Biloxi, MS
Welcome to the Gulf Coast. It is very nice but you can see Katrina was here. Yikes. Hugh 15 floor hotels sit in shambles, house foundations with the houses wiped out. They have started rebuilding which is good to see but six years later the devastation is still very visible. So yesterday was the busiest day so far. We started at Elvis' Graceland. Interesting but I'm not a big Elvis fan so it wasn't high on my list. The mansion was much slower than I expected. After that we drove to New Orleans. We did a quick walking tour of the French Quarter and than got the heck out of there. I'm no big fan of New Orleans either. We arrived at Biloxi around 8pm and had a bit of problem with the hotel parking, checking in and food. Today was a great day but also sad. Eric and I took the hour ferry to Ship Island. It is a barrier island 11 miles off the coast of Mississippi and is part of the Gulf Shore National Seashore. What a beautiful day! On the island is a Fort Massachusetts. Very interesting. We did some swimming in the warm Gulf waters and relaxed on the beach and fry my legs, feet and head. Ouch! After 4 hours on the beach we took the return ferry and eventually got Eric to the airport for his flight home. :-( I miss him already.

Marion, AR
Not a very exciting day. Drove through southeast Iowa, all the way through Missouri along the outskirts of St. Louis and most of the way through Arkansas....well it is only 60 miles of Arkansas that we are driving through. We had a downpour for about an hour of the drive. It was very challenging but we got through it. The sisters kept us entertained with many games of Bingo and Trivia. Tonight we are staying just outside of Memphis. Tomorrow is Graceland and New Orleans and a lot more driving.

Iowa again...

Waterloo, IA
What a long day!! We are crashing in Waterloo, IA. We started our road trip at 4:30pm when we picked up Eric at work. We stuffed the minivan and than we were on our way. Nothing too exciting happened. We got to Waterloo at 9pm on fumes (the gas light came on right by the hotel). Early day tomorrow so good night!

In less than 18 hours we will be on our way for our Gulf Coast Road Trip. How exciting...eh? It will be great. This trip is my reward for finishing my Accounting degree. I have officially graduated from St. Kates. The graduation ceremony was Sunday. It was very nice. I got my diploma cover and got my metal....hum I wonder where I put that. I got my final grade...an A of course. I finished with a 4.0 GPA for all my courses. How cool! Well it is time for bed. I have an early start with a 5:15am wake up call for my morning workout. Than I have to drive Eric to work, take my car the airport off site parking lot, take the shuttle to the airport, take the light rail train downtown, work for 4 hours, take a bus to the Shakopee park and ride and than pick Eric up from work. All that before the trip officially starts. Busy day!!!