Memphis

Leaving Petit Jean SP in Arkansas, we traveled to the Memphis area. Crossing Arkansas we had never seen so much water in fields with so many rivers in flood. We thought if it rained any more some of I-40 would be closed. Although it did rain more within the next week or so, it never quite reached the Interstate.

We stayed at Meeman-Shelby State Park north of Memphis near Millington. It is a lovely park located in a bottom land hardwood forest. Just enough trees have been removed to build the campground entrance road and camp sites. We stayed here for several reasons. We visited this park several years ago while our previous RV was being repaired at a nearby RV dealership. (We visited more parks than we wanted under similar circumstances with our prior coach). We liked the park and knew it would be midway between my cousin James and his wife Theta’s home and that of our friends Phil and Sharon Bollinger. Plus we had not found a RV park in the Memphis area that sounded particularly good to us. The main drawback is that it is somewhat remote, about 15-20 minutes from Millington along a somewhat circuitous route. But the drive was pretty especially with the spring blooms and new leaves coming out on the trees.

We were blessed the first night. Terrible storms with very high winds were predicted. We were surrounded by tall trees and could see that some had been blown down in previous storms. But God protected us and the storms moved around us to the north and south - a great relief.

We had a wonderful visit with James and Theta who came to the RV for a visit. We caught up on all their children and grandchildren’s activities. We were surprised during our visit when Phil and his Dad came by. Phil’s Dad has been ill and was in the hospital the day before. In fact we did not realize he had been released so it was great to see him out for a ride with Phil.

Sunday we went to a wonderful church service with Phil and Sharon at their church - The Love of Christ (TLC) Church. Then we went to their home for a great meal and time of fellowship.

I regret that I have not done better at staying in closer touch with Phil and Sharon and my other college friends. We always have such a great time when we get together. We were glad to have visited a close friend from high school and college, Warren Harper, when we were in Vidalia. Warren still lives in my hometown of Greenville Mississippi and happened to be in Natchez for a church conference. Our next stop is to visit another friend, Dennis Sanders, in Huntsville. Warren and I roomed together our first year at Delta State. That is where we met Phil and Dennis. Dennis and I then roomed together for the next 4 years at Mississippi State. Three of those years were in an apartment we shared with Phil and another friend, Joey Green, who I am sorry to say I have lost complete contact with.

Over time as we travel, we hope to make contact with some other college friends and arrange visits. Likewise we have been able to visit many relatives, but have others we are anxious to see as well. Plus we have RV friends who we hope to meet up with and of course look forward to returning to South Carolina to see all our friends and family there.

Leaving Memphis we drove to JP Coleman State Park in the very top northeast corner of Mississippi. I scheduled a stop there so I could revisit nearby Shiloh Battlefield National Park before we moved on to Huntsville. More about that in my next update.

While in Memphis, I kept forgetting to take my camera with me and so regretfully I have no pictures from this visit.

Petit Jean Arkansas State Park

Update: It has been a week since I wrote the section following. I am in a library in Millington, Tennessee just above Memphis. I did not have good enough Internet service in Petit Jean State Park to download my pictures. Now we are in a State Park in Tennessee with zero cellular service, thus we came into town to use the library.

Yesterday we had a nice visit with my cousin James Rone and his wife Theta. Tomorrow we plan to attend church with our friends Phil and Sharon Bollinger. Phil was one of my roommates for three years in college.

We have endured several storms in our recent travels. We were really blessed here in Tennessee when a very severe series of storms with winds up to 50 mph passed around us. We are in a campground that sits in the middle of a forest with just enough trees removed for the road and campsites. There was potential for a lot of damage from falling limbs or trees had the storm passed through our area. We are thankful for God's protection. All this rain continues to add to the flooding in the Mississippi River valley. We have never seen so much high water in our travels. We have been in contact with the folks back at Vidalia and remain worried that the campground there may be flooded in part or in whole. In fact the primitive camping area very near where we camped was already flooded when we last talked several days ago.

Original text: I am writing today, Sunday afternoon April 6th , 2008, as I sit outside in our screen tent. It is a beautiful spring day in Arkansas, temperature about 70 with bright sunshine. We are in Petit Jean State Park, the first state park established in Arkansas. It was built by the CCC from 1932 to 1941 and is perhaps the nicest state park I have ever visited. We have a huge campsite with full hook ups which is a bit unusual for a state park. Most do not have sewer hook-ups.

We arrived hear yesterday after a long trip to our new home state of South Dakota. We left Vidalia. Louisiana on March 30th. We spent two nights on the road at a very nice Corps of Engineer (COE) Park called “Tar Camp” on the Arkansas River. (Some folks recommended we stay at another COE campground called “Toad Suck”, but it was too far away. I love some of these names for the COE parks. All are taken from some local point of interest.)

We arrived in Russellville, Arkansas on April 1st and stayed one night at the Outdoor Living Center RV Park. We were not impressed with this campground and will not stay there again. We put Clay in a kennel and the next day left the RV at the Outdoor Living Center RV dealership. (While we did not like their campground, we were very pleased with the dealership and would recommend it to others who need service, especially on a Newmar.) We left the RV to have various repairs and routine maintenance performed.

