Back in da Delta: Roadtrip to Vicksburg (and memory lane)!

Wednesday night before Thanksgiving, I got a text from my old college roommate who was back in the state for the holidays. He wanted to get some of the old crew together to hang out on Friday. I haven't seen my old buddy in years; he moved to Tennessee after Pharmacy school and I moved to California.

So my friend RS sends me his Halloween pix, whoa! Certainly an angry looking pharmacist!

Using my "paper" GPS via Google maps!

So Friday afternoon after lunch (a big bowl of Thanksgiving leftover turkey jook), I began the 100 plus mile drive south to Vicksburg. I figured it would take just under 2 hours to drive down the state highways on US 49 to Yazoo City and then MS highway 3.

US 49 south of Greenwood.

The large cotton warehouses of Staplcotn Corp outside of town.

It has been a few years since I've driven down this way toward Jackson, the state capitol since I usually fly into Mississippi thru Memphis, Tn. The drive wasn't too bad, it was sort of hazy with scattering of light rain showers in some places. I made some mental notes of all the nice public hunting and fishing places that were along the way as well as some of the big chemical and paper plants on the way to Vicksburg. There sure were a whole lot of wide open spaces of newly planted fields and pastures all along the way. In my hurry out the door, I only had less than a half a tank of gas and a dirty bug splatted windshield (with no washer fluid in the tank) so driving was little difficult but atleast it was in the daylight hours. Fortunately, navigation wasn't a problem since the signage was pretty good and I was able to reference both my hard copy Google map and my iPhone / map.

Met my friends at the local inn in V'burg.

So I finally rolled into Vicksburg about 2:30'ish. I think this was the first time that I've spent any time in Vicksburg since my freshman days at Ole Miss. I met some great guys at pre-college from Vicksburg's Warren Central High School and spent a couple great Ole Miss football weekends there. Back then, I went to a high school football game, enjoyed some great Southern Hospitality from my friends' parents, and got a personal tour of the Vicksburg Military Park from my friend Bruce, who was very big Civil War buff! Great memories from my college freshman days!

My friends arrived shortly (they were checking out some local museum), we caught up in the hotel lobby while the extended family were coming back from some Black Friday shopping. It was kinda of funny that I seemed to be the only one remembering stuff going on in our college days. My buddy RS kept tell me he didn't remember those incidents. His brother RS2, fortunately had a better memory. Last time I saw RS2 was at the Big Event (Chinese Reunion in Greenville in '87). RS2 was kind enough to put me up when I first moved out to LA on my sidetrip up to the Bay area. It was nice to catch up with the guys (JG, RS, RS2). In a little bit later, I got to meet RS2's family; wife Dena (who was from the Bay area) and their sons Logan, and Bryce. I also got reacquainted with FSC (RS &RS2's younger sister) and her daughter Sarah. The S's have such a nice family!

After some embarrassing college stories (which I won't share here), the whole big group went across the highway to check out the military park. Like I mentioned before, I haven't been here since my freshman days at Ole Miss (this time it seemed alot smaller).

"Vicksburg is the Key"

The Union Army taking the Southern Stronghold of Vicksburg was a major priority during the Civil War. Much resources were poured in from the north to free up the routes down the Mississippi River.

We had a two vehicle caravan for our Civil War tour this afternoon. Lot of States of both sides sent troops to fight in this critical struggle during the 1863 campaign. Many of the participating states have memorial for their troops and commanding officers. The US Park Service which maintains and run the military park charges $8 per carload.

Minnesota Memorial

Our first stop was at the Minnesota Memorial (probable because I wanted a photo of the nice structure and everyone else jumped out and started climbing around the memorial too).

view of Illinois Memorial from Battery de Golyer

Our second stop was at the Illinois Memorial. It was not only very picturesque but had cool acoustical effects with it domed ceiling (which meant the kids all yelled inside the memorial)!