Day four on the Trace for me was basically a seventy-four mile drive up to Tupelo. After escaping Jeff Busby Park I stopped long enough to heat some coffee and then hit the road. The one look-off I might have enjoyed appeared with too little warning to allow me to slow down and make the turn-off. Too many signs when you don’t want them and not enough when you do.
The Parkway Visitor Center at Tupelo Mississippi adjoins Parkway Headquarters. It has a reasonable collection of books on Black History, the Trace--though the official guide has yet to arrive, cookbooks, nature guides and various memorabilia. There’s a donation box in Plexiglas with slots for each state, Ontario, Quebec, and several off-continent countries. Packets of Confederate money are also on offer. The 12-minute introductory video was somewhat fanciful but at least free. The Park Ranger on duty was pleasant and seemed to know her stuff.
Drove down to the Campground at Barnes Crossing and learned I needed cash to do business which luckily I’d made sure I had. Kroger Grocery store down the road had an interesting assortment of food items including a deli counter with some delectable looking salads I couldn’t resist. Crawfish and crawfish boil not so much. After pausing over a bewildering array of house brand coffees settled on 100% Colombian which turned out to be a fortuitous choice. Jerk chicken it seems is not popular here either. Gasoline was $3.47 at the pump and I didn’t feel like driving around to look for a better price.
Settled in to catch up online and write some E-mail. It cooled off rapidly after the heat of the day and darkness ushered in some heavy thunderstorms which continued all day Saturday culminating in a large hale warning and tornado watch. Not sure I know what to do with that. I’ll be glad when it passes in an hour’s time. The weather seems to be cooling off and I’m headed in the wrong direction.
The Parkway Visitor Center at Tupelo Mississippi adjoins Parkway Headquarters. It has a reasonable collection of books on Black History, the Trace--though the official guide has yet to arrive, cookbooks, nature guides and various memorabilia. There’s a donation box in Plexiglas with slots for each state, Ontario, Quebec, and several off-continent countries. Packets of Confederate money are also on offer. The 12-minute introductory video was somewhat fanciful but at least free. The Park Ranger on duty was pleasant and seemed to know her stuff.
Drove down to the Campground at Barnes Crossing and learned I needed cash to do business which luckily I’d made sure I had. Kroger Grocery store down the road had an interesting assortment of food items including a deli counter with some delectable looking salads I couldn’t resist. Crawfish and crawfish boil not so much. After pausing over a bewildering array of house brand coffees settled on 100% Colombian which turned out to be a fortuitous choice. Jerk chicken it seems is not popular here either. Gasoline was $3.47 at the pump and I didn’t feel like driving around to look for a better price.
Settled in to catch up online and write some E-mail. It cooled off rapidly after the heat of the day and darkness ushered in some heavy thunderstorms which continued all day Saturday culminating in a large hale warning and tornado watch. Not sure I know what to do with that. I’ll be glad when it passes in an hour’s time. The weather seems to be cooling off and I’m headed in the wrong direction.
No comments:
Post a Comment