German prisoners of war, who maintained the rice fields while the farmers were away at war.
We stop in Beaumont at the Waffle House for a breakfast break. We have a great server, Cilla, and various patrons are interested in these two sweaty characters who just came rolling in on bicycles. One couple even passed by us on their way to eat here. Everyone is both friendly and congratulatory; we feel great. We ask for our bill and Cilla tells us the couple who passed us on the road already took care of it; they asked that she say nothing until after they were gone. I run outside to see if I can thank them before they drive away; no such luck.  We are truly astounded at their exceptional kindness and generosity.  Cilla lets us know they come in daily to eat; we ask her to thank them for us the next time she sees them.
We are off again, crossing the Neches River via I-10; we must be less gutsy than in New Mexico. It seemed a bit fast and loud to me.
Off the bridge there is an exit for Old Highway 90. We take it and immediately come upon not one, but two, unsigned intersections.  I make a choice; Joe hangs in there with my choices, though on the second one he does mention several times that this is another  unmarked road I am expecting him to follow me on. I say it looks like a go. So off  we sail into the hot, humid and excessively verdant bayou.  It feels and smells like the Disneyland ride; maybe I will see fireflies tonight.
We arrive several miles later at Vidor, our day’s destination. Here too, there is more to the backstory than meets the eye.
Newswoman Paula Zahn gave the town its moment of notoriety in 2006 while investigating the town’s history of “no blacks after dark”.
More on this from Wikipedia:” Vidor has a legacy of being a sundown town, a place where African-Americans were excluded from being present after dark. African-Americans were effectively restricted from living here because of its reputation as a Ku Klux Klan haven. In 1993, the U.S. government tried to end this racial separation by unsuccessfully locating a few African-American families within the town. These families moved out after a Klan march.[4] Although blacks are no longer shunned, demographics reflect Vidor’s past, with the number of blacks in the town rising from zero in 1990 to eight in 2000 and 13 in 2010.”
The town’s name comes from  lumberman Charles Shelton Vidor, father of director King Vidor and the  owner of the Miller- Vidor Lumber Company, basically then the only employer in town.
This town was severely damaged from Hurricanes Rita and Ike, in 2005 and 2008, respectively, but has since been rebuilt.

Texas is a land of contrasts.
Until tomorrow when we see what Louisiana has in store for us…