Tag: History

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Astronomy Blogging Driving Food Geography History Travel

North Texas

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last week I wrote about my Thursday afternoon in downtown Marshall Texas where I visited the historic Starr Family Home, the Harrison County Historical Museum, and finally – Pazzeria By Pietro’s. After that – I checked-in to my hotel for the night. It was very difficult to find, as it was hidden deep from the main thoroughfare (U.S. 59) behind a lot of road construction in an awkward location alongside I-20 eastbound near the dead end of a frontage road.

But I eventually found it, and it would be my 4TH and final night in a row in a hotel room.

The next morning – I arrived at my destination – my family’s house in Wylie Texas. After 5 days I had driven 1,216 miles northwestward across Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. I would not drive again for the next 7 days. My brother or sister-in-law did all of the driving to and from errands, stores, and restaurants. We also went to church on Sunday morning. (I wrote about that on a previous #SundayScripture.)

This is #TravelThursday – not #FamilyBusinessThursday, so everything that we did together for 8 days will stay private; however, I will write about one thing, and that’s the total solar eclipse on Monday April 08TH 2024.

Most people never experience one, as they are so rare at any given location. It was my first (and perhaps last) experience of total darkness during the daytime. It lasted for not quite 4 minutes. I wasn’t planning to look at the sun and the moon together, but my brother and sister-in-law each had special glasses to view the eclipse, so I used one of them to check it out for myself during the minutes leading-up to the big event. Once the moon completely covered the sun – we experienced darkness. It wasn’t like “Midnight darkness”, as it was more like perhaps “an hour after sunset darkness”, and then it was like “an hour before sunrise darkness”. It was like nautical twilight (the scientific term for it). My family lives right behind an elementary school, and I think all of the kids were outside experiencing it, and they were cheering loudly as darkness descended. It was quite eerie to see a few of the planets (especially bright Venus) and the stars out during this darkness. We had our family dog out, and he had no reaction to it. I think the birds flying around were confused. I may have heard some crickets chirping. No roosters though.

And then it appeared as if a bright flashlight were shining down on us from the reemergence of a tiny slither of the sun, and then it slowly got back to normal “two-in-the-afternoon daylight” after that. We had mostly cloudy skies during the event, but there was enough break in the clouds to see the sun and the moon in-between the clouds (with special glasses), and even behind the clouds (carefully – without glasses). What a spectacular event it was. I’m glad that I can now tell everyone that I’ve experienced this once-in-a-lifetime event (for me anyway). If I’m still around on August 12TH 2045 – then maybe I’ll get to see a 2ND total solar eclipse.

I spent Days 5 to 12 of my retirement road-trip with my family in Wylie Texas, and then early on Day 13 – I hit the road again to the Wichita Falls Texas area (about 155 miles away) to visit family there. My Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin have lived there since the late-1960s.

There are a few things that I like about Texas. (Food comes to mind.) But my favorite thing about Texas are my family and their pets. As long as family lives in Texas – I’ll keep visiting Texas. But I wouldn’t want to live in Texas. I just love Florida !

Next #TravelThursday – It’s off to Paris. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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Blogging Driving Food Geography History Military Travel

Marshall Texas

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last week I wrote about my morning south of Hattiesburg Mississippi at historic Camp Shelby to visit the Mississippi Armed Forces Museum. After that – I drove to the bluffs overlooking – and the banks of – the Mighty Mississippi River at historic Natchez. I didn’t get to see and do everything that I wanted to in Natchez, so I’ll just have to visit again on a future road-trip.

Natchez and the surrounding area intrigues me with so much history. The U.S. 84 / U.S. 98 drive across the south of Mississippi leading to Natchez is quite scenic and serene.

Day 4 of my recent retirement road-trip began on the Natchez-Vidalia Bridge. It’s actually two bridges side-by-side. Westbound (into Louisiana) is the original bridge that has been there since 1940. Eastbound (into Mississippi) is the newer (and a bit wider) bridge that was built 48 years later.

I continued my westward trek on U.S. 84. It’s definitely one of my favorite highways in the U.S.A. It has a very interesting intersection with U.S. 165 where – in order to continue on U.S. 84 – you have to make a right-hand turn onto U.S. 165, immediately get in the left-hand turning lane, make a U-turn, quickly get in the right-hand turning lane, and then turn right back onto U.S. 84. (There was a high incidence of collisions at this intersection, so it was reconfigured in 2018 to 2019.)

Fun Facts: U.S. 165 is a 412-mile highway in Arkansas and Louisiana. Its northern-end is at U.S. 70, and its southern-end is at U.S. 90. Technically – U.S. 165 forms a concurrency with U.S. 84 at the unusual intersection described above. (I’m such a U.S. route nerd.)

I entered Texas from Louisiana via rural Keatchie-Marshall Road. There was no big “Welcome To Texas” sign at the state line – just an ordinary “Panola County Line” sign with a smaller route sign above it designating it as Texas Farm Road 123. Oh – and the speed limit increased. (Texans love their high speed limits.) That quick moment began a 10-day stay for me in North Texas.

It was on to Marshall Texas from there, and my first stop was the historic Starr Family Home. I introduced myself as a fellow docent of a historic house, and I enjoyed a wonderful conversation with two of the docents on duty at the time before, during, and after my self-guided tour on both floors of the house. They gave me some good ideas to ponder.

After that I ventured over to the Harrison County Historical Museum. I was a little disappointed that there were no docents on duty during my visit to their museum (located in two different buildings across the street from each other). In fact – I was able to enter and tour virtually the entire museum without any human contact whatsoever. That’s not really a good thing. Open museums should always be visibly manned and supervised for information and security purposes. I did finally find someone working in an office near the gift shop, and I briefly talked to her about the other museum location across the street. Their museum (in both buildings) contained great displays, but they lacked guidance, direction, and written material.

