On Friday, Brett and Lindsey met us at our KOA camp and we drove to the Vicksburg battlefield. This battle was the last stand for the Confederate army in the Civil War. It is very interesting to think that so much of America's history happened right here! All of the battle sites are labeled as to which battalions were fighting, what states they were from, how many men they had, what they were defending etc. We even went through one of the tunnels that they dug to cross under the roads undetected so they could surprise the opposing troops. It is amazing to think that they pulled huge cannons up and down all of these hills! If you ever come here to check this out, I have a warning - watch out for bats in the tunnels!!!
After we left the battlefield, we drove to the historic part of downtown Vicksburg. It is situated right on the Mississippi river. There is a huge paddle-wheel docked there that has been turned into a floating casino. The main street has a lot of little antique type shops and an art gallery. The artist, who's work is displayed in this gallery, commissioned one of the teachers from Belhaven to choreograph an interpretive dance around one of her paintings.
We had to get Lindsey packed up and out of her room by 9pm, so we needed to head back into Jackson. We had a fun day! Since we got into town about 6:45, we figured we had plenty of time for dinner before we started packing. We went to a Cajun restaurant across the street from where Brett works. The food was great as always (we've been there a few times before ). OK, so it is now about 8pm so we needed to get to the school! Since Lindsey finished her finals early, she was moving out a day before the official move out schedule, so there were no men allowed in the dorms.. Rich and Brett stayed at the car, and Linds and I went to pack her things. We just threw stuff into large trash sacs and wrapped the breakables in some of her T-shirts. Her friends were great and they all pitched in to help. It was 85 degrees and near 100 percent humidity (rain looming) and we had to schlep her stuff down 3 flights of stairs and across the lawn to the guys. Then back up again, and again, and again!!!! Didn't remember her having this much stuff! Rich and Brett were true geniuses when it came to getting it all into the car :) She made her check out appointment exactly on time!
Then came the hard part - saying goodbye to so many of her very good friends :( The good news was that she would see most of them again, but some will be going off to new adventures. Lindsey thought that this was the dreaded goodbye to Brett until hopefully sometime this summer, but was she mistaken! Lindsey, Rich and I drove the 45 minutes back to our camp, looking ahead to the long drive in the morning.
We woke up early the next day, (at least Rich and I did) and we heard a knock at the door of the RV. We thought it was someone from the KOA office and Rich opened the door. Surprise! There was Brett with a steaming hot cup of Sneaky Beans coffee (Jackson's best!) and beautiful flowers for Lindsey. That was really sweet, I know how tired Brett was when we finished with all Lindsey's things the night before, and he made the hour and a half drive even though he had to be at back in Jackson for work early that morning.
After completing some housekeeping, laundry and maintenance duties, we headed for Tennessee with our KOA destination being Portageville, MO. I know why this town got that name - everything is under water! It would be a good idea to carry a boat, because driving could be hazardous. You had to be careful where you drove or you could be in trouble! It's too bad that they had so much rain in the past month, the campground will need a lot of attention when it drys out. I would like to come back here someday because the campground is surrounded by cotton fields. I'll bet it is really pretty!
That Brett! Too cute. :o)
ReplyDelete