Holiday Inn Express Gulfport Sportsplex

... another LaQuinta in Biloxi. I have been very impressed with the updates and cleanliess of the locations we have stayed.

Alex continues to enjoy hotel life. The world is his playground...or his resting place. The girls steal the show everywhere we go. I trimmed their faces before leaving Brownsville to keep them neat and pretty. Poodles must always look their best.

... Biloxi, Mississippi - Las Vegas of the Deep South - where we park at the Hard Rock Casino. Gamble all night at the Hard Rock and the Beaux something or other which have been rebuilt since Katrina (I believe the Beaux may have survived the storm having been built specifically to survive such calamity). The rest of the area still shows the affects/devastation from the hurricane - many casinos no longer exist - lots of bare foundations.

... We drove across the bridge into the area where all the Casinos are (although suprisingly we did not gamble this trip) and showed us some of the cool projects he has going on. We spent the night in the RV on the side of their house. After Hurricane Katrina when Lloyd's had teams of guys coming in in RV's to work on construction projects with him, he had an RV hookup installed. How perfect and convenient for us! Tomorrow - New Orleans!

A nice and early departure from Mississippi, heading towards the wide open spaces of Texas. passed the "Cross" along the way- what a sight. Tonight's stay in a small town just outside of Dallas. Long day, lot's of traffic towards the end. and 10 hours of travelling.

... We are excited about our new venue and although we had thought about Vegas 2 years ago when we sold the Beal House Inn, we were swayed to move to St. Petersburg instead, and although we made many friends (You all know who you are and we miss you) and Elements Global Cuisine became a success, we are pleased to be on our way to Nevada. We will keep you updated

... have a few floating casinos (they had to be off shore by law) but Katrina thought differently and all the casinos are now on the coast. Its actually quite a nice and relaxed area with plenty of white beaches. If they really tried hard they could beat Vegas as this is way more attractive. Funny enough, when we checked into the motel, the receptionist warned us if we went to New Orleans to be careful...dangerous she mentioned.

... we got to the office our parcel was there. Sadly we didn't see Melvin this morning to say goodbye.

We took a different road out to the Interstate, passing even more devastation. It really is incredible that 3 years on, there are still derelict buildings and abandoned homes and businesses. And every few miles there was a trailer community, where the people that had lost their homes were now forced to live, in a lot of cases packed in like sardines. A really, really sad thing we ...

... backpacking earlier this summer throughout Canada. So, just when he's off to serious R&R, BAM! So there's Peggy, on a Gilligan's Island of sorts, with 2 kids and a cripple, and no speaky-English locals. I will let her post her experiences on her own travelpod diary but suffice it to say, she single-handedly got a doctor from a neighboring town at 10pm to make a housecall; got Robert the medical attention he needed; and all had a good time in paradise, even the ...

... Good enough for me! M8B never lies... I didn't push it, in fact, Sayward and Ken came to meet us, and Sayward told me (after testing the waters out to see if I was friend or foe) she thought her cats had been shot. Once I finally told her what Jason had told me (this is getting rather soap opera-ish, ain't it?), she began to question the "mysterious" death of her Russian Blue kitten... So, now we have a plan to get the feral cats trapped and transported to a no-kill shelter, hers ...

... in black and white and then in color. Real lives, and as I shoveled CDs, videos, photos, moved refrigerators with food still in them, found still-intact photos that could be dried in the sun, I realized the human strength that those in New Orleans had shown since the tragedy. We all celebrated with a loud ¨woo-hoo¨ which instantly fogged up our masks when we found a photo that could possibly be savored, because it meant that this family might be able to ...