Advertisement
Published: April 21st 2017
Edit Blog Post
Travels with Snowbirds Quest for the Stamp April 19 and 20, 2017, Natchez, MS
Wednesday. This is a pretty campground, but very plain. I took two walks around the full loop and not much to see and spent time cleaning and straightening up, watching the roadway for Ginnie and Kim. Tuesday was a down day, I took the opportunity to clean the inside of Moya. Winston slept all day and didn’t eat. He hardly even barked when a dog passed by. They arrived around 3 and were anxious for a little time out of the RV. Ginnie's Doberman, Linus, must have jammed his foot; one of his toes was very swollen and he was hobbling. Poor thing. We had happy hour and exchanged funny road trip stories…Caravan leader Kim turned the wrong way leaving their campground, not a good start.
We loosely made a plan for Thursday morning in Natchez and were in bed early.
Thursday. We were told to make the Visitor Center our first stop which we did. Only, we did not know whether this meant the town of Natchez. visitor center, or The National Park Visitor Center. We headed for the first only to discover
they were in the same building. Confusing. We watched the movie, got our passports stamped, and headed for the Magnolia Café for lunch. Sitting on the river, at river level, in an area known as Under the Hill, we overlooked the River Cruise dock and had fun watching the passengers get off their paddle wheeler and get on busses that had been painted to look like Paddle Wheelers, go off on their excursions. I had grilled catfish Caesar salad, yummy.
We then went for a horse carriage tour of the historic district. Driver Randy and horse Champ were awesome. We got insight into Natchez during slavery, and Mississippi in modern history. There are beautiful shops, homes and churches, and government buildings. If the truth be know, downtown reminded me a lot of downtown Wilmington. I think the same architect designed both town halls. No Spanish moss but kudzu is a big problem. Randy has lived most of his life in Natchez, and expounded his political views without offending anyone. Kind of a do unto others philosophy that he was so very proud of, it choked him up.
One of the homes we visited was the William Johnson House.
William was a mulatto, born a slave, freed at 11 and became a prominent businessman and slaveholder who chronicled 20 years of his life, giving modern historians a unique look into his world. We had a lengthy conversation there with Ranger Schobey (say Scobee). He told us all about His alma mater, Acorn U, a prestigious all black college 45 miles north, and how the school got its land grant from a white man, and I taught him what a Shoobee and Benny was, terms he had never heard, even though he lived in White Plains for a time. A very nice, knowledgeable young man in the perfect job for him, fiercely proud to be a Mississippian.
We drove across the Mississippi so Kim could earn her Louisiana state map for her RV US map. We all play at that quest by different rules. My rules are, if any RV I have owned puts a wheel into a state, I have earned the right to put that state map sticker on my map. Ginnie has similar rules. Kim has had a few different rules, one being you must sleep in your RV to earn the map. We gave her
absolution, telling her she was with us and didn't have a choice as she wasn't driving, and she earned it. We visited the Walmart in Vidalia, LA, a very old unit shopped in by very poor looking but very nice people. We spoke of Kathy on this adventure, as we think she needs LA on her map, too. Miss you, Kathy.
Back at our campsites, the dogs were all ok, and all got walked a lot. I saw one couple around the loop spraying the ground at their campsite. I kept my head down and kept moving. Kim told me they went out and bought tick spray as their site was infested. A quick rub down of Winston found 2 on him, not imbedded yet. We squealed gleefully when I took my BBQ lighting lighter to them and they popped. But, the sad thing is, Kim had one on her back, too. He was just starting to dig in. She was skeeved. The joys of camping. I am glad our next campground is at a casino. Asphalt parking lot. Pavement. No ticks or bugs.
As I sit here putting the finishing touches on this at 10 o'clock at night, sitting at my dinette with the window open, I can hear an animal outside gnawing on something hard. It sounds like a dog gnawing on a big bone. I text messaged Ginnie and Kim, and Kim quickly respond, either a raccoon or a giant tick. That put me over the top with laughter. Good way to end a great day.
Kat out
.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.171s; Tpl: 0.02s; cc: 8; qc: 47; dbt: 0.0755s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb