Once the trading route for European explorers, it became a U.S. Postal road and was later widened to become a military road. Today, it is a beautiful two lane road through woodlands and pasture from Nashville to Natchez. Along the road were numerous stops- Indian mounds from AD 1400, parts of the original Trace- and absolutely no traffic. It was a wonderful way to cross the state of Mississippi. We had a great campground- the Isle of Capri (gambling casino) Campground- concrete pads and level sites. We explored the town of Vicksburg- the historic homes interspersed throughout the downtown area.
It was an interesting battle- Grant besieged the city for 47 days until its surrender on July 4, 1863. It’s said that the town would not celebrate the 4th of July for years after. The cemetery was particularly touching- of the 17,000 Union dead, over 13,000 were unknown. The gravestones of the known soldiers are in marked contrast to the square markers of the unknown soldiers- with only a number engraved on them. (Photo courtesy of Flickr). The park also had the original gunboat, the USS Cairo, which sank in 1862- the first vessel in history to be sunk by a electronically detonated torpedo (mine). 
Never missing a chance for the ‘eccentric’, we made our way to Margaret’s Grocery, about 3 miles outside of town on Highway 61. The story goes that the widow, Margaret, operated what was once a small, unassuming roadside snack store. About 20 years ago, the Reverend Dennis came along and promised her that he would turn her store into a castle if she would marry him. Now, seeing as how this would make her Reverend D’s 5th wife, she courageously accepted. The store was turned into Reverend D’s version of a castle- made of red and white cinder block. Religious signs and messages are everywhere. The sign as you enter reads: “All is welcome, Jews and Gentiles here at Margaret’s Gro. And Mkt & Bible Class”. 
He preaches out front in a bus that’s been converted into a church- complete with pulpit and pews—covered in metallic paint, tin foil and duct tape. We were lucky enough to find Reverend Dennis at home and he were treated to the story of his life. It turns out that his mother died in childbirth, leaving him alone by her side for 5 days. Someone found him and since his father’s people didn’t want him, they brought him to his grandmother (who was a midwife and cook for the “white folk”). She took him to several doctors who all said that the child would never live. But, she “knows the man”- and he is now pushing 88 years old. When he was still a baby, a tornado went through the town and he was swept out of his grandmother’s arms and they found him some 40 miles away swinging from a tree branch. At the age of 12, his grandmother died and he went to live with his father. After 9 months of regular beatings, he took off and hitched a ride on a train. When he got off the train, he heard them calling the “cotton-pickers” to come to work. So, since he was the “best cotton-picker and cotton cutter around”, he took the work. About that time, he met up with a white plantation owner surveying his pecan trees. He told his sorry tale to him and he asked, “What can you do, boy?”. Well, he told him about being the best cotton-picker, cotton cutter and farmer around- so the man let him have one of the empty rooms on his plantation in exchange for work. He said that everyone would taunt him, calling him “nigger, ape, monkey” and he would just smile and “Yassir, yassir”. Finally, the man said, “Why do you keep smiling and saying Yes Sir when they call you a nigger?”. Dennis replied, “ My grandma taught me manners and respect for the white folk”.
So, eventually, when he would go into town with the white man and they’d ask him why he had that nigger with him, the white man would answer, “He’s no nigger, he’s the black sheep of the family”. About this time, John was getting a bit antsy. We cut his WWII experiences a bit short, got the rest of the story about his return from service in the Pacific, his 4 year contract to learn the trade of brick layer and his skills in wood working, bricklaying, etc. He took us into his church- filled from floor to ceiling with Mardi Gras beads, Christmas tree lights, religious signs and posters, stuffed animal on turntables, and 9 donation boxes. He proudly showed us the numerous write-ups about him- including one that he proudly read out loud: “One Man’s Ridiculous Dream: Reverend Dennis and Margaret’s Grocery”. With his red suspenders and painted stained shirt, the safety pin in the zipper of his jeans, cataracts in his eyes, a hearing aid in his ear and only a few bottom teeth left in his mouth, he was quite a charmer- or was he a con artist? Who knows – or cares--- another bit of eccentric America!
