Sorry Alabama We Missed You Again....

Time to make some miles; up at the crack of dawn and on the road.  Four States planned for one day!  The rest in Pensacola was fabulous but another storm is coming and we are headed North to Dallas.  Our first plan was to get off the Interstate.  We found highway 98 again.  It was a beautiful drive through bayous, farms, and small forests.  Our route would once again mean that we would scoot across the shortest part of Alabama and with Mobile being so close to our beginning, we have decided to press on.  Some other time perhaps.

Once into Mississippi we discovered a scenic fact that we missed on our way out.  This was due to us crossing Mississippi and Alabama all on the I10 Interstate going East.  This back yard roadway adventure has proven a little known fact. There is a church of some size (some huge) every 1.2 miles on average.  At one little town there were five in a row, on the same side of the road.  This land of sinners appears to have Perry Florida beat all to Hell.  Sorry couldn't help myself.

The goal was to get to Natchez, Mississippi which we did.  Our RV park was a short drive through a very run down part of town on the opposite side of the Mississippi river which placed us officially in Louisiana.  It was noticeable that although the houses and mobile homes were falling down most of them had a new truck in the driveway or a $2 car with $6000 tires and wheels.   

Riverview RV park is beautiful and right on the river.  We enjoyed a hot tub and I swam in the pool to the shock of the staff in the office (not heated).

Natchez is the birthplace of the Southern revolutions, dating back to the Spanish and French occupations.  We visited the main tourist centre and took in all the reading panels of its history.  The city is a tourist mecca with a pilgrimage every year.  There is a large selection of period homes that have all been restored and turned into museums.  Several hold 'Gala Dinners' in period costume and serve full meals.  We drove all the streets and even watched 'guests' arriving at one of the homes for dinner.  There is a Paddleboat Casino (that goes nowhere) moored on the riverbank and another one overlooking the river.  Just as we found at the ocean (Biloxi), gambling is a big attraction in Mississippi.

The advantage to being on the other side of the river was the price of fuel.  Although Natchez Mississippi is flourishing, that cannot be said for the other side of the bridge.  The businesses on the Louisiana side, along the 98/84 were mostly vacant.  Only the Walmart mall at the end of the strip had any activity.  This picture of a dead gas station tells the story.  Look at the posted price of the fuel, that was some time ago.  I did get fuel for $3.60 which is our cheapest so far. The average has been more in the $3.99 - $4.09 range.  If you fuel along the Interstate highways you really pay the price, as they are all in the $4.29-4.59 range.  Staying away from the insanity pays off in more ways that one.

We had a lovely evening, a warm walk along the river and a great sleep but awoke to dense fog and cool temperature on our Easter Sunday.  The fog lifted as we left the river valley and the scenery was again beautiful farms and wooded forests (+churches).  The road kill changed significantly.  Lots of deer had been struck in the night and large buzzards were enjoying their feasts.  Saw our first Armadillo and Possum pancakes. 

Kaye announced that she could smell smoke and it was getting very strong fast.  As we approached a patch of dense trees the smoke could be seen above them.  It was the last remnants of a house fire, still smouldering and giving off dense smoke.  There were no people, no firetrucks, no EMS, nothing... We drove on slowly, passing more churches with full parking lots and wondered if we should stop and say something.  Very strange.  For a drive that started out fine, things were changing and I could see the edge of the storm moving towards our highway 84.

The edge of the storm caught us in one of the forest areas.  Small limbs from the trees lining the road were starting to hit the truck so we drove to an opening at an intersection and waited it out.  


About 20 minutes of driving sheets of rain and wind and then it eased to just rain.  Kaye loves to do brain teaser puzzles while we drive.  With a nice laugh she announced that the one she was working on was aptly titled; 'Name that Hurricane'. By this time we had a large following of parked vehicles behind us and the next hour of driving saw us dodging downed trees with the highway littered with branches and debris   Trust Dave to find a good storm!

We elected to stay outside of Dallas and picked a great sounding RV park named Bluebonnet Ridge in Terrell, Tx about 35 miles away from downtown Dallas.  That meant that my final few hours would be spent on the I40 Interstate.   I was shocked to see the massive road signs snapped off and commented that Shreveport must have been pummelled by the storm.  Something was strange about the signs though, they were all 'snapped off' perfectly even on all their support posts.  Turns out some smart engineers built double hinges and shear bolts into the support posts so that the signs would just 'blow' over and minimize the damage to themselves.  Worked for many but not for all!