November 3, 2014
A “busted flat in Baton Rouge” gives me three nights at the Belle Casino while repairs are made (rim, actually) and allows me time to win enough at craps to pay for the stay. Some good eating and drinking downtown, along with the “13th Gate” haunted house, for other than gambling fun. A bike hostel outside of BR puts me up for the night leaving town. The Franklinton Police Dept offers a patch of land the next night, though Hasco, the “spawn of Satan” about-to-be-retired K9 sees that I stay alert. At Rodgers Lake, Mrs. Rodgers, 89, enjoys the company of having me camp out back, though no trick-or-treaters show for her apples; so she cut the lights off at 8 she tells me in morning after hollering outside that the “coffee is ready!”. In Vancleave, a campground that’s seen better days shelters me for the coldest night, low-mid 30’s, though a few PBRs a gratuitous ‘next one’ eases the sting. Roads flattening out, I roll through Bayou La Batre and onto Dauphin Island, Alabama to tent under some nice folks’ stilt house. Pizza and beer before bed, catching the ferry across Mobile Bay this morning. Back in Florida now, no-see-ums welcome me at Big Lagoon State Park
