Natchez Trace Parkway

A sunken section of the original Natchez Trace

March 18-20: Beginning our northward trek toward home we followed the Natchez Trace Parkway, which runs between Natchez, MS and Nashville, TN; this parkway is a federal park, which is described on the web site for the park as: "a 444-mile drive through exceptional scenery and 10,000 years of North American history.  Used by American Indians, "Kaintucks", settlers, and future presidents, the Old Trace played an important role in American history. "  


Along the current parkway are numerous stops of historical interest, including Emerald Mound, one of the largest known Indian Mounds in the US, various "stands", homes where the foot-travelers of old could spend the night in a bed or on a porch, temporarily safe from the dangers of the trail, and various sections of the original Trace, where one can walk for a way in the steps of many earlier travelers - literally walking on / in history. 


Also along the parkway is the Meriwether Lewis site, which contains a memorial to Meriwether Lewis which we also visited. While these various stops along the way provide food for thought, the parkway itself provides food for the soul. 

Wisteria Bloom

Dogwood

Wisteria Vines 20-30ft tall in trees

Travel is slow (maximum speed limit is 50mph) along a winding two-lane road that permits no commercial traffic allowing plenty of opportunity to savor the beauty of this park.  Along either side of the road are mowed areas, now filled with early spring wildflowers: great swaths of crimson clover, purple and blue violets, white and yellow flowers that I could not identify while driving past;  beautiful old trees, hung with spanish moss in the early parts of the Trace near Natchez, approaching Nashville toward the end of the Trace hung with incredible, huge (20-30 foot high) wisteria vines in full bloom, their purple panicles looking like frosted grapes hanging in the trees; redbud and dogwood trees blooming in abundance along the entire parkway. 

Dogwood

Redbud in bloom

Corps of Engineers Campground

March 21-25, we were camping at Piney Grove Corps of Engineers Campground in MS.  This was, hands-down, the best-planned, best laid-out campground we have ever visited.  From the accounts of some of the other campers, one week earlier the campground had been filled to the brim with families on Spring Break.  When we were there, only a moderate amount of other campers were using this beautiful facility, so we experienced a great deal of privacy and nature around us.  Our campsite encompassed the same dimensions as our lot at the cottage, unbelievable as that may be to anyone who is familiar with standard campsite dimensions. Although we had no immediate neighbors for most of the 4 days, had the park been full to the gills, we still would have had privacy on this campground site, as would most campers at this park; as I said earlier: Piney Grove camping sites are extremely well laid-out with the express intent of providing visual privacy. 






Our site led to a small beach on the edge of the lake, where I had anticipated letting Murphy run and chase his frisbee.  Unfortunately, on our first trip to this small beach Murphy and I met a snake in aggressive mode, which John and I subsequently identified as a cottonmouth, so Murphy's days of chasing frisbee on the beach were immediately curtailed.   Still, evil snakes notwithstanding, we loved this campground and plan to return here on any subsequent trips heading south.  


We are grateful for long-time cottage neighbors Ed and Hazel Guige, who turned us on to Corps of Engineers campgrounds!  We will be researching and visiting more of these in future camping trips, for sure!!!   One of the unbelievable facts about  our stay here - this BEAUTIFUL, meticulously clean campground cost $10/night for seniors (there are perks to getting older! : )

Hopes of Morel Mushroom Dinner Dashed

March 27-30: 

We spent our last 4 travel/vacation days at Brown County State Park in IN, one of our long-time favorite camping destinations.  Needless to say, this is on the way back to Michigan, where we plan to be in a a couple of days.   On a walk yesterday morning, I found a beautiful little early Morel mushroom - because of that, paired with seeing Morel hunters in several areas of the park the day before, we took a long afternoon walk in a low woody area that seemed ideal for mushrooms.  Yes, for those of you who may be familiar with the habits of Morels, this is NOT the right time of year, but this is not a normal spring, so everything 

seems to be moved up a month or more.  Bottom line, we found no other morels, but had a wonderful walk in a beautiful Indiana woods, already rich with multitudes of spring wildflowers as well as dogwood and redbud trees in bloom.  We had to satisfy ourselves with a dinner which did NOT include the Morels that had made our mouths water in anticipation.....sigh.......   This is a lovely park and campground for just "being" and unwinding, which is just what we are doing before heading  back to MI and responsibilities that await us after 6 weeks away from home.  The weather is magnificent - mid-60's and sunny), with rain threatened for tomorrow, but traveling in the little Silver Spirit is like putting our cottage on wheels and taking it with us as we travel - it always feels warm, welcoming, and "at home", regardless of circumstances.

As I was writing this part of the blog entry, butterflies were flitting all about us in our Brown County campsite - the most unusual one, and one neither of us has ever seen but is apparently native to this area, was the Zebra Swallowtail Butterfly. (Murphy seemed as intrigued by it as we were, trying to chase it, but soon giving up as it was always quicker than he was).  

The night before we reached Brown County SP, we stayed about 20 miles southwest of  Nashville, TN, at a place called Montgomery Bell State Park, in Burns, TN. This park was pretty, but not exceptional.  However, our site backed onto a lovely little stream; what is it about hearing water move, or watching fires dance that touches the soul so?     


This day we discovered (unfortunately yet again), how misleading the wonderful device - a GPS - can be.  We were searching for a grocery store in the area of the park where we could pick up a few tidbits (fresh vegetables and meat for our dinner).  Using the "find grocery stores"  function of the car's GPS, we traveled some strange little back-country roads to the closest such store (named - misleadingly - Market and Deli) - our local Gull Road Shell Station would put this "deli" to shame!   I left with a can of corn, glad to have found that, and grateful for the canned/dried/jarred foods we carried with us on this trip.  The corn, mixed with canned chicken, mushroom soup, and some fresh herbs as well as seasonings we had with us, served over egg noodles actually made - while far from gourmet - a satisfying meal.   

HOME!

I left off on the last post saying: "John's description of the armed forces museum" would be the next blog entry; sorry folks, that is not to be.  John may or may not write about that experience - you might just have to talk with him in person so he can share that information!

The last couple of weeks my cell signal was too weak to post much of anything to the blog - it would not accept photos at all, so I wrote  bits and pieces and saved them, now have cobbled together those various writings with the photos that I can finally post.    So much to catch up on, how to tell it without boring everyone?  I think I may start from NOW, and work my way back to where we last left anyone who might be following our travel blog.  

NOW: We arrived home late yesterday; some trees are blooming (Redbud, Pin Cherry, Cherry, and Pear), some are done blooming (Magnolia), and many are yet to bloom (Apples and Crabapples).  Daffodils are up, the grass is green, and my greenhouse is alive with green everything and a few blossoms.  Herbs are looking healthy and off to a good start (as are the weeds in the herb bed)...time to get to work!    Subsequent posts made today and tomorrow will go backward in time, covering our time in Natchez, MS until we arrived home yesterday.