After making it to Biloxi, MS and passing all the big casino/resort hotels, including the new Hard Rock Casino with the giant neon lit guitar sign and the obscenely huge Beau Rivage,  I made it to my particular hotel and got checked in. My room was on the 19th floor and I had a decent view of the ocean front strip as my hotel was back on the bay. Everything in "resort" hotels are overly priced, and after buying a deli sandwich, a muffin and a little bottle of milk for almost twenty dollars, I was still hungry. But there was no microwave in my room, so I used my dad's old technique and heated up my can of Ravioli in the bathroom sink with the hot water. Worked like a charm too, thanks dad. Before going to bed, I decided to walk the casino floor just too see what kind of action was happening. For someone like me, with NO money, casinos aren't really set up for you to win. So I followed Renie, from Mobile's, advice and found the Double Diamond slot machine, put in five dollars and pulled the handle. On the first pull I won 20 bucks. I couldn't help but laugh at how right Renie was, but like a true sucker, I continued to play and of course the house won, taking back everything.  So I got an ice cream cone and went back to my room. The next morning when checking out, the front desk clerk tried to charge me four dollars for a Gatorade out of the mini fridge that I didn't drink. I quickly realized that even though there was no microwave in my room, the mini fridge was equipped with sensors that registered if you moved anything (I switched my milk into the Gatorade's spot to keep cold). So I explained and he removed the charge.

That morning was one of the more difficult morning rides I'd had since the Florida Keys. The first 25 miles were on a beach front highway and there was a stiff wind blowing right off the water which blasted me with sand the whole way, and kept me at an average speed of 11 mph. Eventually, after 88 miles, I made it to Mandeville, LA, where Renie's mom had contacted an old friend and secured me a place to crash for the evening. They were very nice people, fed me very well, and gave me an interesting bed that looked a little like a grownup's baby crib. As I was exhausted, I slept like a baby too.

I woke up Thursday, May 7th, and set out for Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I had an old friend from college who is in grad school at LSU so I was excited to see her and have a place to rest for a few days. Coming into town was a little nuts because it was very quickly evident that Baton Rouge is a very unbike-friendly city. There is serious over-crowding of vehicles on the roads due to the great influx of people from New Orleans that left after hurricane Katrina, and the roads themselves are pretty terrible, with large cracks and holes that are unavoidable, painful to ride over, and bad for your bike. I eventually made it to Liz Larrimore's apartment, and got settled in. She was a great hostess, taking me an 80's night, a backyard bbq, and introducing me to a bunch of her really nice friends. My time or rest in Baton Rouge was both very appreciated and very needed.

I set out today into the rural lands of Mississippi, Northern Louisiana, Arkansas, and Missouri. I am rather astonished with myself as I've completed the first leg of my journey up Florida and along the Gulf coast.  After cycling 1225 miles so far, I am turning North into landlocked America for the next six or eight states, and heading to Little Rock, AR and then on to St. Louis, MO where a good Peace Corps friend of mine lives. I've mapped out the next week or two of cycling and it looks to be nothing less that exhausting as I am going to try to do 80 and 90+ mile days each day. We'll see if I can keep that up, but I want to get ahead of schedule. Since I don't know anyone between Baton Rouge and St. Louis, I've already lined up a couple of places to stay through CouchSurfing.com. So hopefully half the time I'll be camping and the other half I can be resting on a soft couch. Not sure when I'll be able to Blog again, but I'll keep Twittering on my home page till then if you want to keep up with me. Deep South, here I come!