Our habitual overcast sky is still with us as we head toward Vicksburg, MS today. We had an early morning shower before leaving Jacksonville, TX but no rain for the remainder of the day. The sky was actually fairly clear and we could detect sun when we arrived in Vicksburg; however, we were told that the next four days will probably bring rain showers to the area. Guess the rain just follows us around.
Our day was spent driving through beautiful treed areas, small towns and just plain pretty countryside on good state highways and I-20 across the top portion of Louisiana. Many small towns in Louisiana to explore at a later time when weather is better.
Tomorrow we plan to explore the Civil War sights and have a more interesting blog with pictures.
Crossing the Mississippi River into Vicksburg.
The mighty Mississippi River.
Thursday, May 14, 2015
Today we set off to see the Vicksburg Military Park which is quite extensive with a stop at the Visitors Center first to see a movie about the battles that took place here. Thanks to our Senior Pass our entrance was free. The benefits of being over 62.
The drive through the Park is a one way road through extensive forest and rolling hills with many state and regimental markers, monuments and tablets along the way and places to pull over for closer views. When the Park was established in 1899, it included the entire extent of the siege and defense lines here in Vicksburg.
Along the way, we stopped at the U.S.S. Cairo Museum which included items recovered from the Union ironclad U.S.S. Cairo which was sunk in the Yazoo River north of Vicksburg in 1862. It was believed to have been the first vessel sunk by an electrically detonated mine.
Across the way from the Museum is the road taking you through the Vicksburg National Cemetery which includes the graves of 17,000 Civil War Union soldiers and more than 1,200 veterans of other wars.
After finishing our visit at the Park, we drove to historic downtown viewing the many old homes and buildings and stopping to tour the Old Court House Museum (circa 1858-1860) and the Biedenharn Coca Cola Museum where Coke was first bottled in 1894. Ron, who worked for Coca Cola for 25 years, was quite disappointed in what he saw.
We also drove down to the River and saw this long double row of barges being pushed down the river by a pilot boat.
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