We-2Bs: Mississippi River Road September 22-26, 2024

Day 49 Sunday September 22, 2024

Today was travel day and we had 277 miles to drive today so we departed about 8:30. Sure was glad to get through Memphis and get away from so much traffic. I do not like driving through Memphis, the roads through town are bad and the traffic is like most large cities, busy.

We followed our trip guide and most of today was traveling through farmland. We were beside the Mississippi River some today. We could see it part of the time but mostly it was behind trees, etc.

We saw lots of cotton, soybeans, rice, some peanuts, several pecan orchards and lots of harvesters harvesting soybeans. Some fields have three harvesters going, several tractors with grain trailers collecting the beans so they could take them out of the field to waiting trucks to take to the grain bins. It is Sunday but when you are a farmer and the grain is ready to harvest and you have several hundred acres to harvest you “make hay when the sun is shining “.

The fields where the rice had been harvested looked like someone had given the field a flattop haircut. The corn in this area has already been harvested and some of the fields had what looked like wheat already planted.

We had one 5 mile stretch of road that was really bumpy, sure glad we only had 5 miles to ride on it.

We got into Vicksburg Mississippi and pulled into Rivertown Rose Campground and set up in site 57 which is 5” out of level back to front. So we had to put ramps under the front tires and jack pads under the front jacks to get level. I just don’t understand why it is so hard to build a level site. It is hot here, about 93 when we pulled in.

All the people in our group on the row behind us in the campground had power issues and had to be moved to another section of the campground. Luckily there were several vacant sites where the electricity was working properly.

The Next day the Wagonmaster told us when she called the campground to verify our stay here she asked about the unlevel sites and electrical service to the sites because she said last year they had problems at this campground when the tour stayed here and the sites were out of level even more than now. She was told they had leveled the sites and the power had been upgraded and all was okay. Well that is not true.

Day 50 Monday September 23, 2024

Ira, our bus driver for today pulled in at 7:45 and we loaded up for our visit of Vicksburg. Our first stop was the Visitor Center for the Vicksburg National Military Park. We watched a 20 minute film about the 47 day siege of Vicksburg during the Civil War. The siege of Vicksburg and the ultimate surrender of the Confederate forces fighting at Vicksburg to the Union Army was a major turning point of the war.

A local guide boarded the bus and gave us a running commentary as Ira drove us through the park which is the grounds where the battle of Vicksburg took place. She had a great knowledge of the events but after a while all the information began to overwhelm us. The park consisted of 1,800 acres and has 1,300 monuments. I think she pointed out and named most of them. It is recognized as one of the most accurately marked battlefield in the world. The Vicksburg National Cemetery here in the park has over 17,000 graves in it. And over 13,000 are unknown. There are 5,000 Confederate soldiers buried here.

The Ironclad battleship the USS Cairo was sunk here during the war and was discovered in 1956. It took a lot of effort but they were able to recover what was still remaining but they had to get in out of the river in three sections. They have it on display and have added some new structure to it to hold the recovered pieces together and help show what it actually looked like. Our guide had the keys to the fence around it so we got to get in and get a good look at it.

We dropped the guide off and went to Anchuca House, which is an Antebellum Mansion. This was the first columned house in Vicksburg and was constructed beginning in 1830 and was built in three stages from 1830 to 1855. The streets in this part of town are brick.

The house is not a private residence now and is open for tours and also rents rooms and serves meals. Fantasy RV Tours had arranged lunch for us in their dining room. After we had finished the entree and was having our dessert the hostess played a video about the history of the house. Then we were invited to tour the house on our own. Before we boarded the bus we had a group photo on the front steps.

Then we were drove down by the riverfront to take a quick look at murals that are on a levee wall. Then we stopped at the Lower Mississippi River Museum to tour it and the tugboat M/V Mississippi IV which has been retired and is part of the museum.

We saw a couple of videos about the Mississippi River. The tour of the tugboat was very interesting. It was built in the 1960’s and a transition from steam engines to diesel engines for Mississippi River tugboats. Lena did not tour all the decks because the stairs are steep and the steps are short. If you are not accustomed to them you need to be really careful.

I was surprised at the number of sleeping cabins on the boat. I didn’t count them but there were over a dozen and almost all of them slept two people. One of the men on our tour is a retired towboat captain.

We returned to the campground and had a drivers meeting at 5PM for our travel day tomorrow. After discussing the route we had some snacks and then everyone had a chance to tell about some RV blunders they have had.

Most were after the fact kind of funny except for one couple. The wife had got up to get some water out of the refrigerator for her husband and he had to slam on the breaks when a deer ran in front of their motorhome. She was tossed around in the motorhome and her face was cut above her eye and also was knocked unconscious. They showed a photo of her face after it happened and it was really bad looking.

Day 51 Tuesday September 24, 2024

We only have 77 miles to travel today as we made our way to River View RV Park and Resort in Vidalia Louisiana. The RV park is right on the banks of the Mississippi River.

