More Mississippi Magic

December 13-16, 2016
Clinton, Mississippi

With a couple extra days in the area we run errands and get some "stuff" done around home on Tuesday. It rains off and on all day, dropping the temps back into the 50's.

The drive on Natchez Trace to the east was so special, that Wednesday we turn to the west to see the section to Natchez, Mississippi.

We get a late start, but it's still chilly at barely 50 degrees when we head out. The day never gets over 52, 15 degrees colder than our first drive.

It's still beautiful.

There are a couple historic stops without trails or structures. Because there is no one else around, it is easy to look into the trees and imagine the events and structures described. 

The signage for Rocky Springs is very confusing - don't turn at the first sign for the "area", continue to the sign for the "site" - even Google maps isn't sure what we're looking for. But mis-turns take us to a historic crossroad that we wouldn't have seen. Only the tiny general store building remains. Love when that happens :-)

And now we're passing through.....

It is very cold in the shade and light breeze, but we spend a long time at the old church and cemetery. We see some of the old village site, but I wimp out before we see all of it. I think we only missed another safe and cistern.

The narrow road into Rocky Springs is beautiful.

Built in 1827, the Rocky Springs Methodist Church is maintained by the current congregation. Regular services and weddings are still held here. 

The doors remain unlocked every day.

This proud sentinel stands watch at the entrance to the old cemetery

Under overcast skies the place feels ancient. We whisper here.

Most graves are dated in 1858 and are in all shapes and sizes.

Including several of these very small markers I've never seen before. There are some large markers for children, so I don't think these are necessarily for them.

Little remains of the town site other than two safes and a few cisterns. At its peak in 1860 the population was 2,616.

Several signs along the trail with information about the geology of the area.

We warm up in the car and make a couple stops before we get to a spot that sounds really interesting - Sunken Trace. Over the decades some sections of the trace have worn down almost thirty feet. We drop into the trail and wander among the moss-covered trees, crunching through deep leaves, marveling at the impact of travelers on this path through the forest.

The Old Trace at Grindstone Ford

Mancum Mound, an ancient burial site for ancestors of several Mississippi and Louisiana tribes. 

Other than some hawks and herons and one deer, we see no wildlife. But these farm critters on the other side of the trace are sure cute!

Sunken Trace

Still pretty deep although sediment has built it up over the years since it was traveled.

This moss glowed along the banks.

"Two roads diverged in a yellow(ish) wood......."

With our late start and taking our time along the way, the sun is going down while we're still several miles from Natchez. We decide to turn around and return home, more than happy with all we've seen in this magical forest.

We love this parkway and want to come back and see the rest next time - we only covered about 25%.

Thursday morning we get up and on the road by 9:00 for a 200-mile drive south to Bay St Louis, Mississippi. We're on the gulf shore for a week, and when we pull into the Silver Slipper Casino RV Park I know we've picked the perfect spot.

Site 18 facing the gulf

And there's the water - right there!

Return to Nature in Jackson (sort of), Mississippi

December 11-12, 2016
Clinton, Mississippi

The opportunity to see wonderful museums in different parts of the country is a great part of this life. We have certainly seen some incredible ones over the last few weeks. Still, we prefer the natural wonders of this country.

I'm not sure what to expect in the Jackson, Mississippi area, but I'm hopeful we can get back into nature.

Our 235 mile drive on Saturday is nice and sunny, and we get set up at Springridge Mobile Estates and RV Park in Clinton about 2:00. This is not a destination park. At the front of a large mobile home park are 12 tight spaces on asphalt. There is no park WiFi. But everything works well, FHUs with 50 amp, open skies, clean. There is a lot of resident traffic, but it's surprisingly quiet. It works as a stopping spot between Memphis and the gulf coast, and there are decent stores nearby. 

After football and a quick run to Target on Sunday, Monday morning we head out under cloudy skies. And warm temps! It almost gets to 70 degrees before the day is over. So lovely.

Natchez Trace Parkway is a 444-mile road from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee. Part of the National Park Service, it has a wonderful history, and one of the most beautiful and diverse forests I've ever seen. Today we go east with a swamp as our goal.

Sharing much of its history with the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, the Old Trace saw the passing of Native Americans, traders, settlers, soldiers and eventually commuters. Throughout the drive are several points of history.

Though most are on the ground, there is a surprising amount of leaf color for this late in the season.

Each turn-out has these large signs defining the significance of the location.

The Visitor Center is only open on Friday and Saturday, but we pick up a pamphlet that identifies all the stops. Note there are very few access/exit roads on the Trace, even fewer restrooms, and nothing commercial. 

Some of the stops have short trails to the original Old Trace, worn deep in many areas.

This stop has a boardwalk to the back of the Mississippi Craft Center. We didn't go in, but it's free and looks interesting.

The Ross Barnett Reservoir is visible along several miles with parking spots on a small peninsula.

A little fog bank gives the water an eerie feel.

Archeologists dated artifacts in these mounds at 700 A.D. and tell us that a home was built here around 500 A.D.

Big furry branches

next to skinny, naked ones

We stand on what was the western border of West Florida in 1764. 

I love this sign where we reach our destination at Tupelo Baldcypress Swamp. We read it. Then we do it...

Just a few feet in, the magic begins.

Cypress reflections on black water

A very tall camel keeps an eye on us.

while this guy keeps two eyes on us......magic.

When the Pearl River changed course several years ago, a shallow area was created by the deposition of sediment. This aquatic forest of Cypress and Tupelo took hold during periods of standing water. 

Just a small difference in elevation makes a big difference in the forest.

Cue the dinosaurs......

Shhhhh...

No idea what stripped this tree's bark - all the way around, all the way up. I might have walked a little faster after we found this.

