Day Forty-One

It was raining when I went to sleep last night and it was raining when I woke up this morning. Unlike several previous summer adventures, this trip had been mainly hot and dry so this was a big change in the weather. Packing up an RV in the rain is much easier than my motorcycle and tent camper.
Just before I’d reached my exit in Shreveport I had noticed a huge RV dealer who sold and serviced Keystone RV’s so I decided to swing by in the morning and see if they could do a little warranty work on my trailer. My list of little things that had broken was growing and I wanted to try and take care of them before I got back. Although they were very nice they said that they were extremely busy and were making appointments two or three weeks out so I picked up a couple of items I needed and got back on the interstate.
The geography and vegetation had changed dramatically. Now, instead of desert sand and small bushes, it was tall trees, lush grass, rolling hills and thick forests.
At lunchtime, I just couldn’t resist the urge to get some delicious southern fried chicken so I pulled into a Popeyes Restaurant. Jim Burns and I had been watching TV one day and saw an ad for Popeyes that made their food very tantalizing and we have joked about going there ever since. So Jim, this one's for you.

 Driving the interstate can be pretty boring after a while but I pushed on to the famous Confederate city of Vicksburg, Mississippi where the southern army was defeated after 40 days of intense fighting back in 1861.


I took the scenic drive through the city and wound up at the Vicksburg National Military Park where I toured the museum and took a few photos of the artillery used in the battle.



My destination today was the Bienville National Park just east of Jackson, Mississippi. When I got there I learned that the park had no camping and was just a huge forest that apparently is off limits to the public.  Stopping at a gas station I learned that there was camping in the Roosevelt State Park that I had passed 11 miles back so I got back on the highway and drove back to the park. Being nearly 6:00 pm there was no ranger on duty so I simply drove in and found a wonderful spot right beside a small lake. It had full RV hookups and a nice, almost level concrete pad to park on. I will register with the ranger station in the morning but unless I’m mistaken the sign coming in said the fee for overnight w/full hookups was only $2.00. There were tons of open sites so it must be a well-kept secret. 

 Wait a minute. Do I hear banjos?














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