more Road Trip - Natchez and Tallulah

The Natchez Trace is the original road, or "trace" between Nashville and Natchez.  It has been restored to a very good 2-lane road, with a 50mph speed limit that makes for a leisurely drive through very picturesque country - a lot of it has big trees with Spanish moss overhanging the roadway, and historical signs and sites are frequent.  Here is one that's about 30 miles N. of Natchez, during a segment that we drove.  For further information:  Read the Book of Mormon.

Here's a view of the bridge across the Mississippi between Natchez and Lousiana.  They don't call it the "Big Muddy" for no reason.  The water really is brown-colored, but it does flow a little faster than I thought it would.  At this point the water is only about 48 ft above sea level (not counting flood stage), and it's about 175 mi to the Gulf of Mexico from here.

Here are a couple of Carol Vogel's cousins in Natchez.  Esther (on the phone talking to Carol) owns The Elms, a marvelous antebellum (pre-Civil War) home that's now a Bed & Breakfast.  If we'd have known that beforehand, we would have stayed here instead of in Vicksburg.  I will have to say that Natchez has much more character and charm than Vicksburg, but we had a delightful time in both places.

One last major stop on this trip was a quick dash to Tallulah, LA from Vicksburg (24mi), to take this photo of our friend Carol (Wakeman) Vogel's childhood home, right across the street from Bushy Bayou.  The home is built, like a lot of homes well up into the 20th century on "post and pier".  Meaning the home is not built on a slab or conventional foundation, but a series of "piers", brick more recently, rock formerly, and then the "posts" or stringers are laid out on them and the house is built.  This picture doesn't show it very well, but if you look on the left side, you can actually see daylight clear underneath the home.  This wouldn't work very well up North where we are from - all the pipes would freeze for sure in the winter, but seemed to be a popular way to build here in times past.  This method is not used in current construction.  I think there would be lots of critters of all sizes and shapes living under here.