We had a restful night at Wal-Mart accompanied by two trucks. After a quick breakfast we headed out to get back on the NTP.

We were busy talking and passed our first stop, so we had to turn around and went back to it. It was the Choctaw site. I am somewhat disappointed that they have not done more at these sights to showcase the way these tribes lived. This area also was the site of the Trail of Tears, but there is not much mention of that.

Our second stop was Cypress Swan. We got to see the majestic Cypress tree and Tupelo. There was a couple in a motorcycle from Kentucky and he pointed out the spikes coming out of the ground are actually Cypress tree roots. How interesting. The sign encourages to walk the trail and look for wildlife. We did spot a young alligator resting on a log in the middle of the swamp. We were happy not to run into its parents.

We stopped at a couple of other sites including the Parkway information Cabin at MM 102. At this point we were ready for lunch. Gil found a pizzeria in nearby Clinton. After lunch we headed on 20 West towards Vicksburg. I thought I read there is a campground in Vicksburg National Battlefield, but after a quick research I was led to a campground just outside of the park. We arrived and they had a spot available.

The CG is not much and it is pretty empty. There seems to be just a few old campers that look like they are permanent residents. We decided to park for the night to use it as a basecamp to explore the park. We got ready to head out and it started to rain. I checked the weather and it predicts rain with bad thunderstorms for the next 90 minutes. By the time that is done the Visitor Center would be closed. As I sit here catching up on the last 3 days, the light rain stopped and the storm never came, even though the skies look pretty bad. The park is now closed. We were making such good time exploring and I feel now we wasted a whole afternoon without accomplishing anything. Oh well - this is why we need to be flexible.

When I finish this post, I am going to make dinner, shower and go to bed early. We are going to try to be out by 8 so we can be at the park at 8:30 when it opens tomorrow.

The plan for tomorrow is to visit the park and then drive back to the Natchez TP and finish the last 100 miles.

This should have been the post I named Butterflies. We have seen so many butterflies since we got into Kemtucky, however today we had a treat photographing them!