You spent the night where???

Welcome to Mississippi! The state where highways are laid by convicts with no hope for parole. Ok, that probably isn't true. It just seems that way. We rolled into Richland, MS around 4:30 PM. That's just a little south of Vicksburg and the site of one of the two decisive battles that led to the end of the American Civil War. It would be almost 80 years after that battle before the people of Vicksburg would celebrate Independence Day.

Mississippi is a beautiful state. It gets a lot of ugly press, though. It's not exactly on everyone's vacation list unless you count Biloxi where gambling is legal. And, of course, that is exactly where we were headed. But we took a different route from San Diego than we usually do. That route took us along I-20 and we took a turn down to Gulfport and Biloxi just after entering the state just outside of Vicksburg. We took one of those highways people used to take before they built the Interstates.

We headed off toward the Gulf of Mexico on US 49 when we arrived in Richland but, first, we stopped for a meal. It was about 3:15 PM and we figured we'd grab dinner so we could just collapse in whatever hotel room we could find and get a good night's sleep. It hadn't been a long day on the road, just one full of slowdowns for Road Work areas (and we actually saw a few people working!) and one crash. That must have been nasty since I couldn't figure out from the debris just how big the truck was that crashed. Very messy.

Makes you wonder... then you just kick it back up to 75 and keep moving.

In Richland, now on that US 49, we took a chance on a Mexican restaurant. C'mon, this is Mississippi and we're going to try a Mexican restaurant? It was called El Ranchito and was nestled between an Arby's and, get this, a Taco Bell. I was wary. Very wary.

I became very surprised. Excellent food. Really excellent food. So we ate like the little pigs we are, scarfing up a really good chicken burrito and a plate of Chili Colorado. The test of Mexican food for me is in the guacamole And the guacamole passed the test. Not the bland version but one you didn't need to spike with the salsa. Thick, tasty, copious.

After over eating, we found refuge in a motel just down the very bumpy road in a town called Magee (which the Garmin called "mah-gee" with a soft "g"). We slept in. Not real late but enough. We figured to kill some time with a good breakfast somewhere. You see, we were about 2 hours from Biloxi and didn't need to get there until mid-afternoon. Check in time at Biloxi hotels is usually 4 PM. I did mention Biloxi before, didn't I? There's gambling there. Faye likes to gamble. I like to keep Faye happy. I don't think she'd take a car trip across country without gambling being involved.

We needed a place to eat. There weren't many choices and hunger was beginning to distort our thinking. We even looked at a Hardy's in desperation. But the Garmin told us about a place down the road called the "Main Street Cafe" in a town called Collins [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collins,_Mississippi]. We took a chance on it. It turned out they didn't serve breakfast. Just lunch and dinner... buffet style. Family owned and operated. And it seemed like everyone in this bustling metropolis of 2700 or so was a regular customer. But we arrived first. All you can eat of really good southern cooking for $8 ("Tax included"), including good coffee or whatever you wanted to drink and homemade dessert.

I have found a new route from California to Florida...

Next time, we'll even visit the National Park up in Vicksburg.