Day 44 ( A Travel Day) Denham Springs, LA - Milton, FL  260.3 miles, New Total = 8827.2 miles

Today our travels would take us through (2) new states and into a third.  We left Louisiana behind as we crossed the Pearl River.  To avoid Interstate coma we decided to travel on Rte 90 through Mississippi and Alabama as much as possible.  This took us as close to the shore as possible. In fact in Mississippi we drove along the open beach for 10-15 miles where most of the homes are on stilts to protect them from storms.

....even the Lighthouse was on stilts!

Before lunch we stopped at Davis Bayou Visitor Center of The Gulf Islands National Seashore in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. This National Park was established in 1971 to protect the wildlife, barrier islands, salt marshes, historic structures and archeological sites along the Gulf of Mexico. We spent an hour or so listening to the history of the islands including the story of Fort Massachusetts on Ships Island which was started in 1859 and not completed due to the ending of the Civil War.

As we approached Biloxi there were casinos galore.

Alabama had even less shoreline than Mississippi.  We traveled through Mobile, a good sized city,

and just before we crossed the bridge into Florida, we saw the SS Alabama Battleship.










Our trip ended early in Milton where Dave's brother Bryant lived.  Later that afternoon we went out to the Texas Roadhouse for Dinner and ended the evening with stories of the "Smith Brothers" youth in Franklin, ME.