Mammoth Does Not Go to Vicksbug Military Monument, Day 5

Sat 9/24

The Day of the Drive From Heck. Beeping noise--hydraulic fluid leaking from jack stand. Called a hydraulic repair shop, closed on Saturday but the guy directed us to O'Reilly's to get a replacement hose made. Sadly, the nearest O'Reilly's didn't have anyone who could make it. They called around--the next closest one had a person who could make it, but their machine was broken. They found a place 35 miles out of our way to the east, with both a working machine and a person who could make the hose.

Ed ended up crawling under the RV and replacing it himself, a dirty job that took hours. Then we had to refill the fluid, which took another hour because our big jug was not sufficient and the store only had little, one-quart bottles. We had no idea how much we'd need, so we bought two at a time--for a ridiculous price.  I ended up having to go inside three times to get more, and the third time took forever--only two guys were working the counter, both were dealing with other customers, and there two people in front of me.

After the hydraulics were fixed, our tire pressure alarm went off. The passenger's front tire was slowly leaking air. We went to a nearby Love's and parked at an air filler machine, which of course, did not work. The lady inside directed us to go to pump #1, where we got in line behind a big truck whose driver was nowhere to be seen. Eventually we gave up waiting, moved over and got our gas, and then went up on the trucker's scale beside pump #1 and used the air hose from the opposite side. The truck driver finally returned and pulled away--just as we were finishing.

After that the drive to the park was almost too bad to describe. It was dark, lightning was flashing in the distance, and I had no map. The park entrance was open but we didn't think to stop and look for a map.  We proceeded to the campground, where our site was marked 'available' instead of 'reserved' and the campground was named differently from what I'd written down. So I thought it must not be the right one. We kept on going and soon ended up going off into darkness down an unknown road with no chance of a turnaround.  A lucky encounter with a ranger coming the opposite way confirmed that we had, indeed, been at the right campground--but there was absolutely no chance of turning around and going back. Our only hope was to proceed on, down narrower and narrower gravel roads, until we exited the park and got back in cell phone signal range.

The moral of that story is, always have a map, always double-and-triple-check the location of your campsite, and never panic. When in doubt, stop and think and look up stuff on your phone, and never never never keep driving!

Mammoth Does Not Go to Vicksbug Military Monument Day 4

Fri 9/23
Morning trip to Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge. Nice one! It had a tiny boardwalk trail up to an observation platform, just a little raised platform overlooking a field. Just as we reached the end of the boardwalk, I said, Holy Shit! and startled a small pack of wild pigs off to our left. They saw us as soon as we saw them, and they skedaddled for heck. Molly got a look at them, but from such a distance I doubt if she got a smell.

 

We also saw a big bunch of turkey hens, both on the drive out and the drive back.  The wildlife drive itself was uneventful, but we don't mind trying. You never know what you'll find, but it's a guarantee you won't find anything sitting at home.

In the afternoon we drove all the way down to Natchez, breaking my rule of never planning a day trip longer than one hour. But it was the whole point of the trip!  The other point, anyway, not counting the Vicksburg Battlefield, closed by tornado. Since we couldn't see that, we were going to see at least one antebellum mansion.

We had a later start than I hoped and then got detoured fifteen miles (or more) out of our way by a sweet potato spill--yes, that's a real thing. A truck hauling boxes of sweet potatoes had apparently tilted during its turn onto the Interstate. Probably it went up on a curb. Two or more boxes of sweet potatoes had dumped out onto the highway. A policeman was routing traffic onto the west-bound Interstate, and like a couple of idiots we went the way he told us to. The minute we did it, I knew that was a stupid, stupid thing. We were in the Jeep, for crying out loud. All we had to do was make a tight U-Turn and then we could have easily detoured around the mess to the south and east.

But no, there we were, headed in the exact opposite direction from where we needed to go, and the next exit wasn't for fifteen miles.  We were able to take an alternate route and so we didn't have to double back the whole fifteen miles, but still we'd lost so much time there was no way we'd make the two o'clock tour of the mansion. 

