Memphis, TN to Vicksburg, MS

It was too bad we had to leave Memphis; we loved it there. We headed south on the Great River Road, which parallels the Mississippi River.  Unfortunately, once we left downtown Memphis, we weren't able to see the river unless we took a side road to it.  We did that at the Great River Road State Park, which has a 75-foot viewing tower.  But the river was low and not impressive. 

Not far south of Memphis is Tunica County, which has become home to major casinos, including Harrah's.   Tunica is the third largest gambling center in the United States and casinos line the levee.  Casinos must be floating and their builders have kept to the law in a rather liberal way, some by dredging ponds under their casinos. 

As we continued our drive south, we saw field after field of cotton.  Since it's harvest time, most of the fields have been harvested and had bales of cotton sitting in them; some were still full of cotton ready to be picked; some farmers were tilling the soil getting ready for the next crop.  Fluffs of white cotton lined the roads where the wind has blown them.  Lots of trucks were on the roads, backs filled with baled cotton.  We passed some cotton gins.  As they say about Mississippi, "cotton is king".

We visited the Winterville Indian Mounds site.  These mounds are believed to be ceremonial sites and places where the chiefs lived (on top of the mounds) a thousand years ago.  Little is known of the Indians who built the mounds and lived here.  Most of the mounds have not yet been excavated; it's an active site for archeologists and archeology students.

We made it to Anguilla!  Anguilla, Mississippi, that is.   The BWI version is a heck of a lot nicer.

Our stop for the night was Vicksburg and tomorrow we will visit the site of a Civil War siege.