BACK IN TENNESSEE

SUNDAY

I am feeling much better this morning -- which is a good thing. 

Jackson is socked in with rain and I suspect I will be in rain most of the day.  I checked my maps for an alternate route to Nashville, but the Natchez Trace Parkway is really the most direct route.  It's an easy drive at 50 mph, which is reasonable in heavy rain on any road, and there will be little traffic today.  So I will drive it, as planned, even though I may not get to see much.

I scan the brochures for Jackson, before I leave.  There are several interesting things to do here, but it's early Sunday morning so most things won't be open:  the state capitol, Medgar Evers home and museum, Eudora Welty's home.  I decide to find Eudora Welty's home (one of the best preserved literary homes) and at least take a photo of it. Again, I could come back here another time to do all the things in this area