Mississippi Hills

Okay, clean socks? Check

Okay, clean undies? Check

Okay, clean hankie? Check

Okay, harness to lights connected? Check

Okay, fuel topped up? Check

Okay, Jacks up? Check

Okay, emergency brake off in tow? Check

Check? Pull over and recheck. Okay, brake off now? Check

Goooooood

And so we finally got away from WalMart in Clinton by 12:30 p.m. Fortunately Natchez State Park is only 80 miles away.

Our first stop along the Trace this morning is Cowles Mead Cemetery. My curiosity is based on MEAD being a family name on my mother's side. I doubt there is a relative connection there but it's not a name you see often.

A short stroll down a tree lined sidewalk brings you to a small cemetery. I could only see that two are buried here. Possibly more but any sign of it is gone. The names indicate a father Cowles Mead and a son, Cowles G. Mead.

This stop didn't take long. Next destination along the Trace is Rocky Springs. This is a National Park along the Trace that is free to stay for the night. We decided we'd at least drive through to check it out.

Now I won't mention names, but Gail forced Larry to take a wrong turn. Not sure where we went but a road crew out in the middle of nowhere got a good laugh. We drove up and down rolling roads, winding our way to somewhere we didn't know hoping we'd find the Trace again and make it to Natchez State Park before nightfall. On and on we went, turn after turn, bend around bend, until there was no way we could find our way back to where we first went amok. We did miraculously find the Trace about 45 minutes later. When we rejoined the Trace we were at approximately MP 41. We went amok somewhere just north of MP 55. So with all our meandering in the hills of Mississippi we traveled 14 miles down the Trace and 300 in the hills to get there.

Alright, enough razing Gail. We backtracked about 1/2 mile north on the Trace and came to the primo Old Trace area. This area is called the Sunken Trace.

This area of the Trace was so heavily traveled that the earth was compacted and eroded away to depths of 20 feet. You can see all the exposed tree roots.

Larry checking out the Sunken Trace.

There was a merge of two separate sunken trails that widened into one.

We've noticed the further down the Trace we travel the less the leaves have turned to fall colors. Actually the green leaves and lawns are positively lush.

We are ready to be off the Trace but it has been such a wonderful drive. Almost NO traffic and so peaceful.

Oddly when we pulled into Clinton the day before we all missed the Trace and it's quiet.

So we count down the miles to Natchez State Park at MP 10.

We'll have four night to enjoy the quiet and then we'll finish up the last 10 miles and can say we drove the Trace from beginning to end....oh except for the lost 300 miles in the hills of Mississippi. (okay Gail, I'm sorry, I couldn't resist).

Round and round, up and down. So green, so pretty.

We turn at the State Park sign onto State Park Road. We're all wondering if we've taken another wrong turn when we start to see an almost repeat of the dwellings (I don't call them houses) we saw along our Mississippi Hills "trip".

One last dip in the road and we arrive.

Our site before the rig backs in.

Larry and Gail gettin' er done.

We've really enjoyed the Mississippi State Parks. Top notch. It's suppose to get down in the mid 20's tonight. Glad we have electricity so we can run our space heaters. This won't be a late night.

Had to include this picture of Lucy. She's checking something out but I couldn't see anything. Probably a good thing. Maybe a bug or spider.