It was a long drive but a smashing reward at the end--the Mighty Mississippi River!  Having grown up on the banks of the Ohio River, I always considered that one big, but this one, of course, is really big.

We arrived about ten minutes too late, so we walked around the grounds until the three o'clock tour started.. We were at the Melrose Mansion, owned and operated by the National Park service. It was in great shape, having been continuously occupied until the seventies or so. Most of the furnishings were original and they looked great. Sadly, we were no allowed to see the back passage to the dining room, where slaves brought in meals, or the butler's pantry. And the slave quarters back across the way were locked.  And also, sadly, the tour guide explained that the reason for the sad state of the gardens was because they'd lost their gardener and were looking for a new one.  They weren't ugly, or too grown over, but it clearly hadn't been kept up for a few years. I totally missed seeing "Laura's garden", a little planting made in honor of a slave girl.

The tour guide was great! A young dude who'd worked with the park service for quite a few years, but was still enjoying his job and learning all he could. He knew and conveyed loads of stuff.

 

After our lovely tour, there was only time for a quick stop to gawk at the Mississippi
before heading back to the dogs. They got a long walk of forgiveness, and Molly got to take the route through the "bear habitat." Sadly, no bears in evidence.

Mammoth Does Not Go to Vicksbug Military Monument, Day 3

Thursday 9/22

On to Poverty Point Reservoir State park.  I thought it was a strange name, and assumed it had something to do with the living conditions of the settlers here. But apparently that was the name given to one of the ancient tribes--the Poverty Point civilization.

The park map says,
Also on site are the Marsden Mound Trails, a group of five earthen, Neo-Indian mounds, dating from the Tchefuncte through the Coles Creek civilizations, and possibly later.

 

 Yeah. What it didn't say was that the mounds were leveled for agriculture and excavated a long time ago, probably in the 1930s. The tallest mound was 10-13 feet tall and the others 4-5, with a raised wall connecting them. But they all seem to be gone. While I was walking the dog I did come across a strange uprising in the ground, a ways away from the marker. Possibly it was one of them?

 

Also this sign for "Mound B" in the middle of a dense woodlot.

 
 

 

 

Anyway, we felt defeated. Yet again we'd set out to see a historical artifact, only to find it gone. Like that village in Arkansas--all that was left there was a bit of iron pipe by the river.

Here's the review I posted on campgroundreviews.com:
Asphalt surface, very nice and level.The 30/50 amp power worked fairly well although the 50-amp circuit only had a single breaker. It glitched a few times while we were running both air conditioners, so we backed off to just one and switched the water heater to LP gas.  The dump station was very nice.

Not crowded down where we were, but at the end of the park with full hookups, it got very crowded during the weekend. But not especially noisy. A good number of people had bright lights in their campsites, but none shone directly in our windows so we could not complain. But the night sky view was ruined.

We failed to see a bear despite trying very hard.  There were a few trails, very mosquito-ey at the time of year but also very easy to follow. A number of people were fishing in the little river that runs through the park. There's also a large reservoir just beside the park.  Note that the Marsden Mounds no longer exist, except as a mowed area of ground with a historical marker.

 

This campsite will become legend due to the abundance of sticky leaves that we managed to track into the motorhome. Something about the tree--it's just a hackberry, which I'd never known to have a sticky substance--or some tiny insect, or maybe it's just in the air, has coated everything here with a sticky residue. The falling leaves glue themselves to everything--our shoes, our chairs, our dogs! It's like living in a sugar factory.

Other than that, it's unremarkable. Not crowded at all over at the end of the campground we are in although it's pretty crowded by the entrance. I suspect those are full hookup sites. I tried to get one of the three pull-thru, full hookup sites when I made the reservaion, but those were reserved for walk-ins or some such nonsense.

Pretty walk, pretty lake. And birds.

We actually had a horrid time leveling, at first. I'd directed Ed to back up as far as possible, which put the leveling stands just behind the concrete "stop" bar. That's an okay thing to do, so far as I know, but that put our back end quite a few inches lower than the front, which seems to have freaked out the leveling mechanism. It kept hoisting all four wheels off the ground and then tiling us sharply to the left.

