Day 5. Yuck! With me it’s never what I imagined or hoped for. The Park was OK, but 3 days was enough. On Thursday afternoon I drove 15 miles up to Cherokee, NC. It was one of the most UNappealing places I’ve ever been thru: wall-to-wall Native American ‘craft & souvenir’ places, each one the same as the next, for blocks on end. And, a casino, proudly owned by the Eastern Cherokee Nation. Not a drunken squaw in sight, which would have been a saving grace. Give me a break!
But do not despair for Tonto & his ilk, because what’s off the reservation isn’t much better. Friday afternoon was spent on the road thru some beautiful scenery in Nantahala National Park, along river rapids that were the sight of the kayaking events during the Atlanta Olympics. I believe that I rafted down that river way back when in was working for the TVA, in the mid-80’s, but everything is so developed now that I don’t recognize a thing.
On Saturday I arrived in Natchez, MS, to have lunch with an ‘Internet Buddy’ who’s a police Captain there. What a depressed and depressing place. Except for a little downtown that caters to the rich folk it is a place that’s dying, with loss of population, revenue and everything. The PD is a wreck from my perspective. I’d never apply for a job there, so that’s one good lesson learned.
Then, it was on to Vicksburg, MS. I have to say the Natchez Trace Parkway is a gem. Read the link and you’ll know as much about it as I do. I drove on it for 40 miles or so towards Vicksburg and then traveled thru Port Gibson, which has some history and is on The Mississippi Blues Trail.
Vicksburg is a lost cause. In the 15 years or so since I last drove thru it has turned into a riverboat casino town. The waterfront is ruined and virtually inaccessible, and the ‘Historic Downtown’ was empty of people at 1700 on a Saturday. Fully half of the storefronts were empty as well.
This is a Black-persons accomplishment 'museum.'
The reference to House of Israel is a mystery!
On Sunday I drove thru miles and miles of corn and soybean growing on true bottom land along Hwy 61. Then I drove thru miles and miles more. Where the fields were irrigated things looked good to this city boy, but where they were not, things looked beaten down by drought.
One stop on the way to Memphis was Lake Enid, a Corps of Engineers facility just south of town that was quite beautiful and only sparsely used. The Ranger said it was too hot to be out on a boat!?
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