After a goodbye to my brother and his wife, Ted and I headed to Cottonlandia Museum in Greenwood, MS. It was an interesting museum of the early days of Greenwood, Mississippi, which is located on the banks of the Yazoo River. Learning some of the history of the area and viewing the items on display made this stop worthwhile. After a fill up at the gas station next door we headed south on Route 49 through flat land. Corn grew on both sides of the road and we had to pass "pokey" farm equipment. The weather was cool and sunny.

As we entered Vicksburg we went right to the U.S.S. Cairo Museum. This Union iron clad gun boat was sunk by a Confederate underwater mine on Dec. 12, 1862. It was brought to the surface on Dec. 12, !964 - 102 years later, to the day. What is interesting is the silt from the river bottom protected the structure of the boat. Then Ted and I took the driving tour through the Vicksburg battlefield. We stopped at the visitor center to watch the video too. After riding through the flat land to get to Vicksburg, we were surprised to see the hills.

Then headed due west across the mighty Mississippi River on I-20 into Lousiana but soon changed to a northernly direction on Route 17. Poverty Point State Park closed at 5:00 and we pulled in just a few minutes late. We were fortunate enough to meet Dennis who runs the park. He opened the museum for us and gave us a personalized tour of the Americans that lived here between 1650 and 700 B.C. This site shows the circular mounds on more than 400 acres. He also allowed us to ride our motorcycles back along the park's tram route to view the huge mound of the ancient peoples. Thank you, Dennis!

After Poverty Point we headed north until we found McGhee, Arkansas about 7:30 p.m. Supper was at a little mexican restaurant and then we settled into the Best Western in the heart of the town. Total miles today: 268