Ed tried multiple times, tried some tricks, and then finally gave up and took the suggestion I'd made early on--to pull forward a couple of feet and see if the levelers liked that better. And that did the trick--first try and only the slightest of adjustments--in fact, I believe all four tires were ON the ground this time. Where they belong!

Across the river to Vicksburg and a not-so-memorable supper. Rusty's Riverfront Grill. Very high ratings.  The salads were poor (bad blue cheese dressing; old lettuce.) My food was good but not a great combination (blackened fish with a crawfish cream topping.) Ed's fried fish platter was tasteless.

Mammoth Does Not Go to Vicksbug Military Monument Day 2

 Wed 9/21 Day 2

A second day at Beaver Dam campground. It's really hot right now, with highs in the mid-90s and no wind at all. And a little humid, too--humid enough that our motorhome windows fogged up from the air conditioning running inside. Luckily our little de-humidifier is still humming along.

With the heat and our horrible colds, we just didn't have much energy for moving about. I'd taken one of Ed's 4-hour antihistimine tablets the night before, and that dried up my sinuses beautifully, allowing me a lovely sleep. In fact, I fell asleep literally "as soon as my head hit the pillow." I woke up many hours later and was surprised to see Ed in bed, snoring away. Usually I wake up--or am already awake--when he goes to bed.

Something-- either the drugs or the sleep or the good meal the night before--made me feel much better in the morning. But still no energy. We dragged over and walked a little ways on the trail across the upper lake spillway, but turned around halfway across the earthen dam between the two lakes. Or were they two parts of the same lake?  Dunno.

 

Then I ate a little lunch and took a little nap. At least the nap took place outdoors, in my lounge chair. But after a while the sun shifted around the trees and glared at me until I awoke. It was oddly refreshing, unlike the usual nap which leaves me hot, bothered and miserable.

Molly got a fairly nice, long walk in the afternoon. We went back to the boat ramp where the trail we'd taken in the morning started, but there were a few people hanging about and I decided to turn back. We detoured onto a side trail for a little while, but like the trail of the day before, it appeared to be taking us to a big, empty spot on the map. So we returned. All we saw were a couple of rabbits; all we heard was a possible summer tanager off in the trees.

And that was pretty much it for the second day. Not a bad day, by any means. Molly got a second walk just at dusk, pretty much the same route. It was dark when we returned and the stars were out, Jupiter was astonishing, and the Milky Way was way crazy beautiful. There wasn't a lot of sky exposed, but what there was was pretty amazing.

Mammoth Does Not Go to Vicksbug Military Monument Day 1

Tue 9/20

This trip was trashed by a tornado. It appears that a tornado went through the National Military Monument at Vicksburg. They had to close the whole park and cancel all the camping reservations. I only found this out when I went to the web page to verify my reservation--early last week. I called the park, and the lady who answered said that she was just about to start calling campers who'd made reservations.

Great--since this was the place that the whole rest of the trip was built around.

However, for reasons that shouldn't be explained, we were in no mood to cancel the whole trip. So I found a new site for two of the three days we'd planned for the Military Monument campground, and I extended our stay at the campground coming before it.

Which is where we were headed, bright and early on a Tuesday morning. Beaver Dam Campground at Caney Lake Recreation Area, Kitsatche National Forest.

I don't remember the drive very well. My head cold had reached its apex and I was miserable, snotty, and dozing off most of the trip. We arrived after about four hours of drive time (including a 20-minute backup at road construction just West of Shreveport) and a 30-minute refuel stop at a huge, crowded Love's. The dogs got their walk and water before we were even done filling up the tank.

Next we had the joy and excitement of driving through Shreveport on I-20. Wow. That is some rough road. It would be miserable even in a car with healthy shock absorbers--in Mammoth I was surprised we didn't break anything or shake our  brains loose.

 

With difficulty I overrode Google Maps recommendation and forced it to bring us in from the East side of the park. It turned out to be very easy to find that way. I was told that the western entrance was impossible to navigate so I didn't even try. And on we went, following signs (why can I never remember to print a map???) to the camping loop and our site. The places was nearly deserted--I saw a host and maybe two other campers. There were several sites marked "reserved" but without any dates, so who knows?

REVIEW:
Site 16
Quiet, quiet and more quiet. Even the birds were silent this early fall weekday. Since we were there on Tuesday and Wednesday, the campground was mostly empty. It is--as we were warned--far off the Interstate on some pretty narrow, junky roads. But nothing we had trouble with. On advice from other campers, we took the eastern route, though Minden and up 159.
The camping pad was asphalt, pretty level, and very long. Crumbling at the edges but who cares? 50-amp power was excellent; water fine. The dump station was small but usable.
Our site 16 was in a little loop along with two other sites--it would be a good place to camp with friends. We had a view of the lake through trees with a mowed spot where you could easily access the lake for fishing or launching a kayak. (You'd get your feet wet, though)
The campground loop road is very narrow and had a few overhanging branches, but they were small enough to be ignored or ducked around.  I'd strongly advise printing out a campground map before you go--it wasn't all that hard to find our site, but it could have been easier with a map.3
I didn't try the restroom or showers.
Trails meander here and there through the camping area, boat ramp and spillway. At the tiny boat ramp there is a trail that crosses the spillway, goes over a bridge, then continues between the two lakes on a grassy bank. After that it goes up a nice, shady hill with lots of tall trees, but we didn't go that far. It would be worth going on to the end...where ever that is. I didn't have a map and never saw any sort of ranger station that might have had maps. But no matter, the trails were easy to follow.

Some good facts to enjoy

 Factfulness:
Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think
by Hans Rosling, Ola Rosling, Anna Rosling Rönnlund

Well, I stand enlightened. I knew my views o
f the world were probably a little on the pessimistic side, but I had no idea how much they were. Mind you--this book is not all rosy and cheery. It's just facts.

He tends to divide the world's living conditions into four groups or "levels", with one being what we'd call pretty backward--no running water, food insecurity, no toilet; and four being the standard western lifestyle. Which, by the way, not every one in even America meets. But the majority of the world is on level 2 right now but it's not a big majority--almost as many live on level 3, with running water, a refrigerator, transportation to work, kids finishing high school. And in a few years, the curve will shift upward and that will be the majority.

The main thing I learned is that yeah, even in arenas that are very depressing, the trend is often upward. You just need to look at the numbers. Women are having fewer babies, even in catholic countries, and the babies are living longer. Kids are getting vaccinated--although in America, maybe not for long.

So I recommend this book. It's readable--very--but not light or "trendy". The research is serious and the math is not trivialized.

Okay...ish mystery

Unsafe Haven
by Lucy Burdette


She can write suspense, I'll say that for her. I found this hard to put down even though I didn't feel closely bound to any of the characters. The only one I really liked was the cop's daughter who was doing her teenage act-out number in a frighteningly dangerous way. Her mother had died, she felt alienated from her father(s), and all the anger, stress, and raging hormones had her whacked out, totally.

But she befriended a lost girl on the street and just might have come to act like a decent person by the end.

So the book is suspenseful, freakishly fast-paced, and full of potential. But while Ms. Burdette set the stage for the other characters to be deep and heart-warming in their varied problems and life situations, I never got sucked in enough to really care. Yeah, Miss Main Character, you blew your chances for a wedding by your own weak-willed nature, saying yes to so many people that you never had a thought of your own. Yes, you redeemed yourself in the end--(best part of the book)--but that didn't make me ever want to meet you in literature again.  Sorry--not my idea of a new best friend.

And I'm not criticizing the writing--it was superb so far as I noticed--but it hit a couple of my superpet peeves. Changing perspective and jumping inside too many people's heads, for one. And really unexpected leaps of insight unsupported by logic, for another. Plus an awful lot of coincidences. Oh, well--still a very good book, just not my fave.