Since we didn’t have but 77 miles to travel and couldn’t checkin at the campground until 1PM we decided to treat outside by driving to the historic part of downtown Vicksburg to the Bohemian Cafe and Bakery. It serves Crepes and we have not had one in a long time.

We invited Gregg and Judi to join us. The Lattes were good and the Crepes were really good. We were in this part of town yesterday with the group on the bus and had a chance to get off the bus and take photos of the wall of murals on the levee wall but we didn’t get off the bus because the sun was bright and the photos would be kind of washed out.

The coffee shop was just a block from the levee wall so we went there after finishing our coffee to take photos of the murals. There were several people sitting on the banks of the Mississippi River fishing. We got some good photos before leaving. Then we stopped at Walmart. Gregg and Judi needed some items and we wanted to see if they had got in some more fruit. We stopped here Sunday but they didn’t have much fruit out.

By the time we got back to the campground it was about time to finish prepping for our short trip. We departed about 11:45.

We drove about 20 miles and got on the Natchez Trace. It is a road similar to the Blue Ridge Parkway just not in the mountains. It ended just before we crossed over the Mississippi River into Louisiana. We drove most of the full length of it in 2014.

We got to the RV park and set up in site 37 and it faces the Mississippi River. Finally we get to camp beside the mighty Mississippi River for three nights. After we got setup I was checking our water hose and discovered our Jeep’s engine was running. The final step after we connect the Jeep to the motorhome before we check the lights is to turn off the Jeep’s engine. And I failed to do that. In the 13 years we have been towing a car behind the motorhome I have never forgot that step. And I have a step by step guide I use to get the Jeep ready to tow.

Sure glad we didn’t have many miles to drive today. So we unhooked the Jeep and tested the transmission and everything seems to be okay. Sure was nice and cool in it because the ac was running.

Later we rode with Gregg and Judi to County Pie Pizza Company for a pizza. It was really good but we only ate half and took the other half back for a meal later.

Eric, in our group setup his gas fired firepit at 8 PM, and several in the group gathered around it in the open grass area in front of the motorhomes. Some bugs were out but some of us brought devices to keep them away.

When we got back to our motorhome after 9PM we had a loud banging noise coming from the middle air conditioner on the roof. I felt sure it was the squirrel cage fan had come apart. This is a known issue. We had one to come apart in May on the rear air conditioner. I cut the ac off until I can get it fixed. I have two spare fans with me.

Day 52 Wednesday September 25, 2024

We are having some light rain this morning so it should be cooler today. The group carpooled to Natchez On-Top-of-the-Hill Historic District to tour Stanton Hall and then take a guided carriage ride through the streets in the historic area. It was built between 1851-1857 and is one of the most opulent antebellum mansions in the southeastern United States. It is now operated by the Pilgrimage Garden Club as historic house museum. Frederick Stanton, a wealthy cotton broker had the house built. He only lived in it 9 months before he died of yellow fever.

We had to break up into two group so the even numbered rigs took the mansion tour first while the odd number rigs did the carriage ride. Then we switched places.

Before we went inside the group gathered on the front steps for another group photo. This is the third time the Wagonmasters have tried to get a group photo that was good.

A guide talked to us on the front porch about the history of the house before we went inside. The ceilings in the first floor were 17’ tall. There were different guides inside describing the rooms. The dining room was 35’ long by 22’ wide which makes that one room almost twice the size of the mobile home Lena and I bought when we got married. The dining room table would seat 24 guests and the table had 6 removable leaves in it and a sidebar cabinet had at least two more leaves in it.

The guide told us that they didn’t have the original china that the Stanton family used. They had a china cabinet full of dinner ware but it was not the original. She said she had a tour come through several months ago and a lady in that tour told them she was a descendant of the Stanton family and not only did she have a 70 piece set of the original china but also a piece of the dining room furniture. The lady asked the guide did they want the piece of furniture and the china because none of her children wanted it. So she has donated the furniture and the china to the home. The piece of furniture has been delivered and was in the dining room and they are waiting for the china.

In 1940 the Pilgrimage Garden Club bought the house and property. The descendants of the Stanton family found it too expensive to keep up and it went through a few owners before the garden club acquired it. Now it is open for tours and it can be rented for events like weddings. It cost $6,000 to rent it for 24 hours. It was a beautiful place.

Then our part of the group got on the three carriages for our tour around the historic area. We got a really good guide and his dog Gunner. He was very funny and was very informative about the houses and buildings and proud of the condition of them. Most of the buildings were in really good condition for their age but a few still needed to be renovated. He had worked on at least 38 of the houses and several buildings during his 37 years as a carpenter.

This was a good tour. We needed something to eat so we went to The Camp restaurant for lunch before returning to the RV park. We paid for Gregg and Judi’s lunch because Gregg had offered to go on my roof and replace our broken fan.

Gregg did replace the squirrel cage fan and now we have 3 working ac’s again.

