Saturday April 20, 2024  Cleveland TN to Maynardville TN and home 

Considering the noise with the air conditioner we were surprised that we both slept until 8:30!  Very unusual for us.  In fact we missed the breakfast at the hotel.  The other Clarion Inn we stayed in did not have a very good breakfast so we did not hurry at all.  Thought we would eat a good late breakfast and then have a late lunch after the funeral we were headed for in Maynardville.  Our first thought was go back to the Old Fort for breakfast but at 9:30 their standing room only with a long wait led us to move on...we ended up at the Waffle House nearby and ate what for us is a huge breakfast.  We were then on the road about 10:30. Our ETA at to the funeral was 1 PM and it was a graveside service at 2 PM.  Well better early than late so we thought we would just sit in the parking lot and read.  

Nothing looked the least bit familiar in the Broadway, Fountain City area of Knoxville.  Ben's grandmother's house is gone - we could not even fine the office building that had replaced it. We did pass by the Central High School were Ben's mother and dad went to High School.  I remembered Maynardville as a very rural community.  It has certainly grown - has a Food City and quite a few fast food sites.  We parked and about 1:30 got out and walked up to visit with Ben's cousin.  It was a fairly short graveside service for Ben's aunt Louise Lynch. Especially nice was that we both had a nice visit with his other aunt Ethel Stone who is 100 years young.  A bit slow getting around on a walker but sharp as a tack. 

After the funeral we drove through Luttrell and Thorn Hill towards Bean Station and home through Rogersville.  We ate a Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich in Rogersville about 4:30 and then headed home.  It was not a particularly difficult drive but that road from Maynardville to Bean Station was indeed curvy.  One switchback said 10 MPH!  

Home unpacked the Sprinter and did nothing.  Jane's car is covered in brown oak blossoms and the grass is high. Ben ate a bowl of soup about 7:30 but Jane never did get hungry.  

Total mileage for our trip 1,590.  Nice enjoyable trip but we were glad to be home. 

 Friday April 19, 2024   Tuscaloosa AL to Cleveland TN

Today was a rather uneventful day.  Up and on the road by 9:30. It had rained in the night and was rather cool this morning.  This Comfort Inn Suites was very comfortable.  Our window looked out on the Interstate with a huge red arch bridge intersection for the University of Alabama.  

Their rolltide password may say something about this town!  We bought gas right beside the hotel and the interstate entrance headed north of I 65 was right beside us.  Can't say too much good about Alabama interstate - most of it needed to be resurfaced.  Drove north around Birmingham and Gadsden and began looking for a place for lunch.  Sadly, Jane had left the remainder of our steak from supper on the table so we had very little besides cheese and crackers for lunch.  

No luck finding a "hidden gem" like yesterday so we got a BOGO special at McDonalds and kept on driving.  We made it to Cleveland about 3:30 and Ben had his usual nap.  Nothing special in the way of restaurants - there were all kinds or chain restaurants but we chose a local place.  The Old Fort was not too far from our hotel and there were lots of cars in the lot so we gave it a try.  Winner ! 

 Ben had chicken and dumplings with cuke&onions and fried okra.  Jane had chicken fried steak with okra and green beans.  Ben even ordered some coconut pie for desert and gave it great reviews.  Nothing unusual today.  Need to note for the record we do not like the Clarion brand of Choice Hotels.  Ben thought they were a step up from the Comfort Inn and Suites but after trying two on this trip - we rate them a step down.  This one was not terrible but the air conditioner made rattling noises every time it turned off and on all night.  

Thursday April 18, 2018 Natchez MS to Tuscaloosa AL

We were up, ate breakfast and were on the road by 9:00.  We had a much longer drive today and wanted to have plenty of time for a stop at the Moundsville Indian Museum before we got to Tuscaloosa.  The trip today was mostly on interstate - first I20 and then I20 and I59.  Natchez to Jackson and then on to Meridian was uneventful on less than perfect roads.  When we passed into Alabama the roads were being paved so they were smooth but only one lane finished so it was uneven lanes for most of the way.  The traffic was not heavy, so it moved well.  

