Toomsuba, MS – When we were kids we used to ask the riddle “what has four eyes but cannot see?”, and the answer was “Mississippi”! That’s where we have spent most of today, after we cleared the outskirts of New Orleans and crossed the miles-long bridge over Lake Pontchartrain.
Once again we passed neighbourhoods that had been hard-hit by Hurricane Katrina. On a nice street of modest, trim houses, there would be one with boarded-up windows, a caved-in roof, or siding still bent back from the vicious winds. Most people had repaired and rebuilt, but some have yet to fix the damage.
Shortly after we crossed the state line, we stopped at the Mississippi welcome center, where a charming lady named Temisia offered us free coffee and enthused about the many places of interest in her home state. We didn’t have the heart to tell her we were just passing through, but we saw quite a few things we’d like to come back and check out on another trip.
For example, Leland, on the west side of the state, is known as the hometown of Kermit the Frog. Creator Jim Henson was born there and there’s a museum dedicated to him and his Muppets. Vicksburg, also on the west side, is a historic town where thousands of Civil War soldiers, both Confederate and Union, are buried. Star is the hometown of country music great Faith Hill. Meridian, located just a few miles from this KOA campground, is where the “father of country music” Jimmie Rodgers came from.
As we traced a diagonal line from southwest to northeast across the state, we noticed the tropical jungles of the south disappeared, replaced by forests of tall pine trees. It was delightful seeing the forest trees starting to bloom. Some saplings were sprouting small yellow flowers, and we spotted a number of fruit trees dressed in blossoms of white or pink. On some stretches of highway we could have been driving through Ontario. Except there still wasn’t a single flake of snow!
The other thing we didn’t encounter was rain. When we checked in at the KOA, the host told us it has poured for days, so we considered ourselves lucky with this perfectly beautiful day. I was also glad, since we were assigned one of the farthest sites from the main building, that I didn’t have to lug my hamper full of laundry to the washing machines in the rain.
While I got caught up on laundry, Val prepared the barbeque for a home-cooked supper that was delicious and simple. While we’ve enjoyed tasting the exotic Louisiana cuisine for the past few days, it’s nice to return to plain food that hasn’t been deep-fried in fat!
We are surrounded by woods, and we spotted a couple of bright scarlet cardinals nearby, as well as robins looking for worms. As the sun descended to the horizon, a chorus of spring peepers somewhere nearby started up to serenade us.
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