Monday 1/3/22 Starkville, MS to Minden, LA

Monday 1/3/22 Starkville, MS to Minden, LA

I feel like saying "on this day,  January 3rd, 2022, Nothing Happened".  But in reality memories were created and miles were travelled again.

After a wonderful visit yesterday with Darrel and Donna and their adopted (who adopted who?) dog Sky (and cat and squirrel, etc) we resume our travels.  The Alto stayed warm during the night thanks to Darrel's extension cord, and after breakfast together we hit the road.  

Moreno made friends with Sky before we left.  Beautiful dog.  Sky is what a dog should look like.  Of course Moreno is also a perfect representation of a dog. 

Moreno is paying rapt attention to the black cat who is in turn paying attention to the bird on the feeder.  Just a chain of events in nature.  If there had been a squirrel there, I think Moreno would have broken through the glass to catch it.  No, he would have been vibrating with tension though.

I just realized that Donna and Darrel are in matching outfits.  Maybe the Mississippi State requires that their professors and family wear the School's Colors.  Anyway, thanks for hosting us overnight and hope we can do it again "next trip."

Notice the snow and icicles on the Alto.  Neat!!!  I suppose if we had needed some ice we could have used those.  By the way, we never had to buy ice on this whole trip.  The refrigerator in the Alto has a small freezer which produced enough ice for my sweet wines and the Dometic freezer/refrig worked great in the car.  During the drive it would get power from the car battery and when we parked, it was plugged into our small (but heavy) battery that Eldon had purchased.  It's only the size of a car battery but works great.  A great addition to our camping supplies.  We also have (at home) a Honda generator which we had bought for camping trips where there is no power but this little one is GREAT!!!  The Honda can be kept to use at home when the power goes out I suppose.  Oh, but that is why we got Solar panels installed. Hmmm

So finally we do hit the road which they were already cleared of any snow or ice.  That made it safe for me to feel like I could do the driving.  Of course I'm all bundled up in case I have to get out fast and fend with the cold and ice/snow.  This allowed Eldon to follow along in Darrel's book, Roadside Geology of Mississippi, where every little excavation or road cut is a treasure.  Pretty flat there.  The excitement occurred about 40 million years ago when a 1000-ft meteor crashed to earth here leaving a huge crater that is now totally invisible except to ground-penetrating seismic (looking for oil in all the wrong places).

Not sure why they put these GIANT crosses here and there along the side of the road.  I think Darrel told us but I forgot exactly what the significance.  Seems like the money could have had better uses.  Of course that whole Southern USA is really into religion, well ONE religion.  At times I think there was a church every block and no homes around.  Some just tiny and others quite elaborate.  Even in the bigger ones the homes around them were in poor condition.  God needs to look into that part of the world to provide for His flock and maybe giant crosses could be considered as idols and we all know god is not a fan of those.  

So we stopped at Vicksburg National Military Park so I could get another Stamp in my Passport book.  Once again it reminds us of the lives lost in the efforts made to create a united America.  I appreciate their sacrifices.  This battle was a major turning point in the Civil war and really cemented Grant's expertise as a superb tactician and not just a butcher of men.

Moreno enjoys our stops, not from a historical point of view, but to pee, poop and/or stretch.  He rolls and scratches his back which would feel great after sitting in the back seat.  He is a great traveler.  

We cross the mighty Mississippi river into Louisiana.  Once again we encounter the Dollar General stores along the way.  I was amazed at how many of these exist and are the only source of supplies in many towns (probably by putting every other store out of business - looking at you also Walmart).  I was used to the 99 cent stores in California but these are the Southern version.  I found some little floor rugs for the Alto so now I can walk without shoes and feel comfortable.  Otherwise I wear slippers.  That's my way.  Eldon prefers to go barefooted.  I suppose it's what each is comfortable doing.

We continued our journey and this time are on the way to our campsite in Minden, LA at the Cinnamon Creek RV Park tonight.  We took time to get another Passport book stamp at Poverty Point which is a UNESCO designated site.  It is impossible to photograph from the ground, and apparently we did not get a photo of the aerial map, but considering the human labor effort to build this 3500 years ago, it is really something.  Look it up in Wikipedia:):). 

We concluded the day's travels in Dixie Inn, near Minden, LA.  Dixie Inn is a  village in Louisiana.  The population here at the 2000 census was 350 people.  That is a BIG city population when you compare it to Bettles, Alaska which is where we went to see the Northern Lights in the past.  That had a population of 10 and soon to be 9 according to the posting.  But they have one other thing in common - they are VERY cold.

We camped at Cinnamon Creek RV Park which was very Clean and relatively quiet.