A gathering of Knees.

We turn around at the swamp, and take our time going home. Even without the interesting stops, this is such a beautiful road - we agree that it's even more so on a cloudy day.

With a storm expected south of us, we cancel our stop in Hattiesburg, and extend here for a couple days. We never do make it to Jackson. After our experience driving east, we decide to drive west on the Natchez Trace. Enough to save for a separate post :-)

Meanwhile, back in SoCal - our grandsons just keep getting cuter-er!!

Max, full of wonder at all there is to see

Ezra getting caught by Mommy

Fun With Friends and a Sobering Look at History in Reverse

December 8-10, 2016
West Memphis, Arkansas

We're at Tom Sawyer's Mississippi River Campground at Linda's recommendation. At the time she and Steven were still continuing their gig at Amazon for several more weeks. But they took an early out and their first stop is right here!

A quick happy hour at our place gets us caught up on Wednesday evening, and we make plans for the next day.

Thursday morning Linda picks Tessa and I up for some shopping, and later Bill and Steven head into Memphis to see the new movie Arrival.

Sharing this amazing life with people whose company we really enjoy is a blessing - even just doing normal stuff :-) We found everything we were looking for, and the guys enjoyed what they both called a mind-bending film.

Linda shows me how to cook a roast in my Instant Pot while she whips up a cheesecake to bake in hers. We've named them Thelma and Louise and look forward to sharing their individual adventures and their reunions down the road.

Photo by Linda - "the working girls"

The roast is amazing, and I am immediately inspired to do lots of cooking in the new Pot. We'll see..... :-)

One more place I really want to see is the National Civil Rights Museum, so Friday I make a solo trip back across the river to Memphis. Since it is at the Lorraine Motel where Dr. King was killed I expect to be moved. Since I worked for the union 26 years I expect to feel a connection. Since I don't know everything I expect to learn a lot.

This museum is exceptionally well done. At the end of the powerful opening film narrated by proud, not-apologizing-for-my-anger young African Americans, the screen rolls back and I follow the moving silhouettes of marching protesters into the exhibits. 

I spend three hours here and in no way can I capture in words or photos the impact. All the expectations yes. Definitely. But something very unexpected as well. Sadness. And the reality that if I had visited one month earlier it would have been pride instead. I can't help but feel that in one day we went from seeing our country realize the dreams of thousands who fought and died for civil rights, to a frightening U-turn. 

Room 306, Lorraine Motel, Memphis, CA

A round room depicts the global slave ship routes, and the impact on families, cultures, and human spirit.

An un-imaginable truth

The end of slavery did not mean the end of fear, abuse and death. Seeing the resurgence of these hoods means we  have once again failed to learn from our past.

Calling it what it was. What it is.

I was eight when Rockwell's The Problem We All Live With was published in 1964. About the age of the girl he pictured, and living a completely different life.

Sitting with Rosa Parks.

While she's being yelled at to move back or be arrested. The separate-but-equal Jim Crow laws gave him the authority to do what was wrong.

After 383 days of the non-violent bus boycott, Montgomery bus lines were desegregated and service resumed. Still, leaders were arrested, indicted and jailed for their part in "interfering with a lawful business."

For decades, all across the south, American citizens were forced to fight for their Constitutional rights. Non-violent protests were held in major cities and small towns.

All too often these were met with violence, like the torching of the Freedom Riders' bus by a mob of 50 Klan in Anniston, Alabama. 

And the violent means used to disperse protesters. Not unlike the recent Standing Rock confrontations.

Although the group disbanded in 1963, this song would be sung at the Berlin Wall, at Tiananmen Square, and challenging apartheid on the streets of Johannesburg, South Africa. 

Many of his followers were angry with Dr King for adhering to the injunction against their march into the city of Montgomery. He continued to advocate for peaceful, lawful protest.

Although eventually given the permit to march into Montgomery, violence and death met them there. Viola was a young mother of five, shot and killed by Klans"men" along the route. She had driven by herself to join the march.

Memphis Sanitation Workers' Strike - this is a full-size truck with headlines playing on its side.

I sit on a wooden pew and watch Dr King's final speech, the Mountaintop Speech, at the Mason Temple on April 3, 1968. He was tired from his travels and had not prepared anything. Instead he spoke from the heart. He had received hundreds of escalating death threats and his words about seeing the promised land, of being "free at last" really feels prophetic knowing now that it would be his last speech. I watch most of it through tears. 

Standing at Room 306 where Dr King was shot and killed by a coward from that small window across the street.

Movement to Overcome by Michael Pavlosky stands in the museum foyer

Across the street from the motel is the Legacy Center which includes the replica of the room behind the window where it is believed James Earl Ray took the shot that killed Dr King.

The center is dedicated to the on-going efforts for human and civil rights around the world. Third from the left on the bottom is Delores Huerta who I marched with in California many years ago.

A new exhibit honors Muhammed Ali

I have to believe that an educated majority can prevail in spite of our current circumstances.

Fortunately we have a birthday celebration on Friday evening that lifts my spirits and reminds me we are surrounded by really great people.

It's Steven's birthday and the four of us have a lovely time full of enlightened discussion, belly laughs, and amazing food. Hearty potato soup is followed by the life-changing cheesecake covered in caramel and pecans - SO good!

We say our good-byes for now as Saturday we're continuing to head south. Thanks for a great visit guys, we sure had fun!

Half Shell and Piper at the Mississippi River - thanks for the great pic Steven :-)))

I can't end this post without encouraging you to check out Steven's photography site. More than just the best photos I've seen anywhere, his accompanying words are insightful, inspiring and enhance what he shares through the camera lens. Do yourself a favor and go see.