Harrison County Historical Museum, Marshall Texas

My final stop in downtown Marshall was the highly-rated (via Google reviews) Pazzeria By Pietro’s. I got myself a 9″ pizza with pepperoni and Canadian bacon. It was very good – truly hot and delicious !

Next #TravelThursday – I’m settled in North Texas with my family for 9 days. I’ll share some fun moments – including the total solar eclipse. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Blogging Driving Food Geography History Military Travel

Mississippi

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last week I wrote about my afternoon on the west side of Mobile Alabama at the Bragg-Mitchell Mansion – built in 1855.

As Day 3 of my recent retirement road-trip began – I made my way northward over to Alabama State Road 158. It serves as a brand-new northern bypass of the western suburbs of Mobile. Much of it is 4-lanes, but a portion of it (the westernmost segment) is still 2-lanes and under construction. Once construction is complete it will carry U.S. 98 traffic to and from Mississippi, and the current / longtime U.S. 98 will become a local road (maybe Business U.S. 98).

The western end of Alabama State Road 158 leads to the Mississippi State Line, and U.S. 98 takes over from there as a longtime 4-lane highway. I love that stretch of U.S. 98, as it’s all rural with very little traffic. The South Mississippi countryside is scenic and beautiful. Much of it is raw and unspoiled.

When I retired on the 29TH of February of 2024 – I knew that I would probably never return to the Air Force Base that was my workplace for over 36 years. I also thought that perhaps I would never step foot on any military base ever again. That lasted exactly 34 days – when I entered historic (built during World War 1) Camp Shelby (south of Hattiesburg). It’s a large U.S. Army training post that is also the home of the Mississippi Armed Forces Museum – which was my reason for visiting. The museum is indoors and outdoors. It’s a traditional military historical museum inside, and there are lots of static displays of aircraft and vehicles outside. I enjoyed my time at the museum. I spent a good thorough 2½ hours there. It was time well-spent. Admission is free.

I continued my trek westward to Natchez Mississippi for my 2ND overnight stay. (My 1ST was in November 2021.) I had planned to give myself plenty of time in Natchez to visit at least 1 – perhaps even 2 historic homes / museums in-town. I failed to do so. I enjoyed my visit to the Mississippi Armed Forces Museum so much that I arrived in Natchez later than anticipated. (I guess I’ll have to plan a 3RD visit to Natchez, and maybe even plan for 2 nights there.)

Natchez is definitely a vacation and convention destination high atop the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River. Oh – and also right along the banks of the Mighty Mississippi. In fact – I actually drove down (carefully) from the bluffs to the banks via steep Silver Street (built by the Spanish during the 1790s). I saw a part of Natchez (“under-the-hill”) that I didn’t get to see on my first visit – the thriving tourist district with stores, restaurants, and bars. I enjoyed LuDinner (late-Lunch / early-Dinner) at Magnolia Grill. It was where I was planning to eat during my first visit, but I got into town just before sunset and dusk.

A large Viking Mississippi River cruise ship was in-port. That was an amazing (and unexpected) sight to see. Lots of cruise passengers were enjoying their port-of-call for the day. A Viking river cruise is definitely on my bucket list. I know that they are expensive. I think if I were to do one – I would want to do it right – the full 22-day experience between St. Paul Minnesota and New Orleans Louisiana.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll write about my drive across the Mighty Mississippi River and into and across Louisiana into far-eastern Texas via some real backroads. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Blogging Driving Geography History Military Travel

Mobile Alabama

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last week I wrote about my morning at the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park off Battleship Parkway (AKA “The Causeway” AKA the concurrency of U.S. 90 & U.S. 98 west of downtown Mobile Alabama).

After my World War 2 educational experience I ventured through the 3,389-foot John H. Bankhead Tunnel into downtown Mobile. The tunnel was built from 1938 to 1941 – just before the U.S.A. entered World War 2.

My next stop on Day 2 of my recent retirement road-trip was the historic Bragg-Mitchell Mansion – built in 1855. It was added to the U.S. National Register Of Historic Places on September 27TH 1972. The museum is open 5 days per week from Tuesday to Saturday – 10 AM to 4 PM – and they are only open via guided tour through the house. All tours start at the top of each hour from the front porch. Each guided tour can last for up to the full hour. Admission is $12 for adults and $5 for children 3 to 12.

The tour was fantastic from start to finish, and I was able to talk docent-to-docent with the guide beforehand and afterward. (I don’t know if you’ve read, but I’m a docent at a historic house that serves as a museum too.)

My hotel for the night was located in the very busy northwest part of the city just across the street from the University Of South Alabama. Traffic was heavy and congested, and it had that big city feel to it. Mobile streets go up and down hills and around curves. You can tell who the somewhat uncertain and perhaps confused tourists are simply by driving these streets. (Guilty. I’m sorry for annoying those driving behind me.)

Fun Facts: In-season nearly 14,000 students attend the University Of South Alabama. About 1,000 administrators work there. The traffic during the early-evening and early-morning hours represented those numbers well. Lots of stores and restaurants are located in this thriving heavily-commercialized area.

My visit to Mobile Alabama (even though overnight) was again too short for all of the things that I wish to see and do in the city – particularly in the downtown area. On a future road-trip I think I need a good 3 or 4 days to check out everything. I’m glad I’m retired now !

Next #TravelThursday – Mississippi is on my mind. I’ll write about my adventures at Camp Shelby near Hattiesburg, and then it’s on to Natchez on the banks (and atop the bluffs) of the Mighty Mississippi River. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp