Travels on the Natchez Trace: March 8 - April 1, 2018

We had a fun and eventful first trip with our new trailer and our kitty Shelby.  Both ended up being a bit more of an adventure than we expected, but it still turned out fine.

I'll start out with Shelby, since most people are interested in how she fared on her first trip with us.  She adapted to life in the trailer almost immediately.

She found a hidey hole on a shelf next to the bed, so we put her bed there.

She liked looking out all the windows, especially the ones in the dinette slide,
which has a sort of catwalk around the top.

Getting her to use the leash in order to go outside ended up being more of a problem.  Before we got a harness tight enough, she escaped once, and Alan had to track her down in the woods.  After we got the harness fitted correctly, she was willing to walk on the leash, as long as it was AWAY from the trailer.  She would refuse to turn around and come back, so we always had to carry her back.  Alan has ordered a pet pen that we will use, so she can be outside with us in the future without the leash.

The big problem was riding in the crate in the back seat of the truck.  She absolutely hated that and cried (sometimes yowled) or fought the crate door.  We tried a thundershirt, which she fought until it would be half on and half off, but we finally found cat anti-anxiety drops that helped a lot.  (Thanks for suggesting them, Faye.) Charlotte also suggested covering her crate with a towel like a parrot, and that calmed her a lot, too, so she slept, especially after getting her anti-anxiety drops.  

The new trailer worked out great, with one exception:  
As I said in my last post, it has power everything, so it only takes a few minutes to do setup and takedown in a campground.  We loved that aspect--as long as it worked.  Unfortunately, while we were still in Tennessee, the powerjack on the tongue of the trailer failed.  It wouldn't go up or down to connect the trailer to the truck.  After an unhappy phone call to the dealer in NC where we bought it and to the manufacturer, we found out that there was a federal safety recall on the jack.  Water can get in the mother board and cause it to malfunction.  We had had a violent thunderstorm earlier in the week, so that is apparently what happened.  Alan had to use the manual override, which was very difficult; then, we had to bring the trailer to the closest Lance dealer, which was in Huntsville.  So we ended up spending a few unexpected days with Alan's sister Charlotte while the Smartjack was replaced.  After that, we had no more trailer trouble.

The trip itself:

We took the Natchez Trace, starting just below Nashville, and took a meandering route down it, all the way to its terminus in Natchez, Miss.  Here is the Park Service link with maps, if you are interested:
NPS Natchez Trace maps

The Natchez Trace is like the Blue Ridge Parkway, in that there are things to see at pullouts every few miles. We stopped at the ones that interested us, and we also took side trips to places that were close by.  I will only show you a few highlights:

Shiloh/Corinth:
We visited the battlefield at Shiloh and the interpretive center at Corinth, which was a battle close to Shiloh.  The NPS has excellent visitor centers, museums, and movies at both.  At Shiloh, we took the driving/walking tour of the battlefield, which was also well done.

Right after the war, survivors helped lay out the park. 
They have signs showing where all the various groups were and
 the major skirmishes on the two days of the battle.

The Shiloh church, that gave its name to the battle.

Corinth was a key battle I was unaware of. 
But then, it was a pivotal southern loss,
and my U.S. History teacher was Miss Phipps in Shreveport, LA.

Muscle Shoals, Alabama:
Alan wanted to see the various historic studios where so many famous people recorded, so we went to three studios in Muscle Shoals.

The owner gave us a great tour here.

This is probably the most famous of the studios. 
They have made it into a museum, so it looks just like it did when many
famous acts like the Rolling Stones recorded there.
We were in the midst of a tour when there were tornado warnings,
so we had to leave.  Alan could give you a long history on these three studios
and their importance, but I will just give you links:
History of Fame Studios
Cypress Moon Studios History
Muscle Shoals Studio History

Vicksburg, Mississippi:
We did a walking tour of the town, where many pre-civil war buildings and houses remain, ate in some unique restaurants, saw some interesting museums, and toured the battlefield.  Again, the NPS visitor center was outstanding.  We had a wonderful personal tour of the battlefield by one of the local people who was incredibly knowledgeable about the battle and the town.  He made the tour so interesting by quoting from diaries and showing us pictures of what the battlefield looked like during the battles.  If you go to Vicksburg, be sure to sign up for one of these personal tours.  It was well worth the $50.

