Across the Mississippi

May 11, 2007
Vicksburg, MS

We were fortunate to have a great day for driving today, and we took advantage of it. After all the clouds and thunderstorms we had in McKinney for the last week-and-a-half, today dawned bright, clear, and comfortable. We'd done most of our departure chores last night, so we were able to hit the road around 8:30 this morning.

At the last minute, we decided to continue with our new theme of "getting off the Interstates", and headed out of McKinney eastbound on US-380. About 30 miles later, we headed south (actually southeast) on US-69 toward Tyler. From there, we were able to pick up I-20 toward Shreveport, and then into Vicksburg, just across the Mississippi River. We'll continue on I-20 tomorrow to Birmingham, the I-59 to Gadsden, then US-431 to Albertville. We'll try to make each day at least partially a back road adventure.

The drive was uneventful, although the roads in Louisiana are clearly vying for the 'Worst in the US' title. Given all the federal funds poured into pork-barrel highway projects, there's just no excuse for the major roads in any state to be in such a sad state if disrepair. Of course, Louisiana's had its share of other places to pour tons on money lately. It's just so frustrating to read about the waste and corruption, and then see the conditions left "on the ground". And we're not even close to the coast and their issues. OK; end of soapbox.

Tonight's stop is at a small RV Park associated with the Ameristar Casino here in Vicksburg. Mississippi (one of the poorest states in the nation) has embraced the casino gambling industry with open arms. There are psuedo-riverboats up and down the river, dating back to the days when gambling was limited to sailing vessels. Over the years, the the riverboats stopped moving and became permanently docked gambling halls, and now every truck stop and convenience store has a casino inside. There's shuttle in this park that'll take you to the casino, but we'll pass on that and just make ourselves a nice dinner "at home". Besides, we've got to use up some of the stuff we bought at Central Market (like a Whole Foods) in Plano.

The park isn't like the casinos I stayed at in California. Those had large parking areas where lots of RV (all shapes, sizes, vintages, and quality levels) were "boondocking" or "dry camping" (i.e., no water, electric, or sewer connections) for free. This is a fully-equipped park, with about 100 sites (about 20% full), each with full (water, electric, sewer) hookups, a concrete slab to park on (some of which have seen better days) and cable TV connections. At $27/night for 50 amp service (30 amp is a little less), it's a little pricier than I'd have preferred, but we need the 50 amps to run the A/C and it's warm (upper 80's or low 90's on arrival). And it's quieter than a rest area or truck stop, and there's on-site security. All in all, a reasonable compromise. We're not near the river, so we don't have a view, but that's OK. We're only here overnight, so I just plugged in the electricity and didn't even unhook the car (all the sites are angled to allow easy pull-thrus). Tomorrow morning, we'll just pull in the slides, roll in the cord, put the car back in "neutral" and be on our way.

Since I got some positive feedback on the last pictures, tonight I'll post some more from McKinney and here, then we'll see how far back in the archives I get.