Wednesday, October 26, 2011
First of all, we want to welcome our newest follower. Angie, we are happy to have you along for the ride.
It was a full day we had today! Leaving Davy Crockett State Park about 8:30, we took off for the Natchez Trace Parkway. We wanted to spend as much time as possible on it today. The fall colors are quite stunning and we just ooh and ah all along the way. It is hard to remember that just out of sight are small towns all along the route. The road just meanders down the tree lined corridor, with very little to mar the scenery. There are small signs when coming to a crossroads that leads to a town, but absolutely no advertising signs. It really is beautiful this time of year. If you stop and walk around a little you have to watch out for the plop, plop of acorns falling. They can really ping off the roof of the cave mobiles, and would make your head slightly uncomfortable if they bounced off it. And with a slight breeze, the leaves fall like snowflakes. So pretty!
We stopped at most of the turn outs along the way, and about 10 we stopped at a picnic area for our breakfast, then continued on over the Alabama border.
We stayed on the Trace Parkway for a few miles in Alabama, then turned off and soon crossed the border into Mississippi. We were headed to the town of Corinth, Mississippi, to visit the Shiloh National Park Interpretive Center.
There were two stamps available at a VC in downtown Corinth, so we stopped and got those before going out to the Interpretive Center. The lady at the downtown VC was pretty much set on giving us one of about every brochure they had, so we came away with quite a bag full of them. She even told us we ought to go get a slugburger at one of the local drugstores that also still had a real soda fountain. No, they didn’t contain slugs, although the idea made me shudder. Evidently they cost a nickel way back when, and a nickel was called a slug. We decided against making that stop, but we did check out the train crossing just behind the VC, where tracks from two different lines crossed. Control of that crossing was fought for during the Civil War.
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| Wilma and Betty at the border |
We stayed on the Trace Parkway for a few miles in Alabama, then turned off and soon crossed the border into Mississippi. We were headed to the town of Corinth, Mississippi, to visit the Shiloh National Park Interpretive Center.
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| Control of this major rail crossroads was a key part of the battle between the Union and Confederate armies. |
There were two stamps available at a VC in downtown Corinth, so we stopped and got those before going out to the Interpretive Center. The lady at the downtown VC was pretty much set on giving us one of about every brochure they had, so we came away with quite a bag full of them. She even told us we ought to go get a slugburger at one of the local drugstores that also still had a real soda fountain. No, they didn’t contain slugs, although the idea made me shudder. Evidently they cost a nickel way back when, and a nickel was called a slug. We decided against making that stop, but we did check out the train crossing just behind the VC, where tracks from two different lines crossed. Control of that crossing was fought for during the Civil War.
Finally at the Interpretive Center, we got our parks passport books stamped, watched a couple of short videos, and toured the museum and some outside displays. The Interpretive Center is very nicely done, but all of the statistics about the war can get very depressing. So many young lives were snuffed out, but slavery was also an awful thing that needed done away with.
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| Betty and Wilma stamping |
While in town, we stopped at Subway for lunch, and then headed off to Shiloh National Historic Battlefield in Tennessee. Going by a city map the lady at the downtown VC had given us, we took a rather back road scenic route to get there, and a time or two thought we might not be where we should have been, but got there anyway! We do get into some small adventures when we travel.
We were quite surprised at the size of Shiloh NP. The battle there lasted for just two days, but thousands lost their lives there. The park is quite large, and during the driving tour you see field after field of monuments and artillery, and back off the road there are many more. I think you could get lost in there if you hiked around very much. It was late in the day when we arrived, so we couldn’t watch the video, but did get our books stamped at both the VC and the bookstore. Note the picture of Betty dressed up in reproduction garb they have available.
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| Captain Rubble is ready for battle |
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| One of MANY monuments at the site |
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| Preacher Fred delivering his sermon |
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| Betty trying to stay awake listening |
We did part of the driving tour of the park, but cut it short so we could find a campsite before dark. There is a state park about 20 miles away, Pickett Landing State Park, still in Tennessee, and that is where we are set up for the night. It isn’t as pretty or as nice as the park we stayed in last night, but it will do. We had a quick soup and veggies supper at the picnic table, but had to light some torches in order to see. Good night from the Bedrock Bunch. We will leave Tennessee behind tomorrow, and see more of Mississippi.
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