19th – 24th Oct
Our day’s journey took us onward to the riverside town of Vicksburg. Here the terrain changes with disappearance of the flatlands of the delta and the river cuts through rocky escarpments. The Mississippi really is a cargo highway and powerful tugs push huge rafts of laden barges (slowly) up and (much more quickly) down the river.
Vicksburg is also another important Civil War site. The Confederates held the town, aided by the topography and saw off numerous attacks by the Union army. After multiple failed attacks, high losses and no apparent way to breech the town’s defences, the Unionists changed tack and decided to lay siege to the Confederates. For forty two days during a hot and sticky Mississippi summer the Confederates, and thus the townsfolk of Vicksburg were subjected to a near constant barrage of artillery fire, near starvation, malaria and dysentry. On July 4th they surrendered, coinciding with the victory at Gettysburg to the north. The town has done another great job of preserving the battlefields, around which you can do a 16 mile self drive auto tour and they are dotted with over 1500 monuments and memorials.
We booked five nights here in another casino RV park, the Ameristar. The casino is built right on the river’s edge and made to look like an old paddle steamer. There was a 24 hour shuttle bus provided for the 300m journey between casino and RV park to facilitate the money spending. We did utilise it one night, losing only $30 in the slots before our nice steak dinner.
The park was about 3 miles from the town’s historic downtown and I cajoled Hampson into walking there one morning. It wasn’t the most scenic of strolls as it passed through a slightly down at heel neighbourhood but there was one house with the most spectacular halloween decorations I have ever seen.
Town itself was a bit over-hyped as a destination, but we found a mediocre coffee and sat and watched the world go by for a bit. Then walked home again. Beer and dinner earned.
The next day we liberated Big Dave from TC so we could explore a bit further afield. We drove up to the battlefields and did the driving tour. Now we could see first hand why the battle for Vicksburg was so protracted. Lots of hills. It was not quite as impressive as Gettysburg, but a lot more intimate and much quieter. The tour took in the preserved steam powered paddle ironclad ship, the USS Cairo. This was part of the fleet that helped supply the Unionists up and down the Mississippi but was unfortunately sunk by a mine. When it was looking for mines. Very unlucky and ironic. Pretty cool restoration housed under an impressive tent.
Despite the battlefields being owned by the National Parks Service it had no dedicated walking trails and the only real option for walking was to follow the road route. The next day we went back and finished the last four mile loop that we hadn’t driven the day before on foot. It was lovely and quiet with only a few cars passing us. We got to see lots more cannons and monuments of bearded officers in frock coats on plinths up close and personal. Unsurprisingly, no other walkers.
For lunch we drove out to a place we had been recommended called The Tomato Place. This was an unprepossessing food stall on the side of a duel carriageway at first glance, but through the back had a great little cafe doing a variety of local dishes and old faves. We shared a plate of fried catfish and fries and a fried green tomato BLT. Mmmm, mmm, mmm! Think we might have undone all our good work with the walk through.
On the way home we took the opportunity to wash Big D whilst he was unfettered. It knocked the worst of the dirt off, but despite a ‘prewash de-bug treatment’, a ‘hot soap wash’, and a ‘jet wash rinse’ he couldn’t really be described as clean. We wonder how all the other trucks and buses in the RV parks stay so shiny. He is generally the filthiest wherever we go. And of this we are secretly proud.
On our return to camp we threw a sponge over TC too and reloaded. All ready for the off again in the morning.