Day 19
Mobile, AL to Beaumont, TX
approx. 382 miles
Route: From Mobile I-10 to Beaumont.



This was the worst weather day of the trip.   It was rainy for the first couple of hours, including going directly into a thunderstorm west of New Orleans.   The rain was so intense that I could barely see with the windshield wipers going full speed.   The traffic on the freeway slowed down to about 25 MPH.   The rain coming down was so loud that I couldn't hear the engine.   I had to look at my tachometer and speedometer to figure out what gear I should be in.   Being on the freeway was a good place to be.   It was elevated above everything, so it didn't flood.   If I was down on the surface streets, I probably would have run into some flooding.   Luckily, I got through the storm front in about 15 minutes.   After that it got progressively clearer.



Mississippi Entering Mississippi.   I could use the 24 hour security.



I wasn't in Mississippi very long.   What I saw was swampy and rainy.   At least Emeril is building a restaurant there this summer.

Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi



Mississippi That's all there was to Mississippi. On to Louisiana.



Lake Pontchartrain Lake Pontchartrain Driving over the east end of Lake Pontchartrain.



The destruction caused by Katrina was still readily apparent in the eastern suburbs of New Orleans.   There were areas where reconstruction was under way, with destroyed buildings side by side with the rebuilt ones.

Katrina damage Katrina damage Katrina damage



Downtown New Orleans

xxxxxxx Hxxxxxxxxx Hxxxxxxxxx

Mississippi Driving by the dome where you DIDN'T want to be stuck in.

Mississippi The famous above-ground cemetery vaults of New Orleans.



You could sure tell you were in the middle of a swamp.   Water and swampy marshlands everywhere.

wet wet wet

wet wet



I could see trouble ahead in the form of REALLY dark clouds.   But I didn't have much choice and drove through the oncoming storm front.

storm storm storm

storm storm



Waffle House The Waffle House was a great place to eat breakfast.  I ate at one for the first time when I was in Little Rock, then again in Albany and Beaumont.  They are tiny little restaurants with the cooks in plain sight right behind the counter.  When you walk in the door, the whole crew says "good morning."  The waitresses take your order and yell it over to the cooks.  They have a funny shorthand way of giving the orders, like saying "Scattered, Smothered and Covered®" which is a registered trademark expression of the company.  They have fast service, good food, with a hometown atmosphere.  Driving through the South, I saw as many Waffle Houses as I did McDonalds.



hiding I'd like to know what he's hiding too. Maybe he's hiding the State of Iowa in the middle of Louisiana!



lemon You don't see one of these everyday.



I saw lots of people pulled over by police during the trip.  Fortunately, I wasn't one of them.  I still have my perfect driving record intact (don't ask me how!)

On this day, I was driving along when I saw a pickup truck and this blue car racing each other.  They were moving along really fast. The blue car tried to pass the truck on the right, in the lane where I was.  He couldn't get around him in time, so he had to swerve back behind the truck, and then cut in front of me.  He accelerated and cut in front of the truck, squeezing into a tiny gap between him and the traffic that the truck was coming up behind.

Soon, thereafter, there was a freeway underpass with a police car on the other side sitting on the shoulder.  He took off, passing me and headed down the freeway in a flash.  A minute later, I saw them up ahead.  The police car, with both the pickup truck and blue car pulled over to the side.  I beeped my horn several times at them just to rub it in. Ha, ha!

I wonder if the car also got cited for having 2 out of 3 brake lights burned out?

race race race



Texas I entered Texas, and would spend parts of 4 days in the state. It sure is a big place.



muffler man A giant muffler man in Beaumont. Looks kind of like Alfred E. Neuman.





Back to Homepage
Go to Day 20