Spent some time in Vicksburg, Miss. It is on the Mississippi River and was the location of an important battle in the Civil War because it involved control of the river that was important to the North. The Confederates resisted the siege for 46 days before surrendering to Grant. There is a 16 mile one way road that winds through the difficult terrain and chronicles the long battle. It is beautifully done with great information and HUNDREDS of monuments to the various groups and officers of the approximately 90,000 men who fought.

Vicksburg is another really old city with many buildings from the 1700s and plantations in the area. It is now also the home to 4 large casino complexes. We could not help but laugh, in view of the recent news events, when we passed the "Nappy Roots Styling Salon"!

There are some interesting "houses" down near the shores of the river. They are sort of trailers that are up on scafoldings about 30 feet in the air. Obviously they are expecting high water. We have seen the high water marks on the sea wall. The highest was from 1923 and was 56 feet. Actually, it said it would have been 56 feet if the levy had held!

We have had some serious rain today and were under another tornado watch. We positioned ourselves well and have had no problems. Computer helpful again!

Today we drove part way up the Nachez Trace which is a "road" that was used starting in the 1700s. Goods would come down the Mississippi River from Nashville to Nachez. Then people followed the Trace north to Nashville to get another load (mostly salt) since they could not get the rafts upstream. It went on for many years.

We see barge groupings being pushed up the river. We counted one group of 28 barges that were fastened together all being pushed by one huge tug with 3 stacks. Its quite amazing! And by the way, the Mississippi really is muddy.

Things are quite "loose" in the South. Here are some random illustrations:
1. The well dressed man next to us at the Sonic drive in with his nice family was drinking a Coors Light.
2. Have seen many kids not in their car seats and even groups in the back of pickup trucks.
3. Cars don't have front license plates and many don't have ones on the back either.
4. "Open" or "closed" signs mean nothing.
5. Signage beyond the interstate or major highways is hit or miss.
6. Building codes are ignored - anything goes.

Some fun observations:
1. Almost bought a book that was at a Plantation gift shop named, "If Lillibeth does not catch the Bouquet, Someone will Die - A Southern Woman's Guide to the Perfect Wedding."
2. Our cousin Jim alerted us to this and we have found it to be true - the Bass Boat will be in the garage and the pickup truck will be parked outside.
3. The restaurant names seem to be opposite of the quality of the food - The "Magnolia Grill" was not good but "Fat Mamas" and "Slough Daddy's" were great. We did see "Wilderman's Den of Sin" but we decided to pass!
4. Many older men sitting on their porch wave at us.

Some thoughts about motor home living:
1. We sleep really good. We are getting more sleep than we have in years.
2. Water quality is a real concern. We refill gallon containers for drinking water, but sometimes have trouble locating the refill machines with the proper filtration.
3. Laundry is a bit of a problem. The quality of the machines available varies. At least the motorhome parks in the south have facilities - many in the north had no laundries.
4. We are glad that our TV works most of the time and are thankful when the internet is not too slow.

Our current location is the Riverview RV Resort in Vidalia, Louisiana - just across the Mississippi River from Nachez, Mississippi. Its a lovely park and we do have a great view of the barges and boats on the river. The pool is nice, too.

Driving through Miss was very much like Southern Oregon - rolling hills and green. It is still very much like most of the South. There will be some normal wonderful houses with beautiful large yards and grand old trees, then there will be a hovel nextdoor. More nice houses, a trailer, an abandoned house, then a Baptist Church!

Made a stop along the way in Hattisburg to drop some money at the Ford Dealer to fix electrical problems involving the lights and turn indicators.

Nachez is the oldest town on the Mississippi circa 1715. Many buildings are from the 17oos and the 1800s. There is a French and Spanish influence that is not seen in the really old towns in the North that are Colonial or Brittish. There are many "plantations" in the area from when cotton was king! There are numerous really old normal size homes. Many are beautifully kept, but there are many that need a lot of TLC and money.

We had a great meal of catfish and crawfish at the Slough Daddy River Grill. It was my birthday celebration. It was great to get phone calls from the kids and many emails. Garrett sang "Happy Birthday" all by himself and is getting good at singing! We do miss those grandchildren.

We are now near Mobile, AL. Mobile itself is nothing special. We have explored the coastal areas on the East side of Mobile Bay and there are many charming communities. The beaches all have beautiful white sand. The sand is made of quartz from the Apalachan Mountains and are tiny oval grains. There are many great places for tourists. Pensacola has a very nice downtown with an interesting unique style. The new areas are very much set up like Redmond Town Center with living areas and work places integrated. Again, everything is for sale.

We had a wonderful seafood dinner at a restaurant near Mobile. We were on an island on the bay about 20 feet above the water. We saw an alligator go swimming by! Our waiter, Chris, told us about his hurricane experience. The water came up about 6 feet in the restaurant. He and wife lived in an apartment in Mobile. They were without power for 2 1/2 weeks. There was a curfew to prevent looting and he said the 2 weeks without air conditioning and not being able to go out was a miserable time!

Today we drove West toward New Orleans along the coast. Went through Biloxi and Gulfport. It was especially interesting to us as we had stayed in that area 14 years ago. It is terrible what the hurricanes did. We remembered the wonderful beachfront houses in Biloxi that were probably built starting in 1890 through about 1940. They had roomy yards and were just accross the road from the beautiful beach. Obviously, many had been there for years. Sadly they are virtually all gone! There are some foundations still there and an occasional remnant of a brick wall. The devistation goes back 1-2 blocks from the shore. There is very little rebuilding. It goes on for miles along the shore. It is going to take years for this area to recover. There are a few casinos that are trying, but the whole coast is still about 90% vacant! It looks like they are going to have beachfront high rises, but there are not many of them either. It is sad to see many businesses where the building is gone, but somehow the battered signs remained. We are not going any farther West on the gulf coast - too depressing.