Part of the battlefield is this fascinating exhibit of a Union gunboat
that was sunk in the Mississippi, then raised and put on exhibit in the 60's.

U.S.S. Cairo, sunk by southern guns from the bluffs of Vicksburg

Obviously things have changed since the Civil War at this oldest church in town.

Great fried chicken and catfish at this place right on the waterfront

We went over to Vidalia, LA to see the site of Grant's failed attempts
 to build a canal to get past Vicksburg.

This is all that is left.

The troops worked under horrible conditions in the southern sun.

Interesting things on the Natchez Trace Parkway itself:
We stopped at dozens of places as we traveled the parkway, but I will only tell you about two things:
There were many sites done by Mississippian Era mound building Indians.  The most interesting was Emerald Mound.  It is a large complex of huge mounds built with stone and bone tools.

Alan on top of one of the mounds.

 The Natchez Trace was used by people who would be going on foot or horseback from Natchez up to Nashville.  A large portion of the travelers were boatmen who had taken flatboats of goods down the river to Natchez, but before the time of steamboats and the railroad, the only way to get back was to go overland up the Natchez Trace.  All along the way, there are places you can walk on the old road.

A

Here I walk on a section of the trace so worn by travelers,
that it is sunk into a kind of tunnel through the trees.

Natchez, Mississippi:
We ended the Natchez Trace Parkway in the town of Natchez, where by chance we happened on the Natchez Pilgrimage.  It is a two-week time when they open up many of the  gargantuan antebellum residences.  Before the Civil War, Natchez had more millionaires than anywhere else in the country, due to all the cotton plantations.  The town was occupied by the Union, but there were no battles there, so much is preserved as it was then.  So if you want to see amazing displays of wealth in huge, beautiful old houses, surrounded by gorgeous gardens, it is the place to go.  Some are now museums and can be visited anytime.

The Parsonage, surrounded by azaleas in bloom

Longwood, a fascinating octagonal house that was never finished. 
The workers were from the North, and when the war broke out,
they put down their tools and left.  The owner died and his wife
didn't have the money to finish it.  She and her eight children
 lived in the basement, the only part that was livable.  Great tour here.

 Except for Longwood, the other must-see mansion is Melrose.  It was built before the Civil War and completely furnished in an incredibly lavish style.  Then, it was basically left empty for four decades.  The story of it is fascinating.  It was purchased by the park service, including all the original furnishings, and is now open for tours with park service guides: Wiki on Melrose Mansion

It was raining the day we were there, so we didn't go far out in the yard for a picture.

All the mansions had these huge wooden swinging fans called punkah, or shoo-fly,
above the dining table.  A rope was attached to it,
and a slave would swing it back and forth.

Every house had tour guides in antebellum costumes.

Freestanding spiral staircase at The Auburn mansion

Huge, gorgeous azaleas everywhere

 Our campground on the Mississippi River in Vidalia, LA:
I had chosen a campground right on the Mississippi River because it was the closest to Natchez, and it would be fun to watch the river traffic.  The barges being pushed up and down the river by tugboats were amazing.  Sometimes there would be seven or eight huge barges being pushed by one tugboat.  This went on day and night.

Barges on Mississippi

 When I chose the campground, I didn't take into account that they have had record rainfall, and the Mississippi was in flood stage.  It was actually overflowing into the campground at one place.  While we were there, we had torrential rainfall and tornado warnings again.  We did wonder if they would warn us to get out fast if the river rose too much!

The "lake" on the right is in our campground. 
You can see the trailers in the distance.

One thing we learned: March probably isn't the best time of year to travel unless you want the excitement of extreme weather.  We had freezing weather while still in Tennessee, and violent storms three times, including two tornado warnings.

But we still had fun and aren't sorry that we went.  We love our new trailer.