Tuesday July 27th 2021

Not long after I finished writing yesterday’s blog entry, rain has been a prominent factor in my life. At bed time a noisy, flashy and rainy storm arrived. The lightening produced a very dramatic show with the accompanying thunder and heavy rain on the roof. Getting to sleep was delayed by about an hour, but the show was entertaining.

Most of the day today a hazy sun has hovered overhead. The temperature climbed into the mid nineties. Every couple of hours a dark cloud would appear in the sky and drop heavy but very isolated rain. It could be raining in one location while across the street it was dry and sunny. At the supper hour tonight another whopper of a thunderstorm came through. Based on my weather radar app, it most have formed right overhead. It brought more thunder, lightening, rain and a new ingredient, hail. The hail was small and only lasted a couple of minutes. The storm lasted about an hour.

The inconsistent weather kept me from driving the Vicksburg battlefield tour road. I’ve learned a lot about the battle and the conditions in 1863 from the other things I’ve done while here. The idea of touring the monuments and displays on the battlefield isn’t as important to me as the overall history of the area. Maybe some day I’ll be back in the area to drive the tour road, but I won’t feel deprived if I don’t.

The other thing on today’s agenda was a trip to Walmart for some groceries. I’m moving on tomorrow to Tunica Mississippi. I’ll be there trough the weekend. There isn’t much in that area other than a few active Casinos and a couple of abandoned ones. I stayed in the area in 2018. This time around I needed a place for a few days while I figure out my next few weeks of travel.

After the big afternoon storm, I got the bicycle loaded on the car and some of the other complicated outside travel preparation tasks complete. In the morning I’ll finish the inside tasks and finish the outside prep. My plan is to get on the road by ten.