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.