Saturday July 24th 2021

There wasn’t a cloud in the sky most of the day. The temperature climbed to the mid 90s with enough humidity to make it seem like 100 plus temperatures. Late in the day a haze moved into the area blocking some of the sun. I don’t know if the haze is associated with forest fires out west, or something closer. It made the sunset very interesting.

Today I explored the Vicksburg area. The town is located on the banks of the Mississippi River on high ground. It is very easy to see why the location played such a major role in the Civil War. Artillery on the high ground in and around Vicksburg could easily control traffic on the river. If you didn’t understand that before visiting the city, all of the old cannon around town aimed at the river would give you a clue.

I stopped at the Mississippi visitors center just over the Interstate 20 bridge from Louisiana to get the lay of the area. The view of the bridges and river is impressive. From there, I drove into the historic old downtown area. I’m not sure how many of the buildings were around in the 1860s, but the many small brick buildings provided a throw back to another era. I avoided going to the National Battlefield park today. Now that I know were to find it, I’ll go on a less busy day than a Saturday.

I found navigating the roads in the area difficult. Except on the interstate the road signs are poor to nonexistent. Nothing tells you which way to go at major intersections. If your lucky you can see a route marker in the distance on the intersecting road. Even the on ramp to the interstate only had a small route marker with an arrow right at the turn. I never had to turn around, but I did take a few roads that I hadn’t planned on following.