We were looking for a place to have lunch.  Jane found a little out of the way Cajun Cafe in Eutaw AL a tiny town where we turned off to drive to Moundsville.  We tried it and was it ever a gem.  Jane had her po-boy sandwich and Ben had seafood gumbo.  Both excellent.  The owner said his wife was from Louisiana - a shrimp boat captain- and she missed home so badly she started this restaurant.  They were busy - mostly workmen as customers.  The owner was a friendly guy - taking photos of everyone to put on their Facebook page!

Catfish Po'boy

Seafood Gumbo

We made it to Moundsville and the Museum.  It was small but had many extravagant displays of Indian dress. The actual artifacts were few and far between. They were mainly a "pot" museum with no mentions of the more current thinking of trade between the groups of Indians and their alignment of temples with the stars etc.  Ben was quite disappointed as this is one of the 4 major Mississippian Indian sites in the south and mid-west. We had been to two outstanding sites with very good museums - Cahokia in Illinois right outside St. Louis and Spiro in rural Oklahoma.  This one is certainly not on par with them.   The 4th site is somewhere in Georgia so we may have to find it.  The mounds are impressive and scattered across a wide area.  It is said that 10,000 Indians lived here.  

external view of museum built by CCC

One of numerous displays 

Celt with handle 

one of numerous mounds

Headed into Tuscaloosa found our hotel and ate dinner at an Outback Steakhouse.  Nice to taste the beef steak after all our seafood.   We ordered it large enough to share for dinner and have some left for lunch the next day - but Jane forgot and left it on the table. 

Wednesday April 17, 2024 Natchez MS to Vicksburg MS

The night in the VUE hotel was much better than we expected - we did however count the cars in the parking lot and there were only about 20.  Since there was no breakfast here, we were in search of something - and found a McDonalds.  Jane had selected Longview as the mansion that we would tour.  Original plan was to get a 2 or 3 house ticket for the Spring Pilgrimage and do it up right - but we needed to cut short something to be back in East TN in time for a funeral on Saturday afternoon.  She had no idea where any of the mansions were located when she selected this one - low and behold it was barely a mile from the McDonalds!  We drove right in a little after 9 and the first tour of the day was just leaving so they waited for us to join the one British gentleman who was already there.  During the year this home is open every day but Christmas for tours; and is now owned by the Natchez Garden Club that sponsors the Spring Pilgrimage.  This is a huge mansion - begun in the years before the Civil War by a wealthy northerner who made his fortune raising and selling cotton from several plantations.  This home Longview was their "city" home and was to be a real showplace. 

Longview - Natchez MS

 One of the few 6-sided homes sadly it was never completed on the interior. The basement floor was completed prior to the Civil War but the war halted construction. All the craftsmen who had been brought in from Pennsylvania for the job were sent home.  Husband was killed and the wife was left with 6 children to raise - sadly the home was never finished.  We were able to tour the basement floor which was converted from its original purpose for their living quarters and the first floor that was unfinished but gave us an excellent glimpse of what life would have been like.  Amazing structure as it is and wow what it might have been.  The Garden Club bought the home and the entire acreage for a low price in the 1930's and have been restoring it over the years.  Since it is historic they never plan to restore past the unfinished state of its late 1800's condition.  Some of the external columns had been deteriorating and they have been replaced in a fiberglass material that will last much longer but looks identical.  The parts of the home built with cypress are still in excellent condition.  It is of course readily available.  The home is also made of brick which was made there on the location. Some of the bricks were made with 45-degree angle to enable the odd shapes of the rooms.  Interesting thing about the rooms which were all heated by fireplaces - there were 3 rooms at angle with the 3 fireplaces using a single chimney. We thoroughly enjoyed the tour given by a member of the Natchez Garden Club.  

Ultra Fancy Indoor Toilet 

Child's desk 

This was the room layout on each level

TN Marble - one of 12 fireplaces each floor

The guide told us the second richest city in the country after New York was Natchez with so many rich northerners with their fortunes building homes here. They all got some sort of papers to have their homes saved during the war.  

