Vicksburg, MS

The battle and siege of Vicksburg, MS was a pivotal event in the Civil War. General Grant supported by General Sherman with the aid of naval support engaged the Confederate forces encamped at Vicksburg and in a 47 day struggle that forced the surrender of all Confederate forces. This engagement effectively divided the Confederate forces east and west of the Mississippi.

The Military Park preserves much of the ground where these battles occurred. It also has become a place of remembrance and final resting place of 17,000 union soldiers. The viciousness of the Civil War struggles can be seen in the number of unknown soldiers buried here. Of the 17,000 resting here, 13,000 are unknown and their graves are marked with a simple small post with a number engraved on top. In this 47 day struggle alone, there were over 10, 000 Union and 9000 confederate casualties including approx 3000 dead and nearly 4,000 missing!

You can take the 16 mile drive thru the park to understand how and when the various engagements took place. Like other similar military parks, it also contains a large number of monuments erected by the various states honoring their soldier’s sacrifices.

The park also contains a very interesting museum devoted to the USS Cairo; a naval gunship which was part of a flotilla supporting the siege of Vicksburg. It was unlucky enough to be the first naval vessel sunk by an electrically detonated mine. After more than 100 years on the bottom it was recovered with a large number of artifacts that are on display in the museum.

For the history enthusiast, it is the better part of a day well spent.

As for the rest of Vicksburg, it has three casinos and appears to be doing its best to keep things going, but there seems to be a lot of work yet to be done.

Keeping busy

The nearly two weeks since Christmas has gone quickly. A face lift project for Heather’s kitchen was started right after Christmas and was in full swing when our friends Dan and Corrie Ryan arrived with their motorhome to celebrate the New Year with us. The celebration was perhaps quiet and old fashioned by some standards, but we enjoyed a touch of Dutch tradition, since both Anneke and Corrie share that background, with homemade split pea soup and Ollie Bollen- or as Corrie described it-donuts on steroids. We were also joined by a couple who were friends of Heather and Ryan. Card games and tall tales were the order of the evening. While no wild and ambitious New Year’s resolutions were made, I think it is safe to say that we were all thankful for the year past and looking forward to another chance to make the most of the 2008.

More can be seen on their visit at: http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/

Among and between the celebrations and the renovations, one constant was the Heather and Ryan zoo, which consists of two cats, two dogs and one lonely rabbit. The dogs were new to us and provided all kinds of amusement and frustrations- I guess as puppies always do. They found it hard to stay out of trouble-whether it was digging holes in the backyard with resulting hugely dirty faces and feet, sticking their noses where they did not belong, like the paint roller pan full of paint or the housebreaking accidents at just the wrong moments.

Too my novice eye, the kitchen project was successfully completed yesterday and all seemed satisfied. With our work done here and our welcome probably wearing thin, it was time to move on.

Tonight we are camped at a casino RV park in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Our first visit to the casino lasted ten minutes and they have little hope of separating us from even a small amount of money.

Happy Holidays

The last week has been spent in Navarre Beach, FL for the Christmas Holiday. The campground is literally right on the sound and in sight of the Gulf of Mexico. We have finally experienced a regular weather pattern with warm sunny days mixed with cold, rainy and windy days. Still not bad for the end of December.

This has been another good holiday, as we were able to spend it again with two of our children and Heather’s husband, Ryan. In this way we can extend a little longer our family holiday traditions. One of those is the preparation (and eating) of a special German style Christmas cookie that was a specialty of my mother. It is an all hands process for the finishing touches.

While the exchange of gifts is always a fun event, the real value is in the opportunity to spend time together and catch up on what everyone has been up too. It also a time to have some laughs and let the competition flow in various games. Since Ryan is a master of electronic matters, that means playing the latest Xbox360, Wii and other games.

The only problem experienced was my chipping a tooth on Christmas day, but I was able to have it repaired quickly today at an excellent local facility. I can only hope this will be the only negative event this trip.
It is always over too soon and Katie has to leave tomorrow for Las Vegas and Air Force duties. The good news is we will be in Vegas by the middle of February, if all goes according to plan.

We are looking forward to spending New Year’s in the area and also meeting up with our Friends, the Ryan’s, who should be arriving by motorhome in a few days.

Apalachicola, FL

We did manage to visit one interesting place while at Tyndall- Apalachicola, FL. This small town on the Gulf was founded in 1831 and became the third largest port on the Gulf of Mexico. First it was the cotton trade followed by the lumber business and finally became famous for the Apalachicola Bay Oysters, which is the main product today. Like so much of the Florida coast, it is also trying to make itself a resort/retirement community for those who want to spend lots of money to be near the water.

We had lunch at Boss Oysters, which is locally famous for the many many ways they prepare these little suckers. While not a fan of oysters, we felt compelled to at least sample them. After choosing to have them baked with parmesan cheese and blue crab meat, we found them enjoyable, at least for one time. Then we had a more traditional, for us, lunch of grilled grouper Cajun style, which was very good.

The main commercial business of Oystering is visible all around town with the many oyster fishing boats. They are in varying states of repair which may be the result of the declining population of oysters as a result of the several year old drought.