After leaving the RV, we headed to Sioux Falls in the car. We made it to St Joseph, Missouri above Kansas City the first night. The next day we got to Sioux Falls just before 3pm. By 5pm we had gotten our drivers licenses, registered to vote, opened a local checking account and checked in at the motel. Other than the long drive, it did not take long to finish establishing our residency in South Dakota. We are using a company, Alternative Resources, to receive and forward our mail. They had already handled the registration of our vehicles so we needed to do the other things to finish establishing ourselves as South Dakotans. We are already having some funny reactions from people who see our tags and then hear me talk with my Mississippi/Georgia/South Carolina accent. I just tell them this a typical accent from somebody from “South” Dakota rather than “North” Dakota.

After we checked in at the hotel and rested a bit, we went out and found the falls from which Sioux Falls derives its name. They are in a very pretty city park. A few pictures are included with this update. We were happy to only see a small amount of snow on the ground. It was pretty cool while we were there but thankfully no snow or other bad weather. We had to take one picture of Monique beside a huge pile of snow at the Barnes and Noble parking lot. Every time it snows they push the snow into a big pile and it continues to grow all winter. We saw one pile that looked about as large as a one story house. I think they will be standing by that pile in July when they want to cool off.

We left Sioux Falls the next day (Thursday) and drove 550 miles to Joplin, Missouri. Then Friday we made it back to Russellville and picked up Clay and the RV. Needless to say we were very tired after driving about 1500 miles in 4 days. We hope not to every do that again.

We plan to stay here at Petit Jean SP until Thursday when we head to Memphis to visit family and friends for a few days. I am always uncertain whether I will have internet service at my next stop, so I’m not sure when we will send our next update. Hope everyone is doing well.

James and Monique

Natchez Pilgrimage

From 03-08 Natchez Pilgramage

We stayed in Vidalia, Louisiana to finish out the rest of winter before heading north for spring and summer. (We will be seeking cooler weather for the summer :) ) Our time in Vidalia coincided with the Spring Natchez Pilgrimage. Natchez has many antebellum homes that date from the late 1700‘s to mid 1800‘s. Fortunately none were destroyed during the Civil War. Some are operated by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), the National Park Service or the Natchez Garden Club. These are open year round. During the Pilgrimage, additional homes that are owned by private individuals are also opened to the public to tour. We enjoyed touring some of these homes.

Included with this update are pictures from some of the 5 houses we toured. All were interesting and we would recommend taking time to visit Natchez if you are ever traveling through Mississippi. Natchez is about 80 miles south of I-20 from Clinton (near Jackson) by way of the Natchez Trace. We also highly recommend a tour along the “Trace”. The Natchez Trace is a National Park that runs from Nashville, TN to Natchez, MS. It was the route men would use to return north to Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, etc, after bring their flatboats down river to New Orleans with products to sell. The Trace is about 400 miles long and about ½ mile wide. There are no commercial developments or billboards and no commercial vehicles are allowed on the Trace. It is just beautiful forests and farm land. As far as I know there is not a stop sign or red light along the whole route.. You can only drive 50mph, but it is a lovely drive and a great way to travel north from Louisiana and Mississippi. We met many “snowbirds”, especially Canadians, who were heading back home by way of the Trace after spending the winter in their RV in the south,.

The first home we toured was Melrose. It was built in 1847 on the site of an ancient Indian village and is now a National Park. The home was beautiful and the park guide gave an excellent tour. He balanced his tour with descriptions of the house, the furnishing and the history of the owners with the story of the slaves who kept everything working. He used the analogy of a prized grandfather clock. The house was like the beautiful face and exterior of the clock. To work, the clock has many gears, weights and pulleys working inside behind the cover. He liken the slaves to this inner workings of the clock. Without them the building and operation of the house would not have been possible.

The next house we visited was Richmond. It is a private home that has remained in the same family since 1832. It was built in 3 stages in 1784, 1832 and 1860 in 3 different styles French Plantation, Colonial and Greek Revival.

We then toured Rosalie. It was built in 1820 and sits right on the bluffs above the Mississippi River at a spot near Fort Rosalie where the Natchez Indians massacred the French soldiers who established the fort. It was used as the headquarters for the Union General in charge of the occupation during the Civil War. Fortunately he made sure that the furniture and other family possessions were stored away and protected. So many of the pre-Civil War furnishings remain in this house and for that matter all of the other houses. What a different fate for the homes in Natchez than for those in Georgia and South Carolina where Sherman came through.

Next door to Rosalie was “The Parsonage”, built by the Presbyterian church in 1852 on land donated by Peter Little, the owner of Rosalie. It was later sold and has been in the same family since the late 1800’s. In all of these houses various hostesses greeted us at the door and as we went from room to room. They were dressed in beautiful hoop skirts a la Scarlett from “Gone with the Wind“. Many of these ladies had grown up in Natchez and played in these homes as children. However others were transplants. One of the guides was from England. Another was from Michigan. She and her husband routinely visited Natchez over the years and decided to retire to Natchez. So she has become one of the “local” guides.

The last home we toured, Longwood, was perhaps the most fascinating.

It was built in 1860 - 1861 just before the Civil War broke out. The designer and the craftsmen were from Pennsylvania. The guide said that at one point, about 200 skilled craftsmen and 600 slaves were at work on the home. They completed the exterior and the first floor or basement (not below ground). When the War started, the skilled Pennsylvania workers asked for their pay and went home. The owner, Haller Nutt, thought the War would only last a few months, and these workers would come right back. Of course that did not happen and the house was never finished. Haller died during or shortly after the War and his wife Julia and their children continued to live in the first floor. It passed down through the generations until it was donated to the Natchez Garden Club as a tourist site. You will see from the pictures that it is a most unusual octagonal design. All of these plantation owners were trying to out do each other with the building of these fancy homes. I think Longwood would have won the prize if it had ever been finished