Week ending Nov 26, 2015 Natchez Trace Tupelo, Vicksburg, Natchez

We only had Friday to spend in the Tupelo area so we had to ensure that we saw the things that were most important to us.  Our direction of travel from Tupelo is south, so we decided to do a day drive along the Natchez Trace Parkway northward to the Tennessee River in northwest Alabama.
The Trace runs from Natchez on the Mississippi River to Nashville, Tennessee.  It was the return route for American flat-boat commerce between the territories of the upper and lower Ohio, Tennessee, and Cumberland River valleys. The Americans would construct flat-boats, load their commerce therein, and drift upon those rivers, one-way south-southwestward all the way to New Orleans, Louisiana. They would then sell their goods (including the salvageable logs of the flat-boats), and return home via the Trace (for the middle section of their return trip), to as far away as Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

 We drove to Colbert's Ferry, the site of Chickasaw George Colbert's stand and ferry. The ferry crossed the Tennessee River, but is now replaced by a mile long bridge.

We walked up to Freedom Hill overlook, a view now obscured by trees. Bear Creek Mound, Cave Spring, a spot believed to be a water source for farmers of the Chickasaw nation. We stopped at Tishomingo State Park to discover the sites although long enough are not wide enough for us, nor is there any hope of a satellite signal. We crossed over the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway/James L. Witten Bridge, which created a navigable route between the Tennessee river and the Gulf of Mexico.The eight burial mounds at Pharr mounds are thought to be between 1800 and 2000 years old.  It was a bit strange to see the hay bales on the site, but if they don't mow the area, the trees would reclaim it.

There are numerous spots along the drive that have great examples of the original trace. When we arrived back in Tupelo we visited site of the Civil War Battle of Tupelo. Our final point of interest was the birthplace of Elvis.

Elvis' Birthplace

Saturday we packed up early and headed south along the trace. The drive is great as all the viewpoints are RV friendly (unless otherwise marked).  We stopped at numerous viewpoints, including a Chickasaw village site, which showed the difference between the winter and summer houses, a plaque for Hernando de Soto, who was in the area in 1539, another mound site,  along the way and finally French Camp, so named because a French Canadian married a Chickasaw and settled there. The coffee was mediocre at best, but wet.  Cypress Swamp was a 20 minute walk through  water tupelo/cypress swamp. Although they mentioned the possibility of resident alligators, none where spotted. Mid afternoon we arrived at Timber Lake Campground on Ross Barnett Reservoir. In order to insure we could get a satellite signal they assigned us a reserved site. One of the advantages of traveling slightly off season.

 Ross Barnett Reservoir

Sunday morning we stopped at IHOP for breakfast before spending the morning at Vicksburg National Military Park, about 40 miles west of the campground, on the Mississippi. The Union Army had basically isolated Vicksburg by controlling the river and the interior of the area, while the Confederate Army controlled the forts on the bluffs above the river, with 172 cannon guarding all of the land approaches. By May 18, 1863, Gen. Grant had the fortress surrounded, but many attempts were made by the Union forces to capture it.    There as a siege that lasted for 46 days before the fort was surrendered.  The military park is a drive past memorials, with the names of the men who were there, which are placed where the various units of both armies were located during the siege, showing cannon placements facing one another.  

Vicksburg National Cemetary

We arrived back at the trailer in time to watch the final Nascar race of the season.


Monday morning we left Timber Lake campground. Our plan was to complete the Natchez trace. We stopped at numerous sites along the way, one a great illustration of how the number of people walking the Trace wore a deep track through the forest.

Sunken Trace

Our stops coincided with a couple, in a  motorhome, from Vermont. We finally arrived  at Riverview RV park in Vidalia, Louisiana. As John was aligning the satellite dish the lady from Vermont stopped by. They are stopping here overnight.

Tuesday we took the day off. Slept in, went for a walk along the river. There is a beautiful sidewalk that goes from the campground a couple of miles north along the river. We noticed a Christmas display along the way sponsored by numerous business in the area. After dark you can drive along the route, donations are appreciated to support an unnamed charity. Our walk took us to the Louisiana Welcome Center.  We were able to pick up a lot of information especially regarding New Orleans.

Wednesday we did a tour of Port Gibson, known as 'the city too pretty to burn' during the Civil War.  On the way, we saw a display put up by the local Baptists, documenting the history of Baptists in Mississippi state.  We did a walk around the downtown area, amazed at the number of churches, more than one that were Baptist churches, that a town with only 1800 people can support.

