A friendly welcome to Madison, Mississippi

We left Jeff Busby Campground early, hitting the road just after 8:00am. Nice clear blue sky all day, but still a little on the cool side. First stop was French Camp, a sort of recreation of old buildings from the 1800's.

They have a sort of visitors center there as well, but I think I read that it doesn't open until 10:00am.

Kind of a pretty little spot, right beside the Natchez Trace Parkway...

French Camp Visitors Center.

Did Jed Clampett used to live here?

Nice old homestead.

We wandered around for a half an hour and then it was back on the Trace, headed south. There are a lot of information points and picnic areas along the Trace... almost too many. You can't stop at them all or you would never get anywhere! But, we try to do the ones that include short hikes, even if it is only a ten or fifteen minute trail.

We stopped at the one called Cole Creek, which is a water tupelo and bald cypress swamp.

 Interesting swamp.

The "knees" of the cypress trees.

Carrying on south, I had looked up a propane place just outside the small city of Kosciusko, Mississippi (pop 7,400). Arrived there, pulled up to the propane pump, and went inside the building.

I asked the price, and the lady says "$3.00 a gallon". That's definitely on the high side, but we needed some. The guy came out with me, and I asked for 5 gallons. That will be enough to get us to somewhere that sells it cheaper over the next week or two.

I went inside to pay, and she says "that will be $16.05". 

Huh? "I thought you said it was $3.00 a gallon..."

"Tax".

Oh, so it's $3.21 a gallon. Now it's definitely on the high side of normal. I would have bought it anyhow, but in my experience, propane has always been like gasoline... priced with the taxes included. Oh well. Good thing I didn't buy much.

We made a stop at the Walmart, and then visited downtown Kosciusko.

The Kosciusko County Courthouse.

Downtown is dead. Many empty businesses. Typical of small town U.S.A., I suppose. The main highway outside of town is sure busy with businesses though.

Kosciusko's claim to fame?

Oprah Winfrey was born just outside of town. She lived her childhood in poverty, and is now probably the richest woman in the world. 

Downtown.

 Hmm. Maybe we'll put this caboose here.

We stopped at the scenic Pearl River picnic area.

 An egret and a blue heron? Other than the colors, they sure like the same.

 Pretty spot.

Scenery along the way.

Another scenic overlook at the Ross R. Barnett Reservoir north of Jackson.

We've occasionally stayed overnight in empty church parking lots. Usually mid-week, there's nobody around except some of them do bible study and stuff like that once during the week, but it's often noted on the church sign at the entrance so we know when their parking lot might be too busy.

If there's anybody around, we always ask if it's okay of we can park for the night.

Anyhow, today we pull into Madison, Mississippi. A suburb of Jackson. The heart of the Bible Belt. There are churches everywhere.

We were planning on parking at a small airport, but the parking lot didn't look big enough. However, across the street from the airport was this huge Baptist Church. I mean, huge. And, a huge parking lot across from the church. Like, Walmart sized parking lot.

Anyhow, we found a spot way in a corner and parked. I walked back over to the church, but the property itself includes a daycare, a recreation center, and a religious school age kindergarten to grade 5.

There were maybe five or six vehicles at the church. I went in and found a couple of teenage girls watering poinsettia plants. With buckets of ice. They say that way the plants get a timed supply of water. Hmph. Okay. 

They led me to the office where I explained my story to the office secretary. She wanted to hear all about our story, and was happy to call the custodian guy to ask about parking. She said we would have been fine, but she was glad that we asked. 

Well, Adam comes around and offers us a spot inside their back parking area where it's a little more secure. Even offers us an electrical outlet to use if we wanted to!

Thanks Adam, and thanks to Ridgemont Baptist Church for welcoming us!

 Sherman, parked for the night at impressive Ridgemont Baptist Church, Madison, Mississippi.
GPS 32.439844, -90.108129

Yesterday's drive, 95 miles (152 kms).

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