Natchez Trace 2007

In September of 2007 we met the Hoffmans, from our camping group, south of Nashville at the beginning of the 444 mile Nachez Trace then carravanned with them as far as Jackson, MS.

We first went to the Illinois Samboree (Good Sam (camping) Club) over the Labor Day weekend. From there we went to Carlyle, Illinios and stayed at Carlyle Lake. Tom did some genealogy while we were down there and also met with Judy a distant cousin that he found through the Clinton County Historical Society.

While we were in Carlyle, Quark became ill and we found a good vet in Breese, IL. We were told he had pancreatitis. Too much people food. Milton Vet. Clinic faxed his records to Breese vet and he got a shot, pills and special food that he would not touch. He was much better after a couple of days and within a week showed no signs of illness.

From Carlyle our next stop was Land Between the Lakes for a couple of days. This too is one of our favorite places to stay. It is heavily wooded at the COE Canal Campground and most of the sites are tiered. Some spots are lakeside and offer a nice view.

From LBL we stopped to visit with Tommy and Grigsby for 2 days then met the Hoffmans on the Trace. The Trace was great. The maximum speed was, I think, 45 -50 mph. For an RV the road was quite narrow and undulating. There was no shoulder either, but going at a slower speed made it less exciting than at a faster rate.

I won't go into all the details. Here are a few of the places, beside stops on the trace, that we visited on the trip--Springfield Plantation (the caretaker/guide was quite the character), Longwood(just awesome), Elvis' birthplace (we can say we went anyway), Natchez, MS historic district, Corinth, MS and Battlefield (thumbs up), Shiloh Battlefield (thumbs up, too) and the Lincoln Museum and Library in Springfield (superb).

If you are ever camping in Mississippi (and I suppose in other areas of the South) beware of sugar ants. You need a can of Sevn Dust and you must create a perimeter around your RV, tent, picnic table or anything touching the ground that will come in contact with any of the above. Just by dumb luck we parked the Flair in a space that had been dusted by the previous occupant and we were safe. Not so the poor Hoffmans. Those little buggers were everywhere and it took days to get rid of them. Lesson learned.

I almost forgot our encounter with hurricane Humberto. Hurricane Humberto set a record for being the quickest storm to change from tropical depression to Hurricane and make landfall. That all happened in just over 12 hours from the time it formed. The National Hurricane Center in Miami states that only three others did the same but those stayed at sea. Humberto, was also the first hurricane to make a U.S. landfall in two years, and it hit less than 50 miles from where Hurricane Rita made landfall in 2005.

We were located near the 2nd circle from the top (near Stanton, MS) just 5 miles from one of the resulting tornado touchdowns.