Presbyterian Church

 There was a nice mural illustrating the Port Gibson boycott.

We stopped in at the Cultural Crossroads and watched some women quilting, all by hand. The quilts were quite spectacular.

We then went to Windsor Ruins. Windsor was a mansion built by Smith Coffee Daniel II. He only lived a few weeks after the completion.  During the war between the States Windsor was used as an observation post by the Confederate army and then as a hospital by the Union army. In 1890 a guest dropped a cigarette and the mansion was destroyed.

We then stopped at Mount Locust,a restored inn on the Natchez Trace.

Mount Locust Inn

Mount Locust spinning wheel

Our final stop for the day was Emerald Mound an eight acre ceremonial mound, unlike the other mounds which were only burial mounds.  There were 50 steps to the top of the high point.

Emerald Mound

Thursday being Thanksgiving we realized downtown would be quiet, a perfect day to do the Natchez downtown walking tour. The self guided walking tour included numerous antebellum houses homes, dating from the early 1700's.  A lot of the older mansions have been converted into Bed and Breakfasts, so have been well cared for. Natchez has a very active historical society and they put a  lot of  effort into assuring these historic homes are well-preserved.

It is interesting to notice the different styles of architecture from Kings Tavern, the first building in Natchez, to the townhouses built by planters later on.

Kings Tavern

Magnolia Hall

Week ending Nov 19, 2015 Memphis

Friday morning we decided to take a look at T.O. Fuller State Park. It had been recommended to us by fellow rv'ers, but our research indicated it had too many trees to allow us to get satellite signal, and this weekend is a big curling weekend. Our investigation proved that our research was correct. We are really happy at Tom Sawyer RV park. We then headed to downtown Memphis. John had looked up parking lots and as we were following Greta's direction to a parking lot John had decided on, Joan made a sharp turn left and parked in free parking along the river.  We discovered that by happy accident we had parked at the Tom Lee Memorial. Tom Lee saved 32 lives with his boat "Zev" when the steamer US Norman sank about 20 miles below Memphis in 1925.  

 Queen of the Mississippi

We then walked up to Beale Street, the heart of Memphis entertainment and food scene. We stopped at Silky O'Sullivan's for lunch, where not only did we enjoy some music but Silky's Irish Red ale and John had a BBQ sampler and Joan a very tasty bowl of gumbo.

After our lunch break we wandered down Beale Street and then passed the Gibson factory to the Lorraine Hotel. The Lorraine Hotel is the site of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and is now the National Civil Rights Museum. The museum is very well done.  We couldn't be in downtown Memphis without a stop at "the Pyramid" more commonly known as the Bass Pro Shop. Not only is the building a huge pyramid shaped store, but a hotel as well. Quite a store.                         

It even has an alligator pond.

Saturday morning we did a tour of Sun Studios, the birthplace of rock and roll. It is also the studio where Elvis got his start. We enjoyed the tour and got to listen to snippets of all sorts of early rock and roll. It was very interesting to learn about the history of Sun Studio from an excellent tour guide.

 Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash
Elvis jamming at Sun Studios

After our Sun Studio tour we headed to Graceland. You can't got to Memphis without visiting Graceland. The tour we choose took us on a video interactive tour of Graceland, the archives experience and Elvis automobile museum. Although we found it interesting and are glad we did it but really we found the Sun Studio tour more interesting. We arrived back at the trailer late afternoon to watch curling.

Sunday Joan spent most of the day recovering from a cold she picked up somewhere along the way. It was a good day to do nothing as lots of curling was on, the Phoenix Nascar race (which was delayed so long that we didn't get to watch it) and of course lots of football for John.

Monday Joan took advantage of the great laundry room here.  They have 6 new high efficiency washers and matching dryers. When we were first told laundry was complementary here we wondered about the quality of the machines. They are some of the best we have seem. John did some maintenance around the trailer. We had a Wii rematch in bowling (Joan finally won a game)and a few games of golf. John also fixed Joan's computer. On Thursday she lost access to almost everything, no internet, every time she tried to do anything the computer froze. What a pain. After spending many hours trying to figure out what files were missing and causing this problem he gave up and did a recovery.  We didn't know whether the recovery would revert back to Windows 8.1, but it as still on Windows 10. Now Joan is back in business, email, internet and everything else works. What a relief. We would have hated to have to replace this computer since its only a few months old. Joan also made John's dark fruitcake.

