We leave Austin, driving northeast on US 290, heading diagonally across the Hill Country. By the end of the day, we'll be in the Piney Woods of Texas, but we must pass through more pretty farming and ranching country, mostly following the railroad. There are few trees in the Hill Country, but I don't notice that so much now.
Somewhere, we picked up a tourist book about all the towns, large and small, in Texas. I find that in Henderson, population 5,000,has the only outhouse ever to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Now, we've seen many NRHP's and not just on this trip. But realy, an outhouse? Gotta see this! So, dragging the cottage through a small downtown that looks much like Burgaw, we find the Depot Museum. They are closing in 15 mintues, but we went inside anyway. The Asst. Director, Jim, delightedly grabbed his keys and took us through the locked gate. BTW, the nicely preserved Victorian-style outhouse (built for a turn-of-the-century lawyer) is a three-holer.
The Depot Museum has recently acquired an antique -but working- Carousel. Jim proudly showed it to us, even gave us a ride!
Our last night in Texaas, in Carthage. Yet another parking lot campground. Every campground has been a cleared area, some with a little gravel, mostly red mud. This one has a little concrete pad, surrounded with red mud. In the morning, we drive on, taking all of 4 hours to cross north Louisiana on I-20. The corrugated concrete road through Shreveport is too rough, so I turned around and found the I-220 bypass, thinking that it's a newer road and might be smoother. It is. We cross the Sabine River again, this time, it's much narrower than before, when it was joining the Gulf. We cross the Red River, and then, we cross the Mississippi River again. And, we're in Vicksburg.
There is something about getting to the east side of the MS River that always makes me think I'm home. Suddenly, there are trees, and there is moisture in the air, no matter what the season. And, the people are different...I have to think about that one. But this time, the change was not so dramatic, coming from the Piney Woods area of TX. That part of the state looks like SE NC: trees, farms and lowland. Even palmettos growing in the swampy areas.
Vicksburg is about 18,000 people, the surprise is that it's on a high bluff. Well, duh. That's why the Siege of Vicksburg took 47 days.
Margaret's Grocery is a local folk art icon in Vicksburg, MS. Margaret's husband promised her a castle if she would marry him. Well, The Reverend HD Dennis made her little grocery store a castle alright: a brightly colored, hand-made one. He apparently used whatever building material he could find, painted everything yellow, pink and white, and put it all together to build a monument to southern Christianity. They both must be dead now, the place is long abandonded, and not in good repair, but I'm glad I found it.
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