Sunday, October 18, 2009: Natchez to Louisiana

Natchez is called the Jewell of the Mississippi because of its beauty. One of the beautiful things in Natchez are the old plantations. We toured the Longwood. It just looks cool, with its octagonal design. Though the exterior structure was completed, the Civil War interrupted the completion of the interior and the plastering of the exterior.

After Longwood we drove through Louisiana into Mississippi.

We stayed at the Bay Hide Away RV Park and Campground. Very nice facility. The restrooms are spacious and well-designed.

Over the years I have begun noticing shower design related to comfort, e.g., hooks and shelves to place stuff, and, even more interesting, keeping the water contained in the smallest area, as opposed to soaking dozens of square feet of floor.

In most showers, the shower head is at head height or below. The shower heads are aimed out, not down. Often the water is aimed out of the shower. Even when the shower head is on one side of the shower aimed toward the other wall of the shower, shooting water horizontally bounces water off the body and some of it flies out the door.

The shower heads in these showers are over six and a half feet high and stick out of the wall so that the water comes almost straight down. By putting the shower head above the person the water is aimed down. Even water bouncing off the body is more likely to be reflected down to the floor. Less water flies horizontally out the door.

I suspect the reader is thinking that a good shower curtain is the answer. Shower curtains work well when people pay close attention to ensure that it is properly tucked in and the water is not sneaking out the sides. Mistakes here are the floor outside the shower is soaked. Though this shower did have a shower curtain, but the curtain and the walls of the shower had relatively little water. Proper placement of the shower heads helps ensure water is reasonably contained even when the curtain is not carefully arranged.

Furthermore, the floors of these showers were angled back toward the shower. The only drain was in the middle of the shower stalls. Showers with drains outside the stalls are much less effective in containing the water inside the stall.

Saturday, October 17, 2009: Famous frogs we know...

We stayed the night in Greenville to visit the museum of the 1927 flood the next morning. The Mississippi flood of 1927 was one of the greatest natural disasters in the history of the US. Chris had read a book, Rising Tide, about it several years ago and wanted to refresh his memory. Unfortunately, the museum advertised as open on Saturday morning was closed. So we drove east toward Leland.

Muppet creator Jim Henson spent his early years in Leland. At Leland is a little memorial building with lots of Muppet stuff and a person who knows a lot about Jim Henson and Muppets and who will not stop telling us about them. As a result, we learned a lot about Jim Henson. She also showed us a video documenting Jim Henson's early career as a puppeteer doing commercials and late night satire. Henson has said that this is the birthplace of Kermit the Frog because the seeds of his creation began during Henson's years exploring the Leland countryside as a child. The little place was actually rather inspirational.



We drove on Jackson, Mississippi where we drove the Natchez Trace Parkway (map) southwest to Natchez, Mississippi. We camped at Natchez State Park, on the Mississippi River. Nice park. Good facilities.

Friday, October 16, 2007: From Arkansas City into Greenville, Mississippi

In the morning we drove down to Arkansas City, Arkansas, near the Mississippi River. During the steamboat area, Arkansas City was a major steamboat stop on the Mississippi River. When the Mississippi River ate Napoleon, the county seat was moved to Arkansas City. The 1927 flooding of the Mississippi River, one of the worst natural disasters in US history, changed the course of the river away from Arkansas City. Arkansas City went into decline, but the county seat remains because the two large towns in Desha County would never agree on where the county seat should be moved. So imagine Admire, Kansas, as a county seat and you have a good picture of Arkansas City.

Kathy's plan was to find out something about the time her great-great grandfather, Samuel Woods Reid spent in Napoleon as a young man. This is where he also joined a Confederate unit called the Napoleon Grays. Family stories about Sam make it believable that he was a part of this hard-drinking bunch of Irish riverboat men! More about this is included here.

It was hoped that Sam would at least show up in a poll tax listing of some type for a year or two so a period of residence would be established (he is listed in the 1860 census at Napoleon). These types of taxes were based on who could vote (mostly adult, white, males) so a young man without property might show up in these listings. Unfortunately, even though the county employees were very helpful, and we checked records in three different buildings, we didn't find anything new on Sam's time in Desha County.

Beside the old high school, now the county courthouse annex, is the boyhood home of John H. Johnson, the publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines.



From Arkansas City crossed the river to Greenville, Mississippi. We spent the afternoon doing laundry. In the evening we ate at "Doe's Eat Place." We entered and left the restaurant through the kitchen. When the waitress approached our table she asked us what we wanted to order. We said we have not seen a menu. She told us the menu was simple

• 10 oz. filet steaks
  
• 2 pound ribeye
• 3 pound T-bone
• 4 pound sirloin
• tamales, or
  
• shrimp
• everything comes with fries
• you can also get a dinner salad with their special oil-vinegar and lemon dressing.

We ordered the 10 oz. filets. Chris ordered a salad. There were two other large tables in the room. At both tables, people had brought bottles of whiskey in sacks and were drinking whiskey out of glasses. We drank one bottle of beer each. While we waited for our meal we read about the fame and culture of this place in a 1994 article from the Fort Worth newspaper. Though I have eaten steaks previously that I could cut with a fork, I do believe this is the best steak either of us has ever eaten. The steaks cost about $33 each. The total bill was $82+. (Without a menu, and without asking, this can come as somewhat a surprise!)

We camped in the city's campsite, Warfield Point Park, down by the river. The spots were nice with plenty of room, but the whole place needs to be refurbished. Restrooms have rusting metal stalls, etc. The sinks are definitely kept clean, it isn't that. It justs needs some loving care.