Florida, Alabama, Louisiana & Mississippi

On Tuesday morning we ate breakfast at the hotel and set out for Biloxi, Mississippi, driving on the back roads of Florida’s panhandle, keeping as close as possible to the coast. In the town of Mary Esther, just outside of Fort Walton Beach, Florida, we stopped at a Piggly Wiggly to stock up on sodas. I’m not sure why, but visiting a Piggly Wiggly has been on my bucket list for a long time.

We were able to find my soda (diet Mug Root Bear at $5.99 for a case of twelve), but couldn’t find Kathy’s Orange Crush. One weird thing, though; as we drove through town, all of the streets had piles of dead branches in the front yards, just as if everyone had decided to trim their trees at the same time.

After crossing the bridge into Pensacola, (what a beautiful bay, shining in the morning sunlight), we started noticing a number of street signs knocked askew, houses without shingles on the roof, and large trees knocked down. I commented to Kathy that it looked like a tornado had come through. She got on the phone to Google and found that it was the damage caused by hurricane Isaias, just a few weeks ago; the same hurricane that knocked down trees on the Blue Ridge Parkway when we were there.

Just before we crossed into Alabama, near Perdido Key in Florida, we stopped by a Walmart Supercenter to see if we could find Kathy’s sodas there. Although we rarely visit Walmart at home, we’ve become something like aficianados on this trip. In addition to Kathy’s Orange Crush, look what else we found. I didn’t know that they still made these.

When we crossed into Alabama, our other bucket list item was to try fried green tomatoes. I did some Web research, and the name that kept coming up was Lucy Buffet’s Lulu’s in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Lucy is Jimmy Buffet’s little sister. We found the restaurant just after noon and ordered the tomatoes. They were pretty good, but nothing life-changing (However Kathy loved them).

After the appetizer we both had the half-po’boy and bowl of gumbo special. I had the shrimp po’boy with chicken and sausage gumbo, while Kathy had the oyster po’boy with the shrimp and crab gumbo. I have to say that the gulf shrimp were large, fresh, and delicious, nothing like those I’ve had in California, or even in Florida.

After lunch we drove through the tunnel under Mobile Bay, which I found terrifying, and then down the coast to Mississippi. Instead of corn fields or cane fields, we started driving by cotton fields.

As usual, Kathy wanted to feel the cotton with her own hands, so we stopped and she picked a little.

The closer we got to Biloxi, the more traffic we encountered. Instead of the relative isolation of the Forgotten Coast and its understated bungalows, the shore was covered with huge condominium towers. As we got closer to Biloxi, these were replaced with casino resorts.

Our hotel, the Hyatt Place, was about a mile down the coast road from the Biloxi casino strip, about a block from the Biloxi lighthouse. We walked down to the lighthouse and took a picture. Then, we walked across to the boardwalk, and looked at the statue of Fred Haise, a Biloxi native who was one of the Apollo 13 astronauts. We continued down the beach, walking on the boardwalk, under the freeway and towards the casinos in search of something to eat for dinner. 

We didn’t find anything, so we decided just to head back to our hotel and snack on chips. As we were walking back, with the setting sun, from behind the casinos came first one shrimp boat, then four more. They had their lights on and their nets out, and it looked just like scene from the book we were listening to as we drove: Forrest Gump.

New Iberia, Louisiana

On Wednesday we left Biloxi under cloudless skies and headed for New Iberia, Louisiana. New Iberia is the home of author James Lee Burke, as well as his fictional detective Dave Roubicheaux. Nearby Avery Island is the home to the Tabasco hot sauce company.

We got to the Holiday Inn in New Iberia around 1:30 in the afternoon. Because we didn’t belong to the customer loyalty program, they said we’d have to wait until 3:00 PM to check in. Since it didn’t cost anything (other than a few extra spam emails), Kathy signed up and we got right in.

Our first stop was Avery Island where we took the Tabasco factory tour. Tabasco hot sauce is made by aging the pepper mash in special white oak barrels, outfitted with stainless steel lasts, for around three years. Here’s a picture of the warehouse where the barrels are aged. Each barrel has a thick layer of salt on top. I’m not sure why.

