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Muscadine flowers
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Location: Lucedale and Jackson
When: beginning of March
Miles traveled: 565.3
Price of gas: $2.84
Interest: Muscadine vine
High point: A shared apple and campfire
Low point: One hour tour turned into what felt like a three hour tour.
One thing learned: Minimalism is a frequent re-choosing. One must keep saying yes to minimalism and no to everything that tries to add clutter.
My first stop in Mississippi was in Lucedale to visit the
Palestine Gardens, a replica of the Holy Land. The current caretaker of the location is a passionate talkative man, and my one hour tour of the Holy Land turned into a two+ hour tour. It felt like his goal was to impart all of his knowledge on to me. The replica has many Old and New
Testament locations, the distance scaled and in proper locations near each other. The cities and their buildings are not accurately scaled to miniature size, but viewing the gardens is better than looking at a historical map of the Holy Land. A pillar of salt, the sea of Galilee, the river Jordan, birthplace and tomb of Jesus, are all depicted with bible quotes along the path. I did not take any pictures during the tour because it felt rude, and I did not want to risk another 1+hour talk by walking the path again to take photographs. The tour did spark a desire to better understand what I'm reading in the bible from a larger knowledge base of those ancient times.
After Lucedale, I drove to Jackson. Along the way, I saw a lot of blooming Azalea bushes and Muscadines, a wild grape vine. In Jackson, I learned the value of packing bikes on a camping trip. Bicycles provide quick transport to a far away bathhouse and kids can expend their energy by circling the campground, while the adults stay in one place. It's amazing how many campgrounds have tent camping sites far away from the bathhouse, while RV sites are much closer!
On Monday, I bought broccoli cheddar soup from a grocery store and decided it needed to be heated up to taste good. By Wednesday, leftover cold soup tasted just fine as I waited out a mild thunderstorm in my 83°F car. Night time rains have not prevented me from sleeping. When the rain becomes too loud, I use foam earplugs or noise canceling headphones. Most steady rain is not too loud on a car roof, but if parked under a tree, the occasional louder heavier drops from tree branches are harder to ignore.
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It's petrified wood, can't you tell?
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On Friday, I visited Mississippi's Petrified Forest! Admission and trail pamphlet for the self guided tour are purchased at the gift shop. Petrified(turned to stone) wood is considered to be a fossil. A fossil is "the remains or trace of any organism that lived, prior to Recent time". The wood became stone after it was quickly buried under a "prehistoric river" in soil. This burial prevented the wood from decaying and over time with a lot of pressure, minerals from the soil penetrated into the wood and replaced the wood cells with mineral cells, often silica. (This is not a scientific explanation, the trail pamphlet is vague.) It still looks like wood, sort of. From a distance it looks like wood with moss growing on it. Up close and when in small pieces, it looks like rock. Interesting, but not as impressive as I was expecting. At the end of the trail, lives a friendly cat. The cat was the best part of the tour. Back inside the gift shop, there are a lot of minerals, gems, petrified wood, and other fossils on display.
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Three more chunks of petrified wood
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Fossil sea urchins
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Southern charm is abundant in Mississippi! People I encounter are polite and respectful with lots of sir and ma'am. And the way they say it does not make me feel old! The best place to experience this southern charm is at Bully's Restaurant with their great soul food. Across from train tracks, Bully's does not look like a typical restaurant. Their small interior has long folding tables that encourage patrons to sit together and chat. The waitress has a loving gaze that puts everyone at ease and a welcome like you just came home! (but without the hugs from family) I think I ordered catfish, but it's the atmosphere of Bully's that left a lasting impression.
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Before the band set up
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Hal & Mal's was also a good location for southern charm. The Central Mississippi Blues Society hosts a Blues Monday every week at H&M's. A group of musicians play blues music and audiences members can sign up to sing a song or two with the band. It made for long pauses between songs, as the new singer talked to the band, but I got to hear a wide range of singing styles. Some songs I knew, and some I didn't.
I enjoyed my time in Mississippi. There was one or two things I ran out of time to go see, but that is ok. On to Hot Springs, Arkansas!
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| The view is better from the outside of my car, but I wanted to share my version of the "idyllic" life just beyond my trunk. p.s. This campground's water was turned off during the day for maintenance. That did not stop anyone from using the bathhouse though. PU! | | |
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