Clinton, Mississippi

    It rained hard last night and was raining off and on this morning.  As we got ready to disconnect our power and take off, the rain began again in force.  Rick was drenched below the bottom of his short raincoat.  We waited for a lessening of the rain and then finished closing up and got underway.  As we drove down the parkway we found ourselves in dark green, dripping, tunnels.  Here and there a thick mist drifted past.  I was so happy to be in our snug RV instead of being an Ohio boatman walking home through the wet woods in sopping wet wool clothing after a wet night.

     We saw a lot of tornado destruction today.  Not houses, but areas where all the trees for miles were twisted and broken.  Over and over there were places where downed trees had fallen across the road and been cut up to move them off the road.  It must have been quite the job for the National Park Service to get the roadway open again as this went on for miles and miles.  We have been seeing lots of State Farm trucks in the RV parks and a huge FEMA trailer.  Lots of post tornado work for them all.

     One of our stops today was the French Camp Historic District.  Buildings from many eras of the history of the trace have been gathered here to provide a view of what life was like living along the Natchez Trace.  Pioneer Lewis LeFleur first traded with the Choctaw Indians at a bluff near Jackson, Mississippi. About 1812, he established his stand 900 feet to the northeast on the Natchez Trace. Because of the storekeeper's nationality the area was often called "French Camp.”  Cabins, a blacksmith shop, and carriage house are all part of this historic exhibit.

    At the end of the day we stopped to walk along a boardwalk over a cypress swamp in an abandoned river channel.  Water tupelo and bald cypress trees can live in deep water for long periods. After taking root in summer when the swamp is nearly dry, the seedlings can stay alive in water deep enough to kill other plants.  I saw some turtles sliding off a floating log, but Rick saw a sign warning us of alligators.  We did not see any.

We are spending the next three nights in Clinton, a suburb of Jackson, MS.  The RV park is basically a paved area in the center of a large mobile home complex.  Lots of trees and green grass around the mobile homes, but not much but blacktop for our RV spots.  At least the weather is cooling down so we aren’t sitting in a sea of blacktop when it is over 90.  Nice folks in the next spot to talk with so we will manage.