Day 20: We went into the little town of Mathiston today for groceries at the Piggly Wiggly. It's hardly a spot on the map, but we had a great time here. We found a greasy spoon place called the Trace Way Restaurant, complete with hand painted deer murals on the walls and a chicken livers special on Thursday evenings. Boy howdy, was that place a Mississippi country establishment if I ever did see one! We got breakfast of biscuits and gravy, bacon, ham, eggs, and grits for $3.50 a pop. Nice! In addition to the 3 or 4 miles to and from the grocery store, we walked about 10 miles on the Trace through some crazy tornado damage. Some photos are below. The woods in both sides of the road were totally obliterated for almost the entirety of our walk today. Photos today show the water tower on Mathiston and the tornado damage along the Trace.
Day 21: We reached the halfway mark of 222 miles today! Yeah! We walked about 18 miles today to get to the next campground. The camping ended up being a little weird since we were the only campers in what felt like a picnic area right next to a bathroom and pull out that apparently a popular place to take a leak at all hours of the night. A highlight today was seeing the same guy who pulled over and chatted with us on day 17. He stopped again, and again we were left grinning. Also, we saw the same fire crew that we saw back on day 8 and they drove by us with their entourage of six or so engines, all honking and waving at us on the way by. We felt pretty popular :) Photos today are the mile marker photos.
Day 22: This morning we took a quick two mile jaunt without packs to visit some Native American burial mounds, which were in use about 2000 years ago. It's amazing how much history is along this route. We planned to walk only 12 miles today and have an easy couple days to get into Tupelo, the next town. By the end of the day, we got hotel fever and started thinking about a fluffy king bed, running water, hot showers, and tasty restaurant food. So, we tacked on 3 more miles to the end of our day (for a grand total of 17 miles) so we could make it into the next town a day earlier. A major highlight of the day was running into Jenny and Ronny. We first met this nice couple from Illinois back on day 8 when we were at the Rocky Springs campground. Then, on day 18 we saw them again at the Jeff Busby campground (remember the super rainy and terrible tent pad that didn't drain well? And where the only saving grace was the heated bathrooms?). Well, today they passed us on the road, then waited at a pull out two miles off the road until we caught up with them. We could see them for a while, and at first we were thinking that we didn't have time to chat, and that it wasn't even time to take a break yet. However, when we were within sight, they started waving and were clearly really excited to see us. By the time we made it to their RV, they had cold cans of Coke, potato chips, and a plate of cheese and crackers ready for us. It was an amazing sign of support, and it was a good dose of encouragement for both of us. They echoed what most others have: that they wished they would have done something like what we are doing when they were younger.
Day 23: We spent day 23 walking about 16 miles or so into town. We got a lot of honks today - some we think are folks who have seen us several times in their daily routines and are beginning to recognize us. We got another ride offer today from two folks who said they were headed for Alabama. It was a super nice gesture, since they had to pull over on a sloped shoulder, wait forever for us to catch up with them, and then wait several more minutes on a busy road before they could turn around again. Nice folks in Mississippi! Photos from today are the lovely agrarian vistas we admired just outside of Tupelo.
Day 24: Today we are in Tupelo! We started the day with a nice greasy breakfast, a delicious break from the usual oatmeal and dried fruit. We walked into downtown to run some errands and were convinced to visit Elvis Presley's birthplace by a lady who pulled over to offer us a ride, a gentleman at the post office, and also by the barista at a coffee spot. All of this turned out to be terrible advice, since after we walked several miles to the site, it was not worth our time, and frankly, a little weird. We were mistaken for German tourists though, which was amusing. Also, it was the third day in a row with unsolicited offers for rides. The only photo from today is the old school gas station.
Sorry for the long update and long absence! Hopefully we will be able to charge our phones more frequently for more consistent posts.
Fun! I like that so many people are recognizing you and offering help!!
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