December 2: Greenville, Mississippi, to Tupelo, Mississippi

I didn't move very far today, perhaps only 180 miles. I didn't really get away from the Greenville area until sometime after noon. I had spent some time at a small museum at a site of Indian mounds that date from about 1000-1400. I was the only visitor at the museum in the past few days and the woman who runs the place was pretty desperate to talk to somebody, so I gave her a chance to explain everything to me. There are well over 500 Indian mounds in this "Delta region" of Mississippi. Many were plowed under by farmers in the 1930s, but even then slight rises remain where they had once stood. This area of the state is so flat that even a 2 foot rise in the ground indicates that it was man-made. The one in the photo, however, is about 30 feet high.

Then I spent more time trying to actually find a place to see the Mississippi River. It hides behind a huge levee and there are few places where you can actually get a view of the river. I even went to the "River Road" State Park that abuts the river and discovered that there was no way to actually get up to the river there. There was, however, an interesting exhibit of a moonshine still which sat right next to the children's playgound. Who came up with that idea?

The people in the tiny towns that are in this region appear to be almost exclusively African-American. It is also clear that this is a very poor region of a very poor state. The farmlands are large and appear to be owned by corporations and LLCs (according to signs on them). So while this region has some of the richest soil in the United States it is also home to some of the poorest rural folks. I saw only one cotton field. While that used to be the main crop here, it now appears that soybeans rule.  I did pass a medium sized industrial plant, however, that had a sign identifying it as the Monsanto Genetics Cotton Research Facility.

I drove eastward across much of the state on Mississippi route 8, a back country road with a string of small towns along the way.  As I neared the small town of Ruleville in Sunflower County, I saw the two water towers and really had to laugh. Someone in this little town of 3,000 people really  has a sense of humor.

I think this is the best photo of the trip so far. I am still chuckling this evening.