The group met in the RV Park meeting room for a short driver’s meeting for our trip to New Orleans on Friday. Then the Wagonmasters and Tailgunners treated us to a meal.

Day 53 Thursday September 26, 2024

Today is our free day so we decided to go across the river to the historical section of Natchez MS to Natchez Coffee Company. It was a BAD choice. The Lattes were like weak weak coffee, no frothed milk and the cinnamon buns were just slightly warm after we asked for them to be heated and about a third of them were so hard we couldn’t cut them with the provided knife. Very disappointed. I wrote a review with the above wording and then went up to pay before leaving. The lady at the register, I guess she was either the manager or owner but don’t know, was all smiles and asked how was our breakfast and I responded “it was terrible“. Her smile vanished and asked what was wrong, so I basically repeated what I wrote in my review. She pulled the cinnamon buns that were remaining in the glass display and set them aside and indicated that we didn’t have to pay and as we walked out she turned to the lady that made our lattes to ask her if she made our lattes. Lena had checked the reviews before we went and they had good reviews but we had a different experience. Lena said it was the worst cinnamon roll she has ever had anywhere and I agree.

Later when we got back to our motorhome I got an email from Google with the response to my review. This was the response from the owner:

“Mean people, check out the other reviews We know who you are and why you did this”

Not sure what they mean by they know why we did this unless they thought we were just trying to avoid paying. When I walked up to the cash register I had my credit card in my hand to pay. And they don’t know who we are as we definitely aren’t from Natchez and have never been in the coffee shop before. Oh Well!

We stopped at Ollie’s to pick up a couple of things then went to Belks but they had shuttered their doors. So we drove about 15 miles out into the country to visit Frogmore Plantation.

Frogmore Plantation is the last one of 30 plantations that was in this area. They grow cotton, corn and soybeans and have a modern computerized cotton gin. Buddy and Lynette Tanner are the current owners and he designed and built the modern cotton gin. The plantation consists of 1,800 acres, the plantation house and several original plantation buildings including the original cotton seed building, the cotton gin building with the original cotton gin and two original Frogmore Plantation slave cabins. There are several other original buildings to include a large old store, dog trot house, commissary store, slave cabins, smoke house, church, equipment barn and cook cabin. To preserve them the Tanners had them moved from other plantations that closed down.

We watched a 20 minute slide show that was very informative, then our guide Terri took us and several other people on a walking tour of the grounds and the buildings. She was very informative. We walked out to the cotton field behind the buildings and she explained about the cotton plant. It first has a white flower then in a day or two the flower is pink and then the flower petals die and the cotton boll forms.

The cotton boll may have up to 30 seeds and they have to be removed from the cotton fibers. They are very hard to get out by hand and that is why the cotton gin is such a great invention. The seeds weight twice what the cotton from a boll weighs. So the seeds from a 500 pound bale of cotton weighs about 1,000 pounds.

The cotton linters (tiny cotton fibers stuck to the seeds) are used in the making of US paper money. The seeds are used in animal feed. And the seeds can be pressed to make cotton seed oil that is used in all kinds of products.

A lot of the land in the area was farmed by sharecroppers until 1960 when John Deere came out with a two row cotton picker that changed everything. The need for a lot of manual labor was no longer needed so many people moved off the farms into town.

She told us about one lady that lived on Frogmore that was a sharecropper and was the third generation down from a former slave on Frogmore. She had 21 children. Six of her children are still employed on Frogmore Plantation.

She and her husband both have college degrees in agriculture and farm and their two son in laws farm but all of them work another job because farming is not paying the bills. She said one of her son in laws is a state highway patrolman and farms about 600 acres. He went $40,000 in the hole last year farming and had to refinance his farm loan. The high price of fuel and supplies plus a big drop in the price of corn and soybeans when they are sold is just a bad combination. We really enjoyed this tour. Several people in our tour group also did the tour.

Our guide told us they had 5 bus loads of tour groups coming today plus people like us that just drive up.

We headed back to the RV park, stopped and got fuel for the Jeep and stopped at an automatic car wash to get the crud off. While we were waiting our turn the lady in the car behind us bumped into the back of the Jeep. I got out and checked but didn’t see any damage. The Jeep was really dirty from all the traveling we had been doing and the car wash did a good job.

The weather today has been much cooler than the last several days and we had a nice light breeze. After I got the windshield washed and we hooked up the Jeep to the motorhome for tomorrows travel we decided to take advantage of the really nice concrete walking trail along the Mississippi River right in front of our motorhome. Several people were out walking and some had brought picnic meals and were taking advantage of the picnic tables along the walkway. The town of Vidalia Louisiana has provided a nice place for people to come and enjoy walking, running or just setting on the benches and enjoying the view out over the Mississippi River. We saw one Towboat working its way up the river and another pushing a barge of 18 cargo containers. We also came up on a litter of 8 young cats, 5 tabbys, one black, one white and one smokey white. We also saw a large black cat that was probably the mama cat. They appear to be feral cats. Someone had a water bowl and some cat food out for them.