Natchez Trace-1/3 down

Our second overnight stop on the Trace was at Jeff Busby Campground. This is the smallest campground on the Trace with only 18 sites.  We got in about 2 p.m. and had no trouble finding a long pull-through.  We did get pretty close to a big tree (3 inches), but Tom took it real slow and I made sure the front wheels did not go off the bank.  He pulled through that spot into the next one and we had a nice frozen Chinese dinner and a quiet evening of reading. We did enjoy the soft background music of Sirius radio’s Blue Grass Music.  Banjos seems appropriate.

The next morning began a day of adventures. We pulled into a couple of pull-outs, Old Trace and Witch Dance to read the history so well displayed at each of these stops.

At Witch Dance instead of driving into the regular pull-out, we drove into the back side, horse trailer parking area.  It looked like we would have to unhook the Jeep and make a 3-point turnaround.  We decided to have lunch and think this thing out.  Sardines, crackers, potato salad, carrots, pineapple cream cheese and jell-o.  After lunch I took the walkie-talkie walked up the road to see where it led; and I wanted to walk off lunch.  Lucky us, there was a big turnaround.  So I called Tom and he came to pick me up.  First “Adventure” avoided.

So we were back on the Trace and the scenery started to look a little different. We started in heavy woods, then open meadows, a large reservoir, and Black Belt soil. We traveled through 5-7 miles of tornado ravaged forest.

We had decided to camp in Tupelo for a couple of days. I looked up camping options and we decided on Tombigbee State Park, $14/night for seniors, 50 amp, water and dump.  What more could we ask for after 3 days dry camping? One little detail that I failed to notice was the directions on the GPS’s were a little fuzzy.   Neither the Garmin nor the Navigation on the the Zoom showed the exact location of the campground.  When we approached the gate to Tombigbee Park there was not a campground sign, the kind that shows a tent glyph or a trailer glyph, so we continued on State Park Road.  When we came to the ‘T’ in the road, we turned right on Rd 1279 to continue around the lake.  We later learned the “Dead End” road sign had been stolen.  When we arrived at the end of the road where if we continued we would be on a private, very narrow dirt road.  That sign said, “No Trespassing”. We unhooked the Jeep and I drove down the road to the left which our Garmin said to continue on.  This was also a dirt road with trees on each side and low branches that would have seriously scratched Da Pad. I found the previous rain had left a wide bog that even the Jeep would have gone up to the undercarriage if I had continued.  So I lowered both rear view mirrors and backed up the road.  After sizing up the situation which entailed my driving back up Rd 1279 to the first turn around option, about .2 of a mile, we decided that Tom would lower both rear view mirrors on Da Pad and back up the road, around 2 tight curves, up a hill, into a driveway, also uphill, and make the turn around.  This is what we call a Big Adventure!  No scratches or dents, just high blood pressure, and even a little laughter.  Tom was such a good sport. Unfortunately, we were so engaged in trying to get out of this predicament we did not get any pictures.

We drove back to the entrance to Tombigbee Park and found the perfect spot to park, the nicest most helpful Ranger, and even enough time to drive into Tupelo to one of my favorite restaurants, Outback. We had a $50 gift card so dinner didn’t cost us a thing.

All’s well that ends well as we are On the Road Again.