On the Road with Jim (Part II)

Saturday

Our server at breakfast told us to be sure to try the cheese grits because they were delicious.  Little did she know how familiar we Yankees were with grits after all those years in North Carolina.  They were delicious and so was the egg casserole and fruit and biscuit and bacon.

 During breakfast we were entertained with a video of Anchuca Inn narrated by a former resident with a wonderful Southern accent.  After breakfast we toured the inn on our own, noticing in particular the Civil War memorabilia and the contemporary paintings by William Tolliver.  We stood on the balcony where Jefferson Davis spoke after his release from federal prison.

  Seeing the river and the boats on it was Jim's intention for this trip.  We should have realized that it is not that easy to view the river from roads with marshes in the way.  Even Vicksburg is not on the big Mississippi but on the Yazoo River, a tributary.  We learned later that it was originally on the Mississippi but the river diverted itself in the 1870s cutting off a large bend.

We drove a few miles to a casino parking lot on Mississippi and had a great place to view the activity.  We even had a guide--a gentleman who asked us where we were from and proceeded to tell us that he had worked on the tugboats for years until he was injured and went on disability.  He was delighted to chat and Jim was delighted to ask questions.  An hour later, we knew a lot more about the currents, the speed of travel upstream and downstream. and life on a boat (three meals a day and a bed and no place to spend money for two and a half weeks).  He missed that life so much that he just parked in the lot and watched.

Our next stop was the Vicksburg National Park where we watched a 20 minute video about the siege of Vicksburg and the eventual surrender of General Pemberton to General Grant on July 4, 1863.  We drove part of the 16 mile road through the park and stopped a few times at monuments and then for a longer time at the ironclad ship Cairo which was brought up from the Yazoo River where it had lain for over 100 years.

Supper was at the Cafe again where we enjoyed a chicken breast with a brandy-apple sauce, a potato casserole, and veggies.

Jim could not bear to watch the ND-FSU game so he went to the library to read.  He had to return for the second half when the library closed for the evening.  It was a great, hard-fought game but ND lost when its last touchdown was called back due to a penalty.