Tuesday was haircut day. After Joan cut John's hair we went to Walmart where Joan got a haircut.  We then stopped at a drugstore to pick up some cold medication for John, a liquor store for some treats and finally went back to the trailer. A storm was blowing in, rainy and big winds, so we decided to stay an extra day to let the wind settle down. Tuesday night the wind howled, the rain came down hard enough that the satellite signal was hit and miss.

Wednesday morning after a night of little sleep, we watched the debris floating down the river. John no sooner opened the door of the trailer than the neighbour lady came over. Her husband had left about an hour earlier for a course he was taking.  When she tried to get back in the trailer after having a smoke, she discovered she had locked herself out of her trailer, with the keys inside. It was a cold windy morning and she was in her housecoat and cold.  We provided her warm shelter  until her husband came back with keys to let her into her trailer.   John's cold was now full blown, so he spent the day dosing and doing very little. Joan made rum balls.  They along with the fruitcake should be perfect by Christmas. The good news is the weather has sorted itself out and the wind has died down and there is no rain in the foreseeable future.


Thursday morning we packed up with Tupelo, Mississippi as our destination. The trees are still turning color here, so the trip down the Natchez Trace Parkway promises to be beautiful.

Week ending Nov 12, 2015 Trail of Tears Park to West Memphis

Friday was our day to explore the area from the Trail of Tears Park.  Our objective for the day was Cairo, Illinois.  We crossed the Mississippi at Cape Girardeau, crossing the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge. 

We the took highway 3 in Illinois along the river, stopping at sites along the river, mostly describing the history of the Lewis and Clark expeditions.  This was the first place on this trip that we have seen levees beside the River.  We finally arrived at Cairo, near the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. 

We decided to stop at Fort Defiance Park, right at the confluence, to eat the lunch we brought with us.   We were disappointed, as the only feature in the park, besides parking, was an observation platform, with views of the rivers through the trees.  

View up the Ohio River

We returned to the State Park back on the Missouri side of the river. 

We drove through Charleston, a beautiful  little town that has to be designed after the antebellem houses in the New Orleans area. We stopped in Cape Girardeau which has amazing murals of the areas history on both sides of a two block long wall along the waterfront as well as a amphitheater that faces the Mississippi River. A unique and interesting site.

Saturday the Trail of Tears State park museum was open. We caught up on the history of this area and how poorly the Cherokee nation where treated and how difficult their trek was in 1838-39.

We also did two short hikes in the park, an nature trail at the visitor center and then a trail to a scenic overlook. We concluded that it was the best views we have had of the river to date.

Sunday we wandered down to the boat dock and then scrambled across an area that has been diked in order to provide the boat docks. It gave us up close sights of the river and was a great example of how the dikes have made the river accessible to boaters. Further up the river there were small dikes that provide calm waters for fishermen.  Their main purpose was to keep the main flow of the river in the center to keep the channel deep enough for shipping.   We also got a picture from the river  back to the trailer.

We spoke to a fellow in the campground that fishes here all the time and says the fishing is great.  The afternoon was spent watching the Nascar race.

Monday morning we packed up heading down to Cape Girardeau crossing the Mississippi River to Illinois to Cairo again,

then across the Ohio River into Kentucky, through Wickcliffe,

and finally arriving into Tennessee. Shortly after lunch we arrived at Reelfoot Lake State Park, found a campsite that met our requirements, and were told by the park maintenance people that the office will open at 9:00 A.M tomorrow when we will be able to pay our fees. Good news we are finally officially south (in our minds).   The water is on in the campgrounds and we are hearing a lot of
" have a good day y'all".

After lunch we drove to the park visitor center, picked up some information about the park and did the boardwalk trail at the center.

We got some information about the Cypress trees, the snakes, frogs, eagles and owls that make this area home. Reelfoot Lake was  a favorite site for Audubon and is a winter habitat for migrating birds.    There is an injured raptor program there with some eagles, owls and several other birds recovering.

The lake was created by the New Madrid earthquake in 1811.  Since then, it was regularly refreshed by floods from the Mississippi, until the levees were built to control the flooding.


Tuesday morning we payed our camping fees 22.95 for 2 nights, power and water with good bathrooms and free clean showers, 50% off the regular rate because Tennessee gives seniors a big discount.  We then headed off to do the scenic drive around Reelfoot Lake. Our first hike was at Keystone Pocket, an interesting hike along the lakes edge about 2 miles round trip.

