sorry, no pics. The batteries in my camera are dead, and I have none that have been charged.
Good-bye, Vicksburg. I can tell we’re back in MS: a couple of days ago, as we got closer to the state line, the billboards advertising casino and casino hotels appeared. Sure enough, the river front here is all about casino hotels. That’s about the ‘fanciest’ part of the downtown. The Victorian houses at the top of the bluff cover all the central downtown, along with NINE Methodist Churches. Coca Cola was first bottled here, and the National Biscuit Company was right across the street. The Coca Cola drug store is now a museum, and the NBC is a restaurant and bar. For me, the best part of the downtown is the mural project, on the levee walls. About 2 dozen murals, telling the story of Vicksburg’s history, with descriptive plaques, decorate the wall that saved the City during several floods. One of the stories told is of Teddy Roosevelt, who refused to shoot a chained bear while here on a hunt trip, drawing ridicule from the good ol’ boys, and beginning the popularity of the Teddy Bear. The bears have since declined, but the good ol’ boys have survived.
The MS River has changed courses over the centuries, as everyone knows, but here, it seriously effected the City when it bypassed the port. Oops. So, a Yazoo River Diversion Canal was dug, to keep the port open. Stuart showed me a map with another man-made canal, this one older. The Grant Canal, cut across a bend in the river, to get supplies to the troups during The War. It worked, and the Blues won. I don’t know if that Canal is still open. Looking at the AAA map shows me that the river has changed it’s curves over the centuries, and the state line has not followed the changes. Here, the western side of the river is miles and miles of fields, flat and level. The eastern side of the river is guarded by a high bluff, and gentle hills.
We headed east on I-20, and got on the Natchez Trace. I’ve always wanted to follow this road, even though I knew nothing about it, other than it’s a National Park. The road began as a wildlife migration route, from SW to NE. Then, it was used by Native Americans, who’s names we don’t know, then the Chickasaw, the Choctaw, and the Natchez. Hernando de Soto knew about it when he visited in 1540. Farmers from the Ohio River Valley really made it a national highway in the late 1700’s until about 1830. The farmers floated their crops and natural resources down the river to New Orleans or Natchez. They couldn’t possible paddle faster then the strong current to get back upriver, so they broke down the boats and sold the lumber and walked home. Five hundred miles. Some were fortunate enough to buy a horse, and it took them 20 days instead of 30 days to get home. A few hardy businessmen built ‘stands’, simple overnight accommodations and meals, some of which became towns. It was saved from total obscurity in 1908 when the MS DAR made it their project.
The Trace is a beautiful road, 26 miles shorter in total length than the Blue Ridge Parkway, with very few curves. We stopped at many of the roadside markers, thrilled at seeing portions of the original sunken road that was The Trace, and enjoyed the quietness. There was little traffic, no billboards, and no signs of human activity except the road. One of the stops we made was at the Bynum Mounds. Probably Choctaw and Chickasaw burial mounds, close to the line dividing their territory. So much study, and so little known about the people and the mounds. But, the saddest part of that stop was the four little black puppies that some horrible person had dumped in the parking lot. Nothing we can do, but my heart was hurting as we drove away, those little puppies watching us expectantly. We took all day to drive about 125 miles, and got off The Trace in Tupelo, MS at sunset to spend the night at the Campground at Barnes Crossing. The sunset was colorful, and the temps fell fast.
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