After the tour we made a stop at the Donut Shop we had passed several times.  Ben got two concoctions of some sort and Jane asked for a filled - when she asked what kind they had - she was given a huge selection and they filled it on the spot!  We headed north out of Natchez towards Vicksburg.  We headed first to the Windsor Ruins on the way to Port Gibson.  This mansion would have rivaled those in Natchez except it burned leaving only the columns and some steel.  We found it on the old road - under some sort of construction - a walkway maybe - but everything was behind fencing so difficult to get a good photo. 

Painting of Windsor before fire 

We made it to Port Gibson - a mostly dead town - and headed down to the Grand Gulf Military Park. A very friendly gentleman gave us a short history and review of the battles that took place here.  Jane had read Grant over the winter and recalled the battles on the Mississippi.  The museum was small but had quite a number of artifacts and a wonderful collection of arrowheads.   High water kept us away from the area near the riverside.  We ate lunch before leaving the park.  

Model of Union Ironclad Ship 

We drove into Natchez and found our hotel.  After a rest we headed to downtown Natchez and had dinner at Rusty's on the River.  Ben had a seafood platter of fish, shrimp, and oysters.  The oysters were prepared with onions and garlic which he said was great.  Jane had coconut shrimp that was very good.  It would have been excellent if the dipping sauce had not been so hot.  Riverfront in Kingsport has a better sauce.   

River Boat Display

Coconut Shrimp

Fish, Shrimp, Oysters and Onion Rings

Tuesday, April 16, 2024 French Camp MS to Natchez MS

What a great night's sleep. So very quiet and a very comfortable bed.  We finally met our hostess - Donna - she is an employee of the French Camp Academy, and her job is to manage the French Camp B&B.  She confirmed what we thought the school owns the entire town of French Camp or at least most of it.  She says a few individuals do own their own homes but most rent or lease from the school.  

Donna had prepared an excellent breakfast - fruit, scrambled eggs, bacon, cooked apples, a grits and cheese casserole, and biscuits and jams.  No one left there hungry!  There was a couple from Nashville, another from Richmond VA, us, and 3 ladies (never did catch where they were from).  This is about half capacity.  She handles the breakfast, the reservations and payments, and students come in and clean each day.  Smooth operation.  

We drove around the entire community of French Camp before we left - a post office, a bakery, a Dollar Tree, a small hardware store, a secondhand store, a couple churches and of course the school.  There were dorms, classroom buildings, a gym, football field, a swimming pool and much more.  Donna told us there is a large summer camp program that brings in another group of youngsters for 2-week sessions all summer long.  So, this is a thriving but small and rather remote community.  Reminds me a little of Holston Home in Banner Elk and maybe Washington County Academy that used to be over around Jonesboro - long closed now. Google tells me the population of French Camp is 250...so I wonder if that includes students?

We were headed south about 9:15. A bit cloudy today but by mid-morning the clouds were for the most part gone.  We had almost 200 miles of the Trace left but most of the morning was nothing unusual to stop for.  We stopped at a Cypress Swamp that was interesting, several "stand" locations, and a couple more Indian Mounds.  

As we reached the Jackson area we got off at the Ridgeland Exit to buy gas and stopped in a Kroger to replenish our lunch stash.  We got right back on the Trace and never even saw Jackson.  Nice Bypass for a busy large city.  Maybe we will take it on the way home!  Ben reports he is getting more than 25 mph in the Sprinter.  Says he has it on auto drive at 50 mph and thinks that is about optimum for the sprinter.  Since we left Franklin I don't think we have been on highways other than the trace for more than 50 miles in Florence and Tupelo. 

We stopped at Rocky Springs for our picnic lunch and a much-needed bathroom break.  The main bathroom was closed so we headed to the campsites and found they had a working bathroom. This Rocky Springs area was the setting of the book by Nevada Barr that Jane was reading. Well just finished and got the second on Libby.