We then headed to the Air Park and completed another 2 mile hike, wandered through the campground there that we didn't know even existed.  It was really nice, and although it had good trees, it had clear views for satellite.  And, it was totally empty, even though it was open.  The next point of interest was a waterfowl refuge observation tower, but it was being painted, so was closed.We then stopped at the Long Point Refuge Observation towers.  A bit of a bust for birds or animals, but a nice bench in the sun on which to have lunch. After being refueled we did the Grassy Island Auto tour. We discovered a great interpretive trail that was a mile long and had interpretive signs along the way.  The next  observation tower was a real great stop, lots of waterbirds, plants.

On the way back to the trailer we stopped for diesel and Joan had the pleasure of trying to use her US credit card in a chip machine for the first time, so of course she couldn't remember her pin. Oh well cash still works. That service station is very progressive, despite being in a very small town, but we expect this is a one off.

Wednesday morning we packed up early.  After a quick coffee we made a quick trip into Dyersburg, Tennessee to Mel's Diner for breakfast. We had checked the area out on google maps and determined that we could park a couple of blocks away at the recreation center. We talked to the town employees who said parking there was fine, particularly since it was Veterans' Day, and most people had the day off.  Mel's Diner was small  and packed with locals. If there were 2 spare seats at a table just sit down and visit with the others at the table. Are you from around here a few people asked, like after a few words of our relative accents, there was any doubt. They were amazed that we had traveled this far, but when we explained we had a desire to avoid snow they completely understood. One gentleman sitting next to us said there had been snow here a couple of times in his lifetime (he made us look young). It was a good choice for a breakfast place. John had a 1/2 slice of ham and eggs and Joan her usual western omelet. A very substantial and delicious breakfast. We just had to eat there as it reminded us of Mel's Diner of 70's  sitcom fame, but no redheaded Flo as waitress. We then headed off to our destination of Tom Sawyer RV Park in West Memphis, on the Arkansas side of the river. We did make a stop at the Arkansas visitor center to pick up information  and we arrived at the RV park just before 1:00 P.M.  This place seems ok, decent wi-fi, a perfect site, overlooking the Mississippi river from which we can see downtown Memphis, and, as an extra bonus, complementary laundry. We were glad we had arrived early in the afternoon because a storm blew in shortly after we got set up,  driving in the wind would have been very unpleasant.  The park is quite nice, but it is interesting that we had to drive over the levee, as the park is between the river and the levee.  The fellow who directed us to our site in the 5th wheel section (so named because the utilities are oriented so the back and side windows get river views) told us the park had flooded a couple of times this year, the last in July.   The laundry is located in the second story above the bathhouse.  There is a sign on the wall of the building showing that the flood of May 2011 reached part way up the second story of the building.   Sounds like autumn is a good time to be here, not just because of the leaf colors.

Thursday morning  our first stop was Costco. We then headed into Mississippi, the state, to go to a Welcome Center to pick up info for the Natchez Trail, Mississippi RV parks, historic site and hiking opportunities. After a quick picnic at the Welcome Center we did what was supposed to be a scenic drive along the River from Hernando to Coldwater, Tunica and Lula (which was the home of  legendary blues performers Charley Patton, Son House, Frank Frost and Sam Carr.  Patton immortalized  Lula in a couple of songs from 1930 and 1934).    The best part of the trip was the treed rolling country between Coldwater and Tunica.   The area from Tunica south along the river is Missippi flood plain, which is extremely flat agricultural land.
  
We then crossed the River again, and returned to the park through Arkansas.     

Week ending Nov 5, 2015 Missouri Hannibal to St. Louis

Friday morning we stopped by the US Army Corp of Engineers Visitor Center to get hiking maps  and find out where it was safe to hike as hunting season is in full swing.  The very nice man at the center gave us information for not only Mark Twain lake but all the corp areas across the country. They have pretty decent campgrounds, showers, laundry facilities etc. 30 and 50 amp power.  The ones along Mark Twain Lake are fully treed and therefore not suitable for us, but suitable for a one night stop for sure. We have checked some other CoE sites and they were wide open and usually in areas where there is lots of hiking, great for seeing animals and birds  and generally around dams. We then headed to Indian Creek Recreation area. We found what we thought was a trail along the edge of the lake, so off we went. The trail came and went,  so we did some scrambles and generally enjoyed the lake views. It dawned on us the trail was not along the lake but there were only spurs to various view points from the campground. Oh well, we blazed our own trail.

Saturday was a showery day. We couldn't let that stop us so we walked down to the beach at John F. Spalding Rec. area from the Mark Twain Landing Resort.  The check in lady had told us that the lake was a mile away. Ok for a drizzly sort of walk. Off we went. We soon discovered her one mile estimate was to the park gate. All in all it was almost 2 miles to the beach. The weather was warm and the drizzle came and went so we enjoyed the walk. It was on paved roads so no slogging through mud.

