Ch 13 Mississippi (inland)

Travels with Jake – 2012

Chapter 13

Mississippi (Inland) Mar 20-24

We're starting to feel a bit pressured to pick up the pace a bit. There are still over 6000 miles to drive if we are to make our Nova Scotia waypoint and get home again, and all in a little over 2 months. That's a lot of hours behind the wheel and the detour back to Mississippi felt like a bad idea at first, but the more we read about Natchez, the more we felt it was a “must see”. It seems you can't do everything in one go, which is a good thing, otherwise we would have nothing to come back to! Our long three-state driving day finally ended in Columbia MS, about midway across the state and 80 miles north of the coast. There's not much to say about this region except that the roads are good and the people seem harmless enough. Driving all day provides lots of scenery but precious little insight. The next day we continued westward right into the path of an enormous thunderstorm. The rain washed away most of the visibility and we had to stop and comfort poor Jake who trembled at every clap of thunder. The national public radio system (NPR) began issuing extreme thunderstorm, rainfall and tornado warnings. We were fumbling with our map to try to locate the counties that were being affected, and some were right next to us. Yikes! I have no idea what to do if we find twister bearing down on us except to stay out of trailer parks. They always hit trailer parks. Anyway, it was a cheap way to wash the rig and we got underway once the darkness had passed, a bit shaken. We learned later that the town we were near had received a record rainfall for that date. Whew.

Natchez lies on the east bank of the Mississippi river and is full of gorgeous antebellum homes, and unlike Vicksburg upstream which was levelled by Union gunboats, Natchez came through the war unscathed. The welcome centre was more than just a rack of brochures and there we learned much about the Civil War and how it affected this region. The Confederates never called it a civil war. Their phrase was “The War Between The States” and they believed that under the Constitution at that time, they had the legal right to secede. This trip sometimes seems like a history jigsaw, with new pieces of information locking in with other bits acquired earlier. I just hope there's no exam!

Each Spring for a few weeks, several of Natchez's antebellum homes are opened up to visitors by their owners during the 'pilgrimage', but we were more interested in restoration rather than renovation and furniture that was original rather than modern. We did visit a stately home high on the riverbank run by some local socialite ladies who hadn't done much homework but who clearly enjoyed flouncing around like Scarlet in their period costumes. While there I picked up a local tourist magazine that promoted the “Blues Highway” of musicians and saw lots of pictures of smiling white faces at fund raising events, and only one black one, that of a basketball star (not smiling). No blues guys at all. White folks around here sidestep even the most innocent enquiries about current race relations or the history of slavery – next subject! At another historic home run by the National Park Service, we really did learn some facts about life in those days. If you can ignore their funny hats, you can absorb much from the rangers – they really do know their stuff and are above all, historians. In its heyday, Natchez was home to many millionaires who did not live on the plantations they owned, but rather in their town homes. These big pillared palaces often occupied many acres and large formal gardens were the rage. Picture large live oaks dripping with Spanish Moss, bordered pathways, sweeping driveways for the carriages. New England house styles were often referenced, as that's where many of them escaped to in the hot summers, and no self-respecting planter would live in a house without pillars framing the front entrance! The slaves kept everything tidy in their absence. I asked our ranger fellow if they had many black people through the mansion, as I had seen almost none in visits to such places to date. About 10-15 over the past year, he replied, and couldn't understand either why there should be so little curiosity about their forefathers. The ranger being from the north confided that all of the public schools in Natchez are 100% black, while the town is encircled by private schools 100% white. Forty-four years after Martin Luther King, African Americans are still struggling with the deep-set prejudices and segregation sympathies of their white neighbours. In an environment like that, it is tough to beat the poverty cycle.

Back down by the riverside (sound like a song?) we saw where the Mississippi paddle-wheelers had nosed into the bank to discharge their cargo and could imagine the riverboat gambler smoking his cheroot on the deck, surveying the new boarding passengers. Nowadays cargo is carried in long barges that are pushed by blunt-nosed tugs and it takes a skillful skipper to keep them off the mud banks in the strong current. Before steam power, cargo only came downstream and there was a routine for people from Nashville to build a barge, load it with cargo and sail/pole it down to Natchez. Once unloaded, they would break up the barge and sell the timber, buy a horse if they could, and walk or ride home on the most direct route that kept to the high ground. The local Indians had already established the track, and in 1801 it became known as the Natchez Trace and designated as a mail route. Now it is a tranquil, paved parkway with a few free campgrounds, 444 miles long and the most relaxing way to drive north. No commercial vehicles, a 50mph limit, and it is like stepping back in time with nothing but nature to see, for the most part. Rural Mississippi is beautiful, mostly neat and tidy, and as we are moving north about the same speed as Spring, we see colourful blossoms and green, green pastures. The roads, even the two-lane country ones, are very good and make for easy driving. We got about halfway up the state before coming off the Trace and stopping for the night at a small town named Kosciusko. Wal-martians like us appreciate a level paved parking spot out on the fringes where there is adequate green space for Jake's exercise, and lake view better than most commercial paid sites. I know Walmart is considered to be a nasty organization that bowls over local shops when they arrive in town, but they sure treat travellers well.

The next morning we got on the freeway and continued on to a campground just south of Memphis. Once again, we found people living full-time in old and barely-mobile RVs. Some are working locally and some are not. One retired lady had built her dream house nearby only to have it written-off after an uninsured flood two years ago and was living in an old rig alone with her dog. We are constantly amazed at the poverty pockets we see in this country, the richest in the world. Yes, its a great place if you don't stumble, and it seems to have both the best and the worst features of the world. How's that for a politically softened criticism? We had two sleeps at this park (another time-out with nothing much to learn) before moving across the border into Tennessee. How can you reach conclusions after just a few days and talking to just a few people? There's no denying that Mississippi is beautiful, green (not in the eco sense), relatively undeveloped and uncrowded. It has lots of helpful, friendly people, but I have to wonder if they might not be as friendly if I had a deeper tan. Visit us in the following chapter, where we follow in the footsteps of The King. If you don't know where that is, you're just too young. Cheers.