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Sunday May 18th We Follow the Natchez Trace Parkway which is an ancient trail connecting the Southern Mississippi River to Alabama & Tennessee. It runs from Natchez to Nashville and through Tupelo, the birthplace of Elvis Presley. The Trace is a National Scenic byway and we see lots of birds including Turkey-Vultures, Black-Vultures and some bright red birds I think may be Cardinals.
We visit Vicksburg Battlefield & Museum, commemorating the 'Seige of Vicksburg', an important Civil War Battle. We look around the USS Cairo, an ironclad battleship, sunk in 1862 and raised from the bottom of the Mississippi in 1964. It is a very hot and sunny day, stay at a small place called Canton which is just north of Jackson, hang around the pool for a while and then eat chimichangas at the local Mexican Restaurant, delicious.
"I took the chevy to the levee but the levee was dry". I never knew what a levee was, (even though I have been joining in with the lyrics of Don Mclean's song, 'American Pie', since 1971). For anyone else who doesn't know; it's an embankment raised to prevent the river from overflowing. The Mississippi levee system, over 3,500 miles,
represents one of the largest such systems found anywhere in the world. Now we can say, "been there, done that".
Monday May 19th Back on the Natchez Trace Parkway for another 170miles and we arrive in Tupelo.
The Elvis Presley Museum is beautifully presented, lots of photos and memorabillia and a couple of films, a real insight into growing up in abject poverty on the wrong side of the track. We go inside the tiny two room house where Elvis was born, in 1935 and where his identical twin brother was stillborn. It is the original house standing in the original location and has been restored and furnished. The guide is very knowledgable and as we are the only people in the house we chat with her for a while. We ask her if Elvis ever visited England, (as recently reported), she is certain that he did not, he only made a brief stopover in Scotland during his National Service days in the 1950s. The family lived in the house for about 3 years until it was repossessed; the Presley family lived in other locations in Tupelo until 1948 when Elvis was 13 years
old the family moved to Memphis, Tennessee.
It has been a wonderful day, very hot and sunny. We will be sorry to leave Mississippi tomorrow as we have enjoyed being here very much, the state has a laid back feel to it and the people are very friendly and courteous. They all seem to say "where y'all from?" They love our accent and just want to know what we are doing and where we are going, I don't think they get many Brits visiting the State of Mississippi.
Tuesday May 20th The Baymont Hotel in Tupelo, where we have stayed overnight, is owned by an Indian family from Leeds. We have a nice chat with the son of the family over a good cooked breakfast and he advises us to consider travelling right through Memphis and staying just over the river in Arkansas, this area is called West Memphis and it is very easy to travel back and forward into Memphis, Tennessee.
We drive to Shiloh, Tennessee, to have a look at the Civil War Battlefield on the Tennessee River, George watches the educational film and I take a walk around the beautifully landscaped grounds at the visitor
Tupelo, Mississippi
The house where Elvis was borncentre. The Americans do this type of Memorial Battle Site extremely well.
Driving into Memphis, (the birthplace of rock 'n' roll), is exciting and a bit scary. There is a huge amount of traffic, fast moving with drivers cutting across lanes and often on the phone so we decide to take the advice we have been given and cross the Mississippi River into Arkansas.
We have a count up and this is the 33rd State we have visited over the last 20 years.
Although the temperature is about 88f the summer has not really started here yet, this coming week-end is 'Memorial Day Week-End' which marks the start of the summer for most Americans. Last week most of the Graduation Ceremonies took place and this Friday the schools break-up for the summer.
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