Awake: 6:08am Temp 58 sleep 5+54 rain, off & on overnight @ Vicksburg, MS.
Breakfast @ the Ameristar Casino buffet was excellent; there were plenty of options, hot and cold &, as I mentioned, complimentary from the RV Park. A first for us!
Then we drive our Suzuki to downtown Vicksburg & self tour the place where Coca-Coca was bottled for the 1st time & distributed in cases. Joseph Biedenharn, born in 1866 & the eldest of (12) children of Vicksburg went into the candy business founded by his father & uncle while still in his teens. Later Mr. Biedenharn & his brothers acquired franchises to bottle Coca-Coca in Shreveport & Monroe, Louisiana & Texarkana, Wichita Falls, San Antonio, Temple, etc.
We toured the museum that featured the history of Coca-Coca along with equipment of the type Biedenharn used to bottle the 1st Coke in 1894. A wide variety of original Coca-Coca advertising & memorabilia is on display to allow the visitor to follow the evolution of Coke from 1890 to the present. No….we did not buy any duplicated memorabilia from the variety of opportunities.
Next we follow the signs downtown for the “Scenic Trail;” beautiful mansions, historic buildings, parks, etc. We also cover the city by driving a grid pattern. Unfortunately, here is another city trying desperately to keep its downtown alive & well.
The auto tour led us toward the downtown levee of the Mississippi River & the murals telling a story of how Vicksburg got its start & kept the growth going. Kathy assisted with my picture taking of the murals by holding the umbrella 50 times plus. Not only did I take a picture of the Murals but also of the brass information plaques. Anchored in the Mississippi River, just on the other side of the murals was a large riverboat on its last voyage down the mighty Miss. We talked with several passengers who were re-embarking after a city tour.
In our attempt to do all we can today, regardless of the weather, our next interest just happened to be: The Civil War Museum…inside. 1st a movie which was difficult to hear & understand due to poor equipment & heavy rain on a metal roof. After the movie, we realized there were plenty of things to read from other sources & that movie was setup for those who might want to nap in the darkness.
From here, we drive ¼ of a mile to the National Military Park & Visitors Center. There is a charge for this next adventure; due to rain, heavy @ times, we hesitate to continue, but then realize we might not have the opportunity as we do now. @ the visitors center, we watched another movie: this time, good audio & visual.
Then we began the (16) mile driving tour of the Vicksburg Battlefield. A smooth asphalt road led us to the many plaques & statues identifying the placement of the Union commanders & Confederate commanders & their armies; a blue plaque pertains to Union forces; a red plaque pertains to the Confederates. Large monuments have been erected identifying states from which volunteers came to help & certain battle zones where an overwhelming number of troops had lost their lives.
Unfortunately, we no sooner got started on this venture when another heavy downpour followed us; we couldn’t open the windows to read the plaques, couldn’t take pictures or identify things of importance, etc. On top of that, fog began rolling in; then darkness. Our timing was just a few hrs off. Of the nearly 17,000 Union soldiers buried in the cemetery of this battle field, 13,000 are unknown. Since the national cemetery system (at that time) was set up to bury those who lost their lives in service to their country, Confederate soldiers necessarily had to be buried behind Southern lines. A section in the Cedar Hill (Vicksburg City ) Cemetery was set aside to provide a fitting burial place for Confederate soldiers; of the estimated 5,000 Confederate soldiers interred there approximately 3,500 are unknown.
We return to our home-on-wheels after 5:00pm with rain.
My 1st cousin Florentz calls from PA to inform me that my 1st cousin Joe H. of Ohio passed away; he was (77). When I was a teenager, Joe was very good to us & made sure my brother & I got to ride on the tractor, wagon, & other equipment when visiting their dairy farm.
Dinner: Tilapia fish, rice, salad with mango slices, apple slices & Craisins.
Nick calls while walking home from work. Walking to & from his work helps keep him in shape & when he calls, it helps keep us up-to-date on “what’s happening?”
Late DVR movie: “Kill the Umpire” with William Bendix, Una Merkel, Ray Collins, Gloria Henry, etc. Lightweight comedy about baseball lover who becomes the sport’s most hated man, the umpire. 1950. Unless you love slap-stick, this story is not for you. We suffered thru it, however.
Lights out: 12:04am
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