I hope your week is going well and as always, I really appreciate you dropping by to pick up your daily Postcard From The Road!
Today's Postcard will be one final peek at the old gals parked at Stone Mountain Campground for the Country Living Fair gathering.
I hope your week is going well and as always, I really appreciate you dropping by to pick up your daily Postcard From The Road! Mornin' everyone. Thanks for stopping by on this Tuesday morning to pick up your Postcard. With so much going on around us today in terms of weather and storm damage, I'll simply offer you more photos of Sweet Sister Trailers.....
This morning my thoughts and prayers are with my Sisters, T@Bbin' buddies, and friends in the NE who are dealing with the effects of this horrible storm called Sandy. Take care and be safe!
Today's Postcard will simply be photos of some of the grand old trailers from this weekend's gathering at Stone Mountain, GA. Enjoy... Becky and I were in no hurry whatsoever this morning to get up and at 'em, so we slept in until 8:00. After showers, coffee, and breakfast, we got some ice for the cooler. Then we drove over to the souvenir shop at the Skylift to find a postcard for Jessie and a magnet for SplashT@B. Shuttle schedule for the Fair. Back at the campground, I strolled around and snapped photos of all the trailers that I missed yesterday. Knowing that the traffic coming into the park for the Fair would be outrageous this morning, we decided to ride the shuttle over. We were right about the traffic and that caused our shuttle to be way off schedule and we had quite a long wait. We couldn't believe how far away people were having to park! Since we shopped the right side of the walkways and vendors yesterday, our plan today was to finish the left side. At noon we started at the Sister trailers on display and spent the next three hours strolling and looking at all the cool stuff we didn't see yesterday. It took a long time for the shuttle to pick us up for our ride back to the campground. Once back at site #230, we crashed for a while. Bob, Susan, Rich and Sue stopped by so we could talk about our route home tomorrow. Then we all drove over to say goodbye to Sandi and John and wish them safe travels heading back to Cape Cod with the big storm coming their way! Everyone is pulling out around 9 in the morning, but Sandi and John won't stay with us because they have a two-day drive and they want to try to beat the bad weather if possible. After getting back to our site, we broke camp and packed for the trip home. All we'll have to do in the morning is hitch up and head out with the others for North Carolina.
So once again, thanks for stopping by to pick up your Country Living Fair Postcard. Check back on Monday and I'll share all my Sister stories and photos with you. Have a safe weekend y'all. Evenin' everyone. Becky and I are tucked into SplashT@B after a long, incredibly fun day. We did so much today that there simply isn't room to get it into one Postcard. So I'll just focus on the Country Living Fair and leave the four featured trailers, Maurrie and Becky's 4:00 program, and our 5:30 appetizer and Cowgirl party for another Card or two! It was a gorgeous morning here on the lake at Stone Mountain. I captured a couple photos of the day waking up even before I had my first cup of coffee. It was a treat to have a leisurely morning. Becky and I drove over to the Fair at ten when it opened, found a great parking spot, pulled out our tickets, and proceeded to spend the next seven hours there! What in the world did we do for all that time? We shopped at all the vendors on the right side of the walking path (we'll do the left side tomorrow), we volunteered at the four Sisters on the Fly display trailers and sold quilt raffle tickets from 1 to 3, we ate hot dogs for lunch with Rebecca, we visited with folks interested in SOTF, and we listened to Maurrie and Becky present a program in the main tent about our organization. Would you believe that I took over 100 photos at the Fair?! That will give me Postcard material for lots of days to come...LOL!
Thanks for stopping by tonight to check in and see how our day went. It was fun.....pure-t fun!! Evenin' everyone. I've got a late evening Postcard for you from the campground at Stone Mountain Park in Georgia. Becky and I are here with Sisters on the Fly and a bunch of our T@Bbin' buddies for the Country Living Fair that opens tomorrow and runs through Sunday! We gathered over at Sandi and John's compound for happy hour and supper around 5:15. They made the long trip down from Cape Cod and arrived yesterday. John grilled pork tenderloins and asparagus, Sandi made a salad, Susan fixed a lentil salad, and Becky supplied the Halloween sugar cookies. What a feast!! Here's a rundown of who's here for the weekend...me and Becky, Susan and Bob, Rich and Sue, Sandi and John. Diane joined us for supper and even though she lives less than 20 miles away, I don't think we'll be seeing her any more this weekend because of that four-letter word called work.
Becky is already sacked out for the night and I'm right behind her. With temperatures dropping down into the upper 50's, it ought to be a great night for sleeping! Thanks for dropping by for a late night Postcard.....talk to you tomorrow from the Fair! One of the many fun things to do when caravanning and camping with friends is to find unique, unusual, local places to eat. Being on the road for 12 days insured that we would have an opportunity to do just that. After we left Grand Gulf Military Park and Campground on Tuesday, we headed south through Port Gibson down Highway 61. We had a destination in mind for lunch.....The Old Country Store. We were on a mission for chicken.....Arthur Davis's chicken! If you didn't know about the Country Store in Lorman, MS, you might dismiss it as a junky old place and keep on driving. But the line of cars outside would likely get you to thinking that something is going inside and you should check it out! We had to find places along the road to park our T@Bs and no one but Becky and I knew what to expect. We stopped there on our last trip down the Trace, but didn't time it well enough to stay and eat. The 130-year-old wooden building was once a popular stop for buying anything from cotton to work boots. Creaky floors and chipped china speak of older days. Thousands of business cards are stapled to the walls as you head to the restrooms. Diners, like ourselves, head towards the back, where Arthur Davis dishes up a lunch buffet with Southern favorites like mustard greens, field peas, dirty rice, green beans. Desserts include peach and blackberry cobbler. But nothing upstages the fried chicken. Arthur says, "My grandma taught me how to get the recipe for my fried chicken just right. I've been making this recipe for years. Our birds go straight from the market to frying pan." "Fried chicken," he says, "is a great item to sell." The very first bite of that hot, crispy chicken will make you a believer! It's definitely some of the best I've ever eaten. And right up there with the chicken was his fried okra. Conversation was at a minimum as we were busy eating! Several times Arthur dropped by our table to make sure everything was OK and to tell us that more hot chicken was about to come out of the kitchen. On two of those trips to our table, he sang to us! Down near Natchez at milepost 41.5 there is a portion of the Old Trace that draws visitors, photographers, and day dreamers. The sign at the parking lot doesn't prepare you for what you'll see just down the path. Walk a little further, turn left and go down a steep hill, and you'll be standing on a stretch of the Trace that will make you say, "Oh my!" Animals were responsible for first wearing down this path. Then came the people. You are looking at the effects of time, hooves, feet, and weather. It's not hard to imagine how easily outlaws would hide atop the earthen walls and then ambush you as you walked by. This section of the Trace, more than any other in my opinion, gives you a true feel for what travel along the old footpath was really like. Milepost 41.5 is not to be missed!
One of the most popular stops along the trace for Caravaners like ourselves, is the Meriwether Lewis Historic Site. Our timing was spot-on for a mid-day stop that included our first parking lot picnic. We make quite the sight when we park, pull out our tables and chairs, and spread out lunch. We always draw looks and often end up giving T@B tours as a result...that Wednesday was no exception. As soon as we pulled in, I saw that a new parking lot for trailers and new restrooms had been added since our last visit. The park rangers who were mowing stopped what they were doing and watched us set up. I think they got a big kick out of it!
The biggest attraction here is the grave of Meriwether Lewis, whose death remains a mystery to this day. I know you remember that Lewis was the co-leader of the famous Lewis and Clark expedition. On the night of October 10, 1809, he was either shot to death or committed suicide here at Grinder's Stand. Mrs. Grinder, the innkeeper's wife, reported that she heard two gunshots, but was too afraid to investigate. The next morning, Meriwether Lewis was found barely alive with wounds to his head and chest. He was only 35 when he died that day and was buried here along the Trace. The State of Tennessee put up this monument in 1848, with a broken shaft, to represent his untimely death at such a young age. A bit of history, a great lunch, a stroll on the Old Trace, the first of many stamps for our National Parks Passport book, and a visit to Lewis' grave on the anniversary (October 10) of the day he was shot.....what a great day for thirteen Natchez Trace Caravaners!
It's a beautiful Sunday morning here in North Carolina and my mind is back on the Trace.....not any particular place along the Parkway, just on the road itself. Unless you have meandered along the 444 miles, it's hard to understand the draw that it has. Unlike my beloved Blue Ridge Parkway here in North Carolina, the Natchez Trace Parkway's beauty doesn't come from sweeping mountain vistas. It's mostly flat terrain, with the road often being totally covered in shade from thick forests on either side. Around the next curve you'll drive through stretches of open fields and pastures and maybe be lucky enough to see a crop duster over a field of cotton. I love descriptions of the Parkway that I have read that call it a "ribbon of time", a "passageway through the southwest territory", "uncomplicated and complex", and a road that "asks you to slow down". The very first Trace was an Indian trail. The Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Natchez Indians all wandered these lands and called them home. Today there are ancient earthworks and mounds dating back thousands of years. Emerald Mound, the Chickasaw Village Site, Pharr Mounds, Bear Creek Mound, and Cave Spring are just some of the prehistoric sites that will take you back in time. The Kaintuck Boatmen contributed to traffic on the Old Trace in the late 1700s. They floated their goods down the Cumberland, Tennessee, Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to Natchez and then walked back home on trail. It didn't matter which state they hailed from, they were all called Kaintucks. The walk home was roughly 500 miles and might take as long as 40 days. At one time, there were more than 50 "stands" along the route that offered a meal and lodging for the travelers. Today there is only one remaining, Mount Locust at milepost 15.5. The Natchez Trace was also used by settlers and post riders. They faced difficult travel due to mud holes, mosquitos, snakes, wild animals, and poison ivy. To make matters worse, bands of outlaws, thieves, and murderers roamed the Trace looking for prey. If you survived the walk, you were lucky! The Trace also has a rich military history beginning with Hernando de Soto in the 1500s, the U.S. Army stationed at the northern end in 1801-02, Andrew Jackson's troop travel during the War of 1812, and Civil War action at the Battle of Raymond and nearby Vicksburg, Tupelo, Brices Cross Roads, and Shiloh Battlefields. Today's traveler on the Natchez Trace has the opportunity to explore its natural wonders too. More than 2200 plant and 350 animal species can be found. There are bluffs, swamps, waterfalls, springs, creeks, waterways, and nature walks to be visited. The Natchez Trace Parkway is one great outdoor museum! I hope that one day you can travel The Trace. Take it slow, stop at the mileposts, read the historical markers, imagine what an arduous trip it would have been on foot in the 1800s.
Thanks for stopping by today for your Postcard and tomorrow I'll share a bit more information about The Trace with you. Enjoy your weekend!! |
I am.....~ always dreaming Cool Sites...Favorite Photos!
Archives
June 2021
Visited States |