After a night in Hot Springs, Arkansas, Stewbert and I decided to test our luck with Tropical Storm Fay - time to head to Mississippi. Actually, the weather was beautiful! Aside from a couple bands of fleeting precipitation, we made the 250-mile journey bathed in hot sunlight. To make matters even more agreeable, we joined a rolling road train in Louisiana that kept a nice pace of 90 mph across the state, all the way to Vicksburg, Mississippi.
Folks, there is something to be said for Southern Hospitality. In fact, I noticed this as early as Missouri everyone is polite! Seriously, consider the last time a complete stranger struck up a conversation with you just because you were pumping gas next to them. Or, held open a door for them. The ladies at the Mississippi Welcome Center proved to be as amiable as ones best friend. Plus, they got Stewbert and me a $10 discount on our hotel room bonus!
So, for the weekend we elected to stay in Vicksburg. Bands of soaking rain from Fay pummeled the region, but did not keep Stewbert and me stranded. Much to the bemusement of the National Park Rangers, we rode through the Vicksburg Civil War battlefield on our crotch rockets, having the entire venue to ourselves. We stopped at the USS Cairo exhibit phenomenal! This is an actual Civil War-era ironclad that was salvaged in the 1970s and made into a walk-through museum.
Our day culminated with the Coca-Cola museum - I did not know that Vicksburg was the first place to bottle the beverage and the best darn pizza I have had in ages. The only problem I had with Vicksburg was their absolute lack of a decent micro-brewed beer. When I asked the waitress for a good local brew she replied, Well, we have Bud products, and also Modello thats pretty good. Next stop, New Orleans!
Folks, there is something to be said for Southern Hospitality. In fact, I noticed this as early as Missouri everyone is polite! Seriously, consider the last time a complete stranger struck up a conversation with you just because you were pumping gas next to them. Or, held open a door for them. The ladies at the Mississippi Welcome Center proved to be as amiable as ones best friend. Plus, they got Stewbert and me a $10 discount on our hotel room bonus!
So, for the weekend we elected to stay in Vicksburg. Bands of soaking rain from Fay pummeled the region, but did not keep Stewbert and me stranded. Much to the bemusement of the National Park Rangers, we rode through the Vicksburg Civil War battlefield on our crotch rockets, having the entire venue to ourselves. We stopped at the USS Cairo exhibit phenomenal! This is an actual Civil War-era ironclad that was salvaged in the 1970s and made into a walk-through museum.
Our day culminated with the Coca-Cola museum - I did not know that Vicksburg was the first place to bottle the beverage and the best darn pizza I have had in ages. The only problem I had with Vicksburg was their absolute lack of a decent micro-brewed beer. When I asked the waitress for a good local brew she replied, Well, we have Bud products, and also Modello thats pretty good. Next stop, New Orleans!