(right next to “Space Camp”). (Photo courtesy of Flickr.com) It was another NASA hardware focused presentation of the space program and filled with kids attending Space Camp. The space program and the US Army have brought a lot of money to the Huntsville area and the road network is amazing and the city is beautiful. The old neighborhoods in the downtown Historic District were charming. They houses were originally built by wealthy merchants and planters and many of them are still there today- in great condition. And- with the space program- came a host of ethnic restaurants. We had another great Korean lunch- with take home galore. 
We managed to get through the worst of it- the beltway- before the real rush hour started and were stunned to see the inbound traffic piled 45 miles outside of DC. Our reverse commute was a blessing. We decided to drive as long as we could stand it- and managed to drive 500 miles- all the way from DC through the Shenandoah Valley to Knoxville, Tennessee.
The traffic into and out of DC was horrendous- bumper to bumper around the beltway and virtually stopped at the feeder roads to/from the beltway – for 45 miles outside of DC. Hurricane Isabel had pretty much stopped the entire city. We noticed a few more trees down as we headed into DC and found our way to our campgrounds. We arrived to find that the campground was empty and that power was out everywhere. 1.1 million DC area residents were without power and the utilities were warning that it could take up to a week to get them back. The coast of North Carolina was devastated and the streets of Annapolis, Baltimore and Alexandria were flooded. And, we had slept through the entire storm.
It brought us to the beltway and the amazing LDS Temple that looms over the beltway. We stopped by and found that they had a huge list of movies to watch and a special showing of “One Shepherd, One Fold”. We caught the 4:00 movie on Sunday and were stunned to find that the huge theater was filled – mostly with teenage girls. The movie was a story of the Nephites just prior to their visit by Jesus. It was a love story/Indiana Jones movie combination with the most amazing special effects (every bit as good as any Hollywood film) and a tear-jerker ending that all the women in the theater sobbing. They are truly great marketers.
On Sunday, we did another drive into the city- taking advantage of the continued power outage. We drove through the Capitol Hill area and were stunned to see block upon block of beautiful houses- in a white neighborhood. We drove through the Tidal Basin area and the Navy Yard (almost running over a black guy who ran out in front of our car. We weren’t sure if he was just stupid or trying to get the white folks to run him down). We took a drive through the Howard University area and found “Ben’s Chili Bowl”- a great black dive that served chili- in bowls, on hot dogs and on hamburgers. John managed to eat two bowls!
Then we headed out in the pouring rain for the Korean restaurant in the Days Inn just down the street. We had a great dinner halfway through the meal noticed that there was water puddling on the floor and my skirt was soaked. The rain was starting to pour through the ceiling- just over our table. We huddled around the table to the area that wasn’t getting rained on and by the end of the meal, the rain was pouring all around us and we were laughing hysterically. As we headed into the lobby of the hotel, there were buckets everywhere catching the pouring rain.
Our last day in the DC area and we decided to drive to Baltimore. (Photo courtesy of Flickr.com) Fortunately, we were once again on the reverse commute and watched the incoming DC traffic as we breezed into Baltimore. We stopped in the Federal Hill area for breakfast at their local market then took a great 3 hour bus tour with a guide who grew up in the area and was passionate about the city. We got to see the Inner Harbor and all of its’ renovations, the Mt Vernon area with its’ beautiful old homes, Fells Point and Little Italy – filled with old homes and neighborhood bars. We asked our guide for a lunch recommendation and he sent us to Samos in “Greek Town” and we had an absolutely wonderful lunch- greek salad, gyros and spinach pie.
We had a great meal and took enough home for 2 more dinners. We spent a day at Gettysburg. We watched the Electric map chronicling the battle and then did our own self-guided tour of the battlefield.
We were watching the daily progress of Hurricane Isabel which was projected to roll right over our campsite. The KOA staff was recommending that everyone leave the campsite since there was a strong likelihood of flooding. Having experienced the “stuck in the mud” problem, we decided that it was worthwhile finding an alternative place to spend the night. John found an un-manned truck station just up the road from the campsite and we settled in between tractor trailers for the evening. I went to WalMart for groceries and to the liquor store for some cheap wine and we settled in for the evening. We went to bed with just a bit of rain and woke up to find that there were some branches down and it had obviously rained- but we had slept through the entire hurricane.
