Mississippi, Louisiana, Mississippi, ALABAMA!

We got an early start this morning (even for us), leaving Movietown RV Park in Canton and heading south on Interstate 65. Our GPS Sally really wanted us to go east on I-20 and argued with us almost half the way -- she so wanted us to cut across to the other side of the state and go down I-69!

This is a small portion of the VERY large automobile factory just outside of Canton. Opened up just a few years ago, it has a great deal to do with the improved economy in this part of Mississippi --

The Nissan factory covers acres of property and is its own small town --

It was an overcast day. We had an occasional drizzle, but seemed to be running just behind the real rain storm. There was lots of water on the road being sprayed up by the trucks. As we left the North Delta area of  Mississippi, we were no longer in farmland, but in the pine barrens.

We drove south through Mississippi and into Louisiana, driving north of Lake Pontchartrain on I-12 until it changed into I-10 and took us back through the 'heel' of Mississippi along the Gulf Coast. What a different looking route it was from the first time we had driven it following Katrina. You have to really look to see some of the broken-off trees still visible amongst the greenery. It felt sort of funny to see the sign pointing towards Pass Christian, which was where our folks from Menno did our first service with Mennonite Disaster Service following the hurricanes.

It was a l-o-n-g day, we had driven twice as far as we normally do when we finally crossed into Alabama. It was another fifty-three miles, close to four-thirty and almost dark when we found our site at Styx River RV Park. I don't think anyone will be getting up very early tomorrow.

Out 'n About

We took the Toad out this afternoon to look for an auto parts store to find a battery water filler (makes it easier to fill the ones in the back...).

As we came out of the road leading to Movietown RV Park, we saw the men on this water tower. We thought at first they were washing it --

Then we realized they were actually painting it. It's going to go from that light bluish color to white. Can you imagine being that guy who's swinging below the curve with a paint roller?

 After we got the gadget for filling the batteries, we went to a Kroger's. It was a bit further north towards Jackson in Madison. I couldn't find any information -- other than the usual demographic and early history stuff -- about this town, but it looked like it had all been built within the last few years. And all of the buildings were pretty fancy and ornate.

Does this look like the usual grocery store to you?

I did read in Wikipedia that Madison has the highest per-capita income in the State of Mississippi. It sure showed in this grocery store. I think the only one I've ever seen that was bigger and had more stuff was a Whole Foods store we had gone to with Leslie and Bill.

We had another of those gorgeous Mississippi sunsets tonight. This is looking west from the Kroger parking lot. Note the fancy pediments on the roofs of these other pretty ornate buildings.