We are going to head North now along the historic Natchez Trace Parkway to Nashville.

We are in the Florida panhandle near DeFuniak Springs waiting for a major storm system to pass through! There is a tornado watch. It looks like the worst will be north of us, but we are paying attention. Our storm alert radio is on and we are watching the Dopler! Its raining.

Spent several days driving around the panhandle gulf area and saw many beautiful beaches and coastal scenes. The azaleas are really outstanding and the magnolia trees are beginning to bloom. There are lots of pine forests here with very tall, skinny trees. We have seen pulp mills and some logging (Bob calls it "twigging" as the trees are so narrow).

The coastal areas definitely have a depressed housing market - everything is for sale. There are many gated housing areas that have beautiful entrances, streets in and not one house under construction! The storm threats, insurance companies leaving and "global warming" are taking their toll. Should you want to move to Florida, you would be able to have your pick and pay very little.

We have driven up into Alabama and find the more hilly terrain very comfortable. The area is not as poor as rural Georgia. We decided to go to the Boll Wevil monument in Alabama - it seemed a good example of "Americana". We found ourselves in the city of Enterprise and all of a sudden noticed significant damage. Then it dawned on us that this was the town that had the tragic tornado recently that hit the local high school and killed several. The neighborhood around the school is full of brick ramblers and is a nice area. Many of the houses have significant damage and about a dozen have already been dozed away. There are piles of matching bricks around that may be waiting for new homes. The school complex has a lot of damage to the elementary, Jr. High, sports stadium, and part of the High School is just missing. It is very sobering to see such devistation. It is fenced off with guards while decisions are made if anything can be saved.

On a cheerier note, we enjoyed driving around on Easter. We saw so many families together in their best Spring clothes. We expected to see the ladies and girls all dressed up - and we sure did. The surprising thing was how dressed up the men were. Many had white or pastel suits. We even saw a bright turquoise suit!

Spent 4 days in the Charleston SC area and we think this is our favorite southern town! It was such an important town in the early years as it is a great sheltered port. Ft. Sumter, where the civil war began, is on a man made island in the middle of the port entrance. You take a boat ride to get there and it was a beautiful and interesting morning. The numerous historic houses extend far beyond the downtown historic area. Most are in good shape as the city is prosperous. Property values are higher than most southern towns. They have had the same mayor for 31 years and it appears that a stable government has nurtured a good business environment and planning for the city. The tourist facilities are good, parks beautiful and functional and the citizens really take great pride in their city. There are some wonderful plantations in the surrounding area. One was a "Tea" plantation from the 1700s. There are also beautiful coastal island communities with small historic homes and wonderful beaches. (We liked this area and have to occasionally remind ourselves that a large wave would be devastating!)

Awhile back we visited a huge Nascar store. It is clear that Nascar is popular and the "signature" items are extremely expensive! Baseball hats were $29.00 and up.

We lost a rear tire on the Saturn while towing on the freeway. I am afraid we were responsible for some tire litter by the time we realized what had happened! At least the rim was OK.

We are on the way to the Carrabelle Palms area on the gulf coast below Tallahassee. We are having a couple of travel days and are staying at the Wall Mart tonight waiting for the Easter Bunny. For those of you who don't know, Wall Mart allows motor homes to overnight in their parking lots. We do this occasionally when we are on the move as the lots are lighted and patrolled. There are usually 2-3 large rigs parked on the perimeter of the lots. I am sure many do some shopping while there, also.

It has surprised us that we have not been able to find any "hot cross buns" this week before Easter in this area. We have been to several large stores and small bakeries. OK east coast friends, are these buns just a west coast thing? (Our QFC has some great ones!)

We spent several days at the Savannah Oaks RV Resort which lived up to its name with lots of live oaks draped in spanish moss. The pool was not open yet (the second time this has happened). The lady said in a very sweet southern drawl, "It's just too cold yet." It was 84 that day!

Saw lots of alligators at the Okefenoke Swamp! Got a great picture of one right next to the car with his mouth open. We stayed in the car. (someday we hope to post more pictures - there are some problems having to do with the slow internet service on the road)

Had a fun day at the Folkston Funnel. About 60 trains pass there each day. There are north and south bound tracks and a Y nearby. They have built a small reviewing stand with fans, information and speakers so you can hear the control talking to the trains. There were a lot of "train guys" there. We were minor celebrities since we came from an area with lots of mountains, trestles and the 7 mile Cascade Tunnel! Its so flat here that most trains just have 2 engines that don,t have to work too hard.

Savannah is the Old South at its most beautiful. The city is built around 23 "squares" in the historic residential area that have monuments, fountains and wonderful trees. The houses are beautiful and individual and have more space between them then many historic areas. There are numerous interesting stories about such houses with their long history. The house occupied by Kevin Spacey's character in "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" is a beautiful red brick. We had a great meal of southern fried chicken, collard greens (they were great - I suspect bacon, butter and garlic) and hoppin john (black eyed peas, ham and rice). Savannah does have typical city problems - some areas are not so nice, traffic is bad, and too much trash. (Plastic bags are used in most grocery stores in the south and they are a huge trash problem.)

We also toured Hilton Head, the beaches, and other small historic towns. There are lots of marshes and waterways. Boats are everywhere. We love going over bridges as they provide the best views around.

One of the problems with traveling is getting a haircut. I have been lucky until now! I asked her to take off 2 months growth and she took off about 6 months growth! Hopefully it will grow soon!