Our route leaving Louisiana, began in Natchez,MS along the Natchez, Trace. (Read about the Trace in last post) It was an overcast day and the drive was an easy one. After the first hour Loretta took her turn driving! She drove for about 20 miles and did a good job. Saw a few turkeys, wildflowers, but no deer.
Our stop for the day was Barnes Crossing RV Park. A nice rv park, well maintained and very friendly. It is close to shopping and restaurants. Because of the weather we decided to stay for 2 nights. For supper we went to a place called the Blue Canoe,not much to look at but the food was good, especially the fried black-eyed peas!
The next day we decided to visit Corinth, a civil war town, where 2 railroads crossed and was vital to the South for resupply. By mid-February 1862, United States forces had won decisive victories in the West at Mill Springs, Kentucky, and Forts Henry and Donelson in Tennessee. These successes opened the way for invasion up the Tennessee River to sever Confederate rail communications along the important Memphis & Charleston and Mobile & Ohio railroads. Forced to abandon Kentucky and Middle Tennessee, Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, supreme Confederate commander in the West, moved to protect his rail communications by concentrating his scattered forces around the small town of Corinth in northeast Mississippi—strategic crossroads of the Memphis & Charleston and the Mobile & Ohio. We visited the Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center, which is part of the Shiloh National Military Park. As we arrived mid afternoon, we ran out of time to visit the actual Shiloh battlefield park only about 40 miles away. Oh well another time!
We left in the morning, as the weather said no rain! Yea!!! driving was not bad, warm, no wind and little traffic. We arrived in aurora, Ky. in early afternoon at Ralph and Ann Weber’s address, or I should say at Dale and Linda Buke’s place across the street. For the next few days we visited with the Webers, Sanborns and Arrastias. It was good to reconnect with friends we had not seen in a couple of years!
We visited a small museum in Murray, at the college, called the Wrather Museum, a small museum, that had a lot of interesting exhibits, on the Civil War, Boy Scouts,(Boy scout Museum was in Murray, but closed and a room in this museum has an exhibit) Hollywood via the Hal Riddle connection. He was a movie star from Murray. Many other exhibits as well.
We ate at a new place for us anyway, called Penn Station. It’s like a subway, but most of their sandwiches are grilled. Quite good! It is a chain and we found one here in Champaign.
We heard from our travel friends, who left Arizona headed to Lake City Colorado via Monument Valley, Pagosa Springs and Howard Colorado. They did not get far! After stopping for a safety check, Victor and Charlotte, started to move again, when a loud noise and vibration shook their motor home! They had dropped a drive shaft, which destroyed not only the u-joints, but other items like the air tank, for the air bags and brakes. They waited for over 6 hours to get a flat bed to come and haul them back to Tucson! Fortunately they have a home in Tucson, to stay in while it is being repaired. The bad news is one part is holding up the final repairs. It could take up to 45 days to get the part! Victor and Charlotte will be driving their car and trailer to Lake City and staying in the house at Crookes’ Falls, our summer roosting spot. Meanwhile Ron and Loretta continued their journey towards Lake city, Colorado. As the weather is still iffy, they will be staying in Howard, Colorado for a week or so, at Banderas Bunkhouse. Our friends David and Theresa White own this and I am sure they will all do a little atving!
We arrived in Champaign, Illinois on May 1 and are at D&W Lakes Rv Park or as our gps likes to call it D&west Rv park! a nice small rv park, not fancy, but very adequate for our stay to visit our grandkids. First of next week we will head to our “Illinois address” at my daughters to complete our Illinois stay.
Happy Trails