Sunday we were off to the state park.  Since the park was around the lake on the middle of the south shore, the GPS took us on some interesting side roads where we wouldn't have wanted to meet a vehicle coming the other way.    The good roads must have been a longggg way around! 

We wanted to take a look at their campgrounds  The campground here was heavily treed, but very decent services. The park has lovely marked trails.  We completed two trails; the Whitetail Trail which became the Dogwood trail, a loop of a little over 2 miles.  They had a unique way of marking directions at trail junctions, with the icons for each trail and an arrow embedded in a concrete dome.

Beautiful views of the lake, wonderful forest trails. We did not see either whitetail deer or dogwood trees.

After a picnic lunch we headed back to the trailer to watch the Nascar race.

Monday morning we packed up with Dr. Edmund Babler State Park on the edge of St. Louis as our destination. We arrived shortly after noon.  Getting a site was not a problem, so we set for a few days.  Surprise; this state park has reasonably decent wi-fi.

Tuesday was a good day to catch up on some our maintenance and shopping.  We used Google maps to locate places to get things done, and to figure out the optimum route.   We started by getting an oil change, not where we had planned, but at a location on the way.  This took us a little longer than we thought it should, but we not only got the oil changed, but had a free car wash, drying, and even tire polishing. The truck hasn't looked so smart for a long time.  Then we carried on toward the next stop, but noticed a T-mobile store along the way.  We stopped in to get our wi-fi hotspot device reactivated.  It needed a new sim card, since it was inactive more than six months, and we put enough money on our account to last until March.  It wasn't a simple procedure, but with the help of a trainee, and her mentor, and finally the store manager, we got it all done and tested.    We then headed for Randalls, a wine store that was reported to have the Black Box Shiraz we prefer.   We picked up enough so we wouldn't have to look for more for a while.  Our next stop was the Vitamin Shoppe (after unsuccessfully searching for special vitamins at a supplement shop we noticed), where we were able to get Joan's rare vitamins in decent quantities.  By that time, we were well past lunch, so we headed back in the direction of the trailer, to the Super Smokers BBQ in Eureka which had been recommended by our friends Brian and Kris.  We picked up a slab of ribs, a selection of BBQ sauces, and some sides to enjoy back at the trailer.  

Wednesday was our day to the visit the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, one portion of which is the Gateway Arch. 

The whole site is undergoing a major upgrade, with many sections of it closed at the moment.  We found parking a few blocks from the Old Historic Courthouse, and walked through old town followings signs directing us to the courthouse where we purchased our tickets to take the ride to the top of the arch, and then walked down to the arch.   It was an interesting trip in a very small capsule type car.  We understood why the lady selling the tickets checked whether we were claustrophobic.

When we got to the top we had to climb a few stairs to arrive at the viewing platform. The views where quite amazing, even though it was a hazy day. We got a pretty decent view of the Busch Stadium, the Cardinals' baseball field

and the courthouse.

After our trip to the top we went back to the courthouse to walk through the museum that had been recently located to the courthouse.  A lot of very interesting history on the role of St. Louis in the expansion of the USA to the west coast.  By now it was lunch time and beside the parking lot was the Morgan Street Brewery. The perfect lunch stop, we shared a delicious BBQ chicken pizza (thin crust).  John had a pumpkin dark ale and Joan had a Roggan lager. They only sell their own in-house beers. As we were leaving they asked if we were parked across  the street and as a bonus they gave us a coupon to take a few dollars off our parking fees.  On our way back to the trailer we stopped at Trader Joe's for some groceries and as they didn't have the ice cream we like we stopped at Walmart as well. We then stopped at a BP station to fill the truck up in preparation for our departure tomorrow morning.

Thursday morning was moving day again. Time to head for the Trail of Tears State Park, where we will stay until Monday morning.  There were a few sprinkles while we hooked up the trailer, but we ran into a few showers on the drive south.  Once we turned off the interstate, we drove past a huge Proctor and Gamble plant near Fruitland.   A few miles further down the road, we got to the State Park, found a site that looked suitable for satellite access.  It took us a while to get the right angle, but got our signal and settled in.   Our back of the trailer has a view across the BNSF railroad tracks, about 50 yards behind us, to the Mississippi River.  We saw one barge heading upstream, and another heading downstream while we were getting set up.     Now the rain seems to have settled in for a while.