Road Trip Part Two - Days Two Through Four

(July 6 - 8)

Day Two

Yesterday, after we left Graceland, we continued to our first evening’s destination – Jackson Mississippi. As we approached Jackson, I saw a large structure on the west side of I-55. It was a miniature Washington Monument. I researched it after we got home – I guess it’s a cell tower in disguise. It makes my blood run cold to say this, but to me it looked like a KKK hood - with two eyes watching anyone who was approaching Jackson. I'm glad those days are gone. Aren't they?

We checked into the Holiday Inn Express in Jackson which was very comfortable. We used the Garmin to find an Applebee’s for dinner. I love that thing. The world at your fingertips, literally. Anyway, we had dinner, and then we crashed. We considered our options for the next day, made the plan and tried to get a good night’s sleep.

Breakfast was included with the room and it was pretty good – although the eggs were strange and unappetizing. We had decided to take a side trip to Vicksburg to see that historic town, and try to find an ante-bellum mansion to tour. Vicksburg is about an hour west of Jackson, right on the Mississippi River. It was still raining, and at times it was scary. I almost pulled over at one point, but kept pushing through and the bad rain didn’t last long. When we got to Vicksburg we stopped at a Visitor’s Center and learned about their historic drive through town, which turned out to be well marked. The town itself is unremarkable, kind of depressed in general, lots of beautiful old buildings, but there were also a lot of houses in poor condition, closed businesses, and other reminders of reversal of fortune. We drove to a pre-civil-war era house that was open for tours, only to find that on this particular day, it was closed for a private function. So we decided to wing it, and followed the tour route which led us to another house. This one was located within a cannonball shot of the river, or at least it was 146 years ago. Since then the river moved a bit and the house is further from the riverfront. But back then, when the Union siege of Vicksburg was underway, the white house was a convenient target, and we saw the remnants of a couple of cannon balls that had flown through and into it. The house was restored/preserved with such detail that it was easy to feel what life must have been like. We did another self-guided tour, following a prepared script with multiple pages that walked us through each room. We learned a lot of interesting things – during the war the house had been used by the Union army as a hospital and morgue. We also learned one explanation for the origin of a common expression. Apparently ladies used to wear makeup made of beeswax. If they sat too near a warm fireplace, their makeup tended to melt. If one of the other ladies noticed this, she would lean in and whisper, "Mind your beeswax." Believe it, or not.......

I came away from Vicksburg feeling unsettled and a little depressed. I guess I absorbed the ghosts of a lot of suffering while I was there. I felt the way of life that no longer exists, and the pain of that war which, when I think about it, always breaks my heart. It’s the brother against brother thing. The Confederate States of America under Lt. Gen. John Pemberton surrendered to the USA under Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Vicksburg on July 4, 1863. For 80 years after, Vicksburg did not celebrate Independence Day.

We pulled into the Hotel Monteleone garage in the late afternoon. I turned over my car and didn’t see it again for two days.

The hotel is beautifully appointed, and our room was not large as you’d expect in an older hotel, but very comfortable. We had a view of the muddy Mississippi, and were one block from Bourbon Street. Meaghan arrived about 20 minutes after we did, which wasn’t totally random since we’d been tracking each other all day and tried to time our arrivals. We quickly settled in after our bellboy Ken from Boston gave us the lay of the land (and mini-bar). We were eager to check out Bourbon Street, and get some dinner.

It was still raining lightly on and off but we managed to avoid it for the most part. We made our way to Bourbon and walked pretty much the whole strip, and then back again. My impression – kind of disappointed. I thought it would be like Duval Street in Key West. But it was quite a bit seedier, and many of the buildings seemed to be in poor shape. The girls did get a crude offer they definitely could refuse from one guy in a doorway.

We were looking for a place to eat and spied a courtyard with tables – popped in there. It was Pat O’Brien’s and we found out later it was a famous bar/restaurant. The food was nothing memorable.

Day Three

I’m picking up this narration almost a month after our trip, and I’ve actually forgotten a lot of detail – which is probably good for purposes of this journal. I think I was running the risk of being too verbose. Now I’ll just be summarizing the highlights, which is at is should be…….

Our plan for the next day in New Orleans was to tour the Garden District. We took a cab over to the tour departure point, which was about twenty blocks from the French Quarter. The tour guide met up with us and we started walking – did I mention it was a walking tour? Best way to see a city. It had been raining on and off and was still threatening, so we bought these bright yellow hooded rain ponchos that had fleurs de lis all over them, (I came to love this symbol of New Orleans) but we didn’t need them. We walked through the Lafayette Cemetery and learned a lot of interesting things about the way the dead are buried down there. We saw the house that was used in the film ‘Curious case of Benjamin Button. We saw Nicholas Cage’s house & Sandra Bullock/Jesse James’ house. Talked about Anne Rice. Learned a bit about wrought iron and southern architecture, saw Peyton Manning’s house. On our own, we found the Real World New Orleans house. Meaghan was obsessed with finding it. When we did, we took a picture of her with her hand on the front gate, as if she was arriving home…….

Later in the afternoon on day three, we walked along the riverfront to the French Market. It’s all very historic – I could feel the way it must have looked and smelled a couple of hundred years ago. We had a good dinner, dining outside again at a restaurant that had a live jazz band. Then we walked back along Bourbon Street again, which didn’t look quite as bad at night, with everything colorfully lit up. We stopped at a bar and watched Karaoke for a while, then the three of us got up and sang Love Shack. Kinda fun. (Shannon and I did it again in Nashville two nights later - it’s out of my system now.)

Day Four

Next morning Meaghan took her leave to drive back to Kilgore. Shannon and I had a memorable breakfast. We walked over to the Café Beignet, but it wasn’t open yet, so we decided to eat in the hotel café. They had beignets on the menu so we both got them. All I can say is, OH MY GOD. They were so much more than little donuts. They brought us each four of them, they were kind of square, and had a light dusting of confectioner’s sugar. But the most amazing part was the hot praline dipping sauce that came with them. The first bite was indescribably delicious. By the third bite, we were getting full – but it was so blissfully delicious we continued until we could not eat any more. Who would have ever thought praline sauce would be so heavenly? Well, now I know. Neither of us finished. What a treat!

After we checked out, we headed for Birmingham, Alabama. Shannon and I decided to take the scenic route. It ended up adding two hours to the trip, but it allowed us to drive along the Gulf Coast and that was worth it. We saw a lot of houses on stilts, a lot of houses under construction/renovation/rehabilitation. The aftermath of Katrina was in evidence. We stopped just west of Biloxi and walked out onto the beach – it was a large expanse of beautiful white sand, and but for one other small group of people, was completely empty. I picked up some shells for T M & A, and we continued our journey, stopping only once more to see if we could find Mississippi state magnets. We did.

Birmingham was just a convenient stopping point, there wasn’t really much to do or see there. I didn't remember anything we did there until Shannon reminded me that we walked to a pizza place and had pretty bad pizza.

Next day - Nashville!

TBC