VICK and SHIL

Corinth, MS

Haven't posted at all this trip yet... apologies... it's just too damn hot to get motivated. I guess they broke a record in Vicksburg yesterday at 100. The van doesn't have the best air conditioning to begin with, so when you turn on 7 computers and fire up some strobe lights, it's pretty much like an oven with air blowing on you. I think our thermostat said anywhere between 91 and 96 inside the van.

Started in New Orleans on Monday. Hot. Had to do some work on the truck, stayed on the outskirts.

Drove up to Vicksburg on Tuesday.


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Collected all of the park, like I mentioned hot. Sticky hot... reminded me of why I like Colorado heat so much. It's hot, but it doesn't make your clothes a continuation of your skin for the rest of the day.

Vicksburg National Military Park was pretty neat. They have an ironclad on display there... inspiration for the ever-typical McConaughey movie (Sahara)...

The museum next to it didn't open until 930 this morning though, so we didn't get a chance to look at it. Pretty neat looking thing though, I think they fished it out of the Yazoo River after it sank.... I don't think McConaughey helped.

The battle of Vicksburg, like Chattanooga, is associated with the rise of Grant through the ranks of the US Army. He was part of the command that laid siege to Vicksburg for over a month. The siege ended on July 4th, 1863... a day after Gettysburg. Also since it ended on the 4th of July, the city of Vicksburg didn't celebrate it again until 1931, a little salty I guess.

Lincoln famously said that "Vicksburg is the key...." meaning that since Vicksburg is an important port/passage on the Mississippi it must be held in Union control to ensure victory.

Ate dinner at a nice place in town last night. Rusty's Riverfront Grill... I think it was burned down and rebuilt since that picture. I ate some alligator though and as you might expect... pretty much like a fishy tasting chicken. Also had some soft-shell crab stuff with Maryland crab... not too shabby.


Today we drove up to Corinth (I guess it's pronounced "Caar-inth", imagine it with a southern twang). Also the site of another important Civil War battle.

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The drive up consisted of driving on Natchez Trace Parkway, NPS owned. It traces the path that many Native Americans took when moving between the Southern Mississippi valley and Tennessee. It was nice, had a lot of trees coming over the road, very picturesque. Although I once had this question on trivial pursuit...

"What NPS Parkway has sometimes been called the boringest road in America?"

You guessed the answer... Natchez Trace... I guess I would have to disagree... I've been on much more boring... maybe I-80 through Wyoming? Nebraska? Iowa? Any of those would work.

More about Corinth... this town was put under siege after the bloody battle of Shiloh. The town is an important railroad crossing, so whomever had control would have crucial supply sources.

We're collecting the Shiloh battlefield tomorrow, it's about 30 miles NE of here. Then onto Memphis, then home to Denver on Friday. Nice short trip. Good thing, this heat is making me sick I think.