Avery Island is not actually an island at all. Instead, it is the top of a giant salt mountain, almost as high as Mount Everest. This was the site of the first rock-salt mine in North America. Until 2021, the mine produced salt for de-icing roads as well as for the manufacture of Tobasco.

The best part of the tour was the last stop where we got to see the assembly line used for bottling, labeling, and packaging. Kathy said it reminded her of the I Love Lucy chocolate factory episode.

After the tour we visited the gift shop to get some treats for the folks at home. On the way out, Kathy wanted to get a picture of this small swamp with the cypress trees. She really likes the way cypress trees look in a swamp.

For dinner, we drove to downtown New Iberia and ate at the Cane River Pecan Company Pie Bar. We did get some pie to take home, but they serve regular food as well. After dinner, we visited the James Lee Burke statue and took a walk along Bayou Teche.

On Thursday morning, instead of eating the breakfast our hotel provided, we drove back downtown to eat at Victor’s Cafeteria, where Dave Robicheaux and his friend Cletus Purcell often have breakfast.

Victor’s has been a New Iberia institution for years. It was closed briefly in 2024, but is now open again. The food is great and unbelievably inexpensive. Kathy’s BLT with egg was only $6.00. I had a three-egg ham, sausage, and bacon omelette with grits (which I haven’t eaten since I lived in Savannah), coffee, and two biscuits.  

In addition to the food, there is memorabilia on all of the walls, including an homage to Dave Robicheaux’s bait shop.

Natchez and Vicksburg, Mississippi

After breakfast, we took off for Vicksburg. We actually signed up for a one-hour swamp tour near Lafayette, but once we got going, we realized we wouldn’t have time. Instead, we got on the Great River Road, (going North this time), and headed for Natchez, Mississippi. Natchez is a famous, old Mississippi town on the bluffs overlooking the river, about half-way between New Orleans and Vicksburg.

Natchez was the home of author Greg Iles, who died in 2025. His Penn Cage books, such as the Natchez Burning Trilogy, are all set in Natchez. We got there a little after noon, so we drove up to the cemetery to see the Turning Angel statue, which was the title of the second Penn Cage book.

After walking along the bluff, we took a look at Edelweiss, a real house that was featured prominently in several of Iles’ novels. After using the house fictitiously, he purchased, and remodeled it, using it as his writing studio.

After a great lunch of shrimp po’boys at Wardo’s on Broadway, we hit the road again, headed north to Vicksburg. In Vicksburg we stayed at the Bazinsky House, a B&B in a remodeled Civil War era building in downtown Vicksburg. 

We got to the B&B at 4:00 PM, so we didn’t have a lot of time to go sightseeing. We got in our car and headed to the Vicksburg National Military Park. We got there at 4:15 and the ranger at the gate said that we could only stay until 5:00 PM when the park closed. 

Because of the time limitation, we really couldn’t get out and visit the different memorials. Instead, we just drove the sixteen miles and finished two minutes before the 5:00 PM deadline.

For dinner, we went to downtown Vicksburg and ate in a nice pub. I had peperoni pizza and Kathy had gnocchi with boiled peanuts.

Up the Blues Highway to Memphis, Tennessee

Our host prepared us breakfast at 8:30 AM, so we got started a little later than we planned in the morning. Today’s trip would take us up the Mississippi Delta on Highway 61, known as the Blues Highway. Before we left, we went directly across the street and took a picture of the old courthouse, which is now a museum.

This is the same courthouse shown in the picture below, with Union troops parading in front.

There are several pilgrimage sites along the Blues Highway. You can see the crossroads where Robert Johnson reportedly sold his soul to the devil in exchange for guitar mastery. You might visit Morgan Freeman’s Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, Mississippi and listen to live music every night. There are two or three museums devoted to the blues, as well as to R&B music.

We drove by the crossroads, but couldn’t find the marker. I think, perhaps, we got on the wrong road by mistake. We didn’t really have time for any of the rest, so we drove straight through, stopping only in Tunica to eat lunch at the world famous Blue and White Restaurant. I had “chicken-fried fried chicken with gravy”, some potato salad and some onion rings. Kathy had a shrimp burrito and cole slaw.

We finally got to our Memphis hotel after 4:00 PM. Tomorrow we’re heading for Arkansas.