We then stopped at a section of sunken trace - we remembered being here on our trip in 1996.  It was more of a hike down than we had remembered but the up and down into the sunken trace was worth it for the feel of walking along that path that had been trod so long ago!

The next stop was a huge disappointment - the one "stand" that is still standing on the entire trace is Mount Locust; and it is near the end of the trace - mm15.5 to be exact.  Jane had really been looking forward to seeing it.  The sunken trace and not seeing Mount Locust were the two strongest memories of that trip in 1996.  It was under construction or some such as I recall.  Well, today the entire exit was closed - no explanation just closed.  

The last stop was Emerald Mound - the second largest Indian Mound in the US.  The largest is Cahokia near St. Louis.  Ben was really looking forward to it.  It did not disappoint. When we arrived, we both remembered it.   Ben climbed up to the top of the large flat mound, but Jane was pleased to stay below. 

It was about 3:30 when we arrived in Natchez.  The visitor center was closed - under construction - so we went on to our hotel hoping they might have some travel info on Natchez.  Jane ordered some about 4-5 weeks ago, but it did not arrive before we left.  So back to the trusty computer and Trip Advisor.  

Jane wants to tour one of the antebellum homes tomorrow morning, but had no idea which one would be best.  This is still in the Spring Pilgrimage season and there are tons of homes to select.  But first things first - dinner. We chose Roux 61 which was a few miles south of town.  Wow, we chose well.  We ordered two different entrees so we could share and sample two Cajun dishes.  We had Catfish LeBeaux (catfish with crawfish eteuffee)  and Crawfish Pasta.  They were both excellent.  We had never had crawfish before; so, now have had it two different ways.   We saw one place across the river where you could have a "bag" of steamed crawfish with butter and corn - but only on weekends.  After eating them tonight I believe getting enough of the small bits of meat from the shell would be a LOT of work!

Crawfish Pasta

Catfish Lebeaux

Made it back to the hotel - Hotel Vue which Ben got from his Choice Hotel site.  It is interesting - high on the bluff above the Mississippi, it is a very large 3 or 4 story hotel not your normal Comfort Inn or other Choice Hotel.  The rate was pretty good - well the room is nice, nothing fancy but clean and good bed.  You can tell it is rather old from the carpet and furniture.  Guess Choice Hotels had bought it for an investment and will remodel....it could be an outstanding location if in another town.  This town does not seem to be able to support all the hotels and restaurants it has.  This is right in the midst of the spring travel season and there are only 20 cars in the parking lot!  The population of Natchez is less than 15,000 and looks like it is declining.  Tourism is their main business and that does not seem to be going so great right now. Only bad thing is there is no breakfast so we will have to drive a bit to find some breakfast tomorrow.  

Monday April 15, 2024 Tupelo MS to French Camp MS

 Up again and a good breakfast at the Comfort Inn.  We took our time this morning and left about 10 AM.  We have about 100 miles to French Camp which is located a bit more than 1/2 way down the Trace.  The landscape has changed a bit - more flatlands, more pine in the woodlands and very tall pines. There were a number of very swampy areas. We passed more Indian Mounds, locations of Chickasaw and Choctaw Indian council houses, location where Hernando de Soto spent a winter in the 1500's, and several sections of the old trace.   

We added a few more wildflowers to our list - you must realize our sightings are from the car.  So, there are probably way more, but we can't identify too well without close inspection!  We added yellow Hawkweed, and a pink phlox to our list.

Our stop today is at a Bed and Breakfast - one of the few actually right on the Natchez Trace.  French Camp began as a "stand" opened in 1812 by Louis Le Fleur.  A stand is like an inn on other early traveling routes.  They were scattered about a days walking distance apart all the way along the Trace.  This one grew into a girls school in the late 1800's as well as a military school for boys.  The building the B&B is in was one of the original log buildings from those early days.  Today there is a 300+ student boarding school (I believe it is a religious school but can't find details) nearby with both local day students and students from across the country and even some international students.  Many of the students work here and there around the village for part of their tuition. There is a church, a trading post, an ice cream shop, a bakery, and the council house restaurant where we ate lunch.  There is no other eating establishment in the small town (and they closed at 2 PM on Monday) so we had lunch and ordered take out to have for our dinner.  The nearest town is about 15 miles away and you guessed it - only restaurant closed on Monday.

Gift Shop and Restaurant

Bed and Breakfast

View from Bedroom

Our room - note the size of the logs.

Downstairs dining area - remains of our take-out supper

There are a number of restored buildings that compose the B&B - our room is one of two on the second floor of this main building where we will eat breakfast - also we ate dinner here.  There are also several small cabins around the main building.  Our room is nice with comfy bed, a bathroom, air conditioning, and an old-fashioned window looking out on our van!   Jane read most of the afternoon - just could not put the book down!  Walked around a bit and chatted with another couple who are in the other upstairs room.  There is another couple in one of the cabins, and maybe a single woman.  We were to call when we arrived or text and say we are here - have not seen anyone other than the couple students who were doing the cleaning.  

We heated up our dinner in the microwave and enjoyed - Jane had chicken tenders, okra, and rutabaga (it was the special of the day and I thought I liked rutabaga - don't) Ben had catfish and hushpuppies.  Really it was pretty good for a warmed-up dinner!   Jane is catching up on the blog and may get around to the photos - but doubtful.  This central time is getting us really out of sync - it is now 9PM and pitch black.  There is no TV but they have very good internet so this blog is caught-up through tonight. Tomorrow, we plan to drive all the way to Natchez -180 miles- so longer than last 2 days.  and breakfast is at 8AM sharp!  

Sunday April 14, 2024 Florence AL to Tupelo MS

Rise and shine and on our way after a good breakfast at the Comfort Inn and Suites.  We found our location was fairly close to an entrance to the Natchez Trace on the south side of the metro area.  There are 4 cities here - Muscle Shoals, Florence, Tuscumbia and Sheffield.  They market themselves as the Shoals and seem to be doing a good job.  I noticed when we went into the Rosenbaum House Museum yesterday you could buy a 1-2-or 3-day pass and visit about 10 different museums/attractions across the area.  Anyway, we returned to the Trace about mile 320 missing 20 miles of the Trace and the crossing of the Tennessee River - it is very wide here due to The TVA dams.  We added some new flowers to our list from yesterday - buttercups, lyre leaved sage, crimson clover, and were still seeing dogwood and the unique Rhododendron from yesterday.  One interesting spot we passed was Pharr Mounds - a large flat field with numerous small Indian mounds scattered across it - built between 1400 and 1600.  We also crossed the Tennessee -Tombigbee Waterway.  This stretch of river, dredged by the Corp of Engineers, provides a navigable waterway between the Gulf of Mexico and the TN river.  In the distance we could see one of the locks.  We stopped for lunch at the main Visitor Center near Tupelo.  Nice movie and some displays.  Ben bought a really nice T-shirt but alas non in sizes for Jane.  She did find the 2 Nevada Barr mysteries that were set on the Trace.  Could not resist buying one even though had been read years ago.  Just as good the second time around!

After a rest we headed off the Trace towards Tupelo.  Tupelo is a nice city with a population about 37,000.  We drove through the downtown area which had been recently updated - looked nice.  We were surprised that the area did not seem rundown at all.  Interesting the Elvis Presley sites had signage just like the national battlefields.  Needless to say, the Elvis Presley stuff was much more popular.  We did manage to miss it!  Did take a photo of the Tupelo Battlefield which did not even have 1 parking spot!

Found our hotel for the night - another Comfort Inn - and Ben had a nap and Jane found restaurants and began reading her Nevada Barr book.  

We selected Harvey's for our dinner.  The choices were limited - at least half if not 3/4 of the restaurants in Tupelo were closed on Sunday - and many on Monday too.   Harvey's however was a great choice.  Ben had prime rib sandwich and Jane had a crab cake topped salad with lots of veggies.  We also split some fried mushrooms and a gooey bread pudding. Harvey's was a remodeled 1940's building divided into several dining rooms.  The doors were very attractive.