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Mississippi

Up and at 'em early again this morning.  The bathrooms at Fuller SP were like walking into a furnace.  I swear, at least 85 degrees.  Funny, though, because even thought they had the heat cranked up, the lights are on a timer, probably a money saving measure.  You know when I found this out? About 5 minutes into my shower.  Luckily, there was a skylight and I have been washing this same body for the past few decades, so I got it handled.

Joe had everything packed up by the time I was done, and we were pulling out of the park by 7:20c.  Remember when I said north Memphis was rough yesterday?  That place looked like paradise compared to south Memphis.  I think Waste Management must just empty their trucks out as they drive down the streets.

Crossed into Mississippi by 7:40, and then flatness and farm fields for the next four hours (with a small break in the middle for casinos).  Very uneventful morning.  We saw a house on a hill, that was noteworthy, and I'm pretty sure 30% of the homes we saw were abandoned.

Got to Vicksburg just about lunch time.  Made some sandwiches for the ride through Vicksburg National Military Park (thanks for opening it back up for us, President).  This is a pretty big park where a major civil war battle was fought.  It was an important victory because it gave the Union control of the Mississippi River, which allowed the north to send supplies south.  There are other reasons too, but this is what I remember from the 10 minute video we watched.  We were both impressed at how big this area was, but at the same time how close the battle lines were.  Guys would have cannons set up 50 feet away from each other.  There was also a lot of trench and tunnel digging going on.  It took about 2 hours to drive through the whole park.  Lots and lots of monuments, and just when you thought there couldn't be another one, there were 50 more.  And then 50 more.  You get it.  The park ended at the US Cairo, which was a gun boat that was used on the Mississippi.  It was sank during the Civil War, and then found in the 1950s, brought up and put back together.  This was neat.

Back heading south, we figured since we were so close we would take the Natchez Trace Parkway the rest of the way to Natchez.  We drove this whole road northbound a few years back.  It's awesome because there are no houses, electric lines, billboards or advertisements.  The Trace ends in Natchez, just 5 minutes from our home for the night.

We are staying at the Natchez visitors center parking lot, has electric hookups and is free.  We walked into town, took maybe 10 minutes.  Caught just the end of the sunset over the water.  Natchez is a really beautiful town, and tonight was perfect to be out and about, but on this Monday in January it was pretty quiet.  There are a few restaurants open in town, but most were pretty empty.  Decided on Fat Mama's Tamales, and had a decent dinner at the bar and made some new friends.   Neither one of us ordered the Tamales, that was stupid.  Now we have to come back.

Also, it was 65 degrees today.  Sorry Ohio.

307 miles
$77.65 spent
24.63 Hardware store (some plumbing items, windex, extension cord)
7 Gas station snacks
4 Vicksburg sticker
7.02 Piggly Wiggly
35 Hot Tamales

Comments

  1. Omg Piggly wiggly!! Also cracking up at lights out in the shower!

    ReplyDelete

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