Gulfport Mississippi

Well, Tuesday evening when it was raining and I was blogging, I failed to notice that it was getting wet in one corner of the bed - my corner. By the time Bob and I went to bed my pillow and the sheet on my side of the bed were soaked. But we were both exhausted. So we took a towel and put it up against the wall and I tried to find a dry spot. I slept in one position almost all night because whenever I moved, I got wet and cold. In the morning the towel was dripping wet and the bed was soaked because it had been raining all night. I put the towel, the pillows, and the sheets in the dryer (nice that it was free at this campground) while we packed up the trailer. The sheets and the towel were dry when we left. I laid out the cushions (like our mattresses) and hoped it would all dry as we were driving. We got to Natchez and bought some caulk for the window and a hairdryer. I used the haridryer to dry the pillows and the cushions. While I was doing that Bob was recaulking the window. I hope that it worked. We have not had rain since. But I will tell you that I experienced great joy and pleasure when I went to bed the next night and the sheets and pillows were dry. Such simple pleasures.

The drive through Louisiana to Natchez was interesting. I am used to Indian or Spanish names, not French ones. I had a hard time trying to pronounce the names of the towns that we passed. For example, how do you pronounce Maringouin? Another interesting part of the drive was the bayous. Along the interstate that was a huge long causeway that was above the bayous. It seemed to go on forever. I have often wondered how they make the roads in the Pacific Northwest due to the mountains. But Louisiana has its own problems in building roads through these bayous. I can only imagine how difficult it was to drive around these areas before they built these causeways.

As we were driving along and I periodically asked Bob questions about the area - he had been here before, he said something that cracked me up and may become my mantra. He said - "I often wonder which is greater - what I don't know or what I don't remember." How true.

The area north of Baton Rouge and around Natchez and even Vicksburg had many gourgeous homes and gorgeous landscaping. Many of these homes were located on a four lane divided highway with speed limits of 65 mph. Both Bob and I agreed that we would not want to live on such a road. But people have built almost mansion-like homes on these roads.

We have had some very interesting food along the way. But we had a great meal when we arrived in Natchez. The name of the restaurant was the L'il Dagos and it was some of the best Italian food I have ever had. Bob had spaghetti and he thought that it tasted better than his own spaghetti - he does not say that very often.

The next day we drove to Vicksburg to see the national battlefield of the civil war battle there. I was disappointed. They had a good film, but the national park was just filled with monuments to various soldiers, donated by their families or friends. It did not help me understand the battle. There was one monument donated by the state of Illinois. It had 47 steps - one for each day of the siege of Vicksburg. When you got to the top there were metal plaques with the name of every man from Illinois who had participated in that battle. There were so many names from just the one state that it was overwhelming.

About one third of the way through the park Bob announced that he was hungry. We had no food with us and there is no food in the park - lesson learned for future battlefield visits. We left the park, intending to come back and finish the visit. We wandered into downtown Vicksburg - the old town. We parked in front of a bench that had an old black woman and a younger black man sitting on it. As I got out of the pickup, the woman said something to me. Her southern accent was so strong that I could not understand a word. After asking her to repeat about three time the young man finally told me that she was asking how much the scooters that we had in our pickup cost. I then chatted with her a few minutes and asked where the best restaurant was. She sent us to a small place that was called the Juke Joint. As we walked in Bob commented that we might be the only whites. That was not true, but the food was definitely "soul food." All of the staff were black. It took a very long time to get our meal. I told Bob that it reminded me of being in Mexico where you just had to expect that things moved slower. The food was excellent. The slower pace was actually nice. By the time we finished we did not feel like returning to the battlefield. We drove around Vicksburg trying to see the Mississippi river but we couldn't. We headed back to Natchez.

Part of the way back we took the Natchez Trace - a path that was used by the Indians when hunting buffalo. It is a two lane highway and is a federal park. No commercial vehicles are allowed and there are no billboards or other advertisements. There are stops along the way with historical information or scenic views. Very pretty. When we got to Natchez we went into downtown and we found a delightful park over the Mississippi river. The steamboat in the picture is actually a gambling casino, but it does look picturesque.

Then this morning we left Natchez and headed for Gulfport. The road that we took was not an interstate but it was a four lane divided highway. On the first part of the trip there were absolutely no billboards or advertisements. I was beginning to think that maybe Mississippi prohibited them. But the second half of the trip proved that that assumption was wrong. That being said, the roads were beautfiul.

We have finally found an rv park that we like. It is old and small. There are lots of trees and a very friendly atmosphere. We are less than a mile from the beach on the gulf. I think that we might stay here for a few days. Both of us are getting tired of so much packing up and moving to the next spot. It will be nice to stay and just enjoy one spot.