Day 13 Mississippi

The day started with another minor hiccup, which could have been far worse. Late yesterday I saw that my dashboard displayed the “check engine” notice. Obviously, I was concerned that this could cost quite a bit to address and mess up my schedule. I looked online for Kia dealerships on the route for today and found one just north of Birmingham, Alabama. I called as soon as they opened and begged for them to squeeze me in. The service manager said they could run diagnostics and see if it was anything major. Luckily it was not, and a minor fix cost only $100 and two hours out of my schedule.

I have to mention some of the road signs in Alabama. Only in the far deep and very red South would I see a billboard that read, “Make Roofs Great Again.” And my favorite was the Yellawood sign (posted here). But another very big sign intrigued me. I have watched several Hallmark movies. They often involve former high school sweethearts meeting up 15 years later as they coincidentally have to jointly prepare for the town festival. It may be an Ice Festival, or Christmas, Pumpkin, Wine, Chocolate, Quilt, or Maple Syrup Festival. I often think no town would really sponsor a Pumpkin Festival. I definitely would have laughed if they ever made a movie about a peanut festival. So, imagine my surprise when I passed the National Peanut Festival Fairgrounds in Dothan, Alabama. Apparently, every year they sponsor this event with carnival rides, food contests, concerts, dozens of vendors and thousands of people attending. They even run beauty pageants and crown Miss National Peanut Festival and Little Miss National Peanut Festival. Only in America!

By noon, I crossed over the state line and headed for Tupelo, Mississippi. I asked Siri to play perhaps the most mellow song of all time, “Tupelo Honey” by Van Morrison. Just north of Tupelo I visited the Natchez Trace Parkway Visitor Center. The parkway is a 444-mile recreational road and scenic drive starting near Nashville, Tennessee, cutting through the upper corner of Alabama, and running mostly through Mississippi. It roughly follows the “Old Natchez Trace,” a historic travel corridor used by American Indians, European voyagers/settlers (e.g., Hernando de Soto), slave traders, soldiers, and future presidents. The entire stretch is one large National Park, and I specifically added it to my list of scenic byways to experience on my trip.

Close to the halfway point is the Jeff Busby Overlook and Campground. It is the second and last first-come-first-serve campground on my journey. (The first on Day 1 didn’t work out too well as it was full, and I ended up in a Walmart parking lot for the night.) But this campground was wide open when I arrived. It is very much a no-frills site, with no electricity or water hookups, and only rest rooms, but that was enough for me. I took the dogs on a two mile hike up the “Little Mountain Trail” leading up to the Jeff Busby Overlook, which is purportedly one of the highest elevations in the state. The overlook view was okay, but nowhere near as spectacular as the Appalachian overlooks I visited earlier on the trip. The hike was good for the dogs. Gipper understands the concept of a trail and stays mostly on the path. Madison tries to pull me left and right and wants to chase birds and butterflies.

The Jeff Busby Park is not a vacation destination, but it served my purposes as a conveniently located (and free) stop for the night.