Moving on

Well, its official, Corinth Recreation Area has closed for the winter.  On Saturday, just before closing, we decided we needed one more fire to enjoy the peace and quite which we have come to really enjoy.

We were able to winterize the campground and have everything ready for inspection by the afternoon of Monday, 3 Nov.   It has been a most enjoyable time at Corinth but now it is time to move on and face the world again.  The security of the routine can be alluring but we started this lifestyle so we would break routines and see the country. 
  Our first scheduled stop was just under 2 hours away in Red Bay, AL.  I don't know why it is called Red Bay, which brings up visions of being on a coast somewhere, but Red Bay is as far as you can get from the ocean and still be in Alabama.  We needed to stop here in Red Bay to get some warranty work done on our refrigerator and have them look at the dash heater blower which I was unable to fix.  After a couple of hours and a new relay we were back on the road headed for Whitten Park, which is a Corp of Engineer park on the Tom Bigbee tributary to the Tennessee River in Fulton, MS.

  After having just completed over 4 months as campground hosts it was hard not to 'judge' the campground.  Whitten is a nice place, just not as clean as we like.  Our plan is to stay here a couple nights and then move on. 
 
We decided to take a short trip over to Tupelo, MS on Wednesday 5 Nov to visit Elvis Presley's birth place.  It turned out to be really fun.

Steph outside Elvis's childhood home

Kitchen and Living area of 2 room house

Steph and Tour Guide talking

We spent a good deal of time in the actual home talking with the tour guide.  It turns out that she was a native of Tupelo and was about 3 yrs old when Elvis and his family lived in Tupelo.  The best part was when she was about 12 yrs old, Elvis had already become a mega star but he never forgot his roots in Tupelo.  Elvis was very generous and came back to Tupelo and donated money for many worthwhile causes as well as performing in the county fair as a service to the citizens.  The tour guide was able to spend time around Elvis during these times and had a wonderful perspective of him and just brought life to the tour.

  On Thursday,  6 Nov. we began our trip down to Vicksburg, MS via Natchez Trace parkway.  The parkway follows the original path between Natchez, Ms and an area just south of Nashville, TN used by Indians and traders in early America.  The portion we traveled was from Tupelo, MS to Jackson, MS, about 175mi.  While the road is very narrow it is not used very heavily this time of year and was very pretty.

Natchez Trace Parkway



Ross Barnett Reservoir along the parkway

We stayed for 1 night along the way at a pseudo state park along Barnett Reservoir near Jackson, MS and then we finished our trip on to Vicksburg, MS.  We'll have more on Vicksburg in our next post.