The Kindness of Strangers

After spending Thanksgiving with family in Alabama, today our task was to retrace our path back to the Mississippi-Louisiana border and continue west.  Fog shrouded our route as we left our hotel in Columbus, Mississippi, this morning.

HEY!  WHO TURNED ON THE FOG MACHINE?

Focused on making time, we zipped west on US-82, a divided highway, to I-55 and barreled south to Jackson.  After a stop at Whole Foods to pick up lunch, we drove to the auto glass service that had worked on our windshield on Wednesday.  A rock popped up and chipped the glass on Tuesday, and the quality of the repair performed by this Jackson company was considerably less than we hoped for.  We ended up with a refund and will take the car to our familiar and trusted repair shop when we return home.

Since we had already traveled US-80 from Jackson to Vicksburg before our Thanksgiving backtrack, we called on I-20 to take us back to Vicksburg more efficiently.  Still hoping to obtain a water sample from the Mississippi River, we drove to Vicksburg's downtown waterfront on Levee Street, only to discover that it's the narrow Yazoo River flowing past that spot, not the Mississippi.

THE $2,249 FARE FOR A 9-DAY CRUISE SEEMED PRETTY REASONABLE.

When we arrived at the waterfront, the America Queen riverboat, having spent the morning docked to allow passengers to explore Vicksburg, was about to depart.  The ship sails between New Orleans and Memphis on a nine-day itinerary.  Compared to prices we've seen for other riverboats on the Mississippi River, we thought the fare was quite favorable.

Determined to scoop up a vial of Old Man River, we continued on Levee Street past the waterfront in hopes of getting close to the Mississippi.  Eventually we found ourselves in the Miller Materials Rock Yard, still not at riverside but unable to continue further.  At the security post, we talked to a friendly local named Calvin and told him about our mission.  After some discussion, in which he suggested we were unlikely to have any better luck upstream or down, he finally said cheerfully, "Just follow me."

RIGHT BEHIND YOU, CALVIN!

Then he hopped into a nearby front end loader and headed toward the river, stopping and parking sixty yards from the water's edge.  He took our vial, walked to the water, and did his good deed for the day.   Of course, we weren't allowed to accompany him due to safety concerns.

CALVIN COLLECTS OUR WATER SAMPLE.

While he was gone, we received some good-natured kidding and some dubious travel tips from some crew members who were standing nearby, chuckling over the whole situation.  When Calvin returned with the water, we tried to persuade him to accept a token of our appreciation, but he would not.  He seemed quite satisfied with having done a good deed for a couple of strangers.

OUR HERO, CALVIN

After crossing the river on I-20 (the only span at Vicksburg), we pulled away from the freeway again in Louisiana and re-connected with our old friend US-80.  On the way to Monroe, where we are overnighting, we passed through acres of rich, loamy farmland interspersed with numerous small towns.

Tomorrow we hope to finally make it to Texas, which always seems like where the West begins.
 
FRIDAY, 25 NOVEMBER 2016
    •  Started in:  Columbus, MS
    •  Ended in:  Monroe, LA
    •  Miles driven:  358   (trip:  2,013)
    •  Weather:  43° to 66°, foggy to clear
    •  Letterboxes:  none today
    •  Walked:  2.8 miles   (trip:  27.4)
    •  States:  MS, LA   (trip:  4)
    •  Counties:   14   (trip:  64)
    •  Towns:  23   (trip:  120)
    •  Gas:  $2.499 (premium) in Winona, MS


Today we said goodbye to Duckleberry Finn, as we set him free in the Yazoo River in Vicksburg.  He had less than half a mile to travel before reaching the confluence with the Mississippi River, which he can travel to the Gulf of Mexico.  Maybe he'll stop in New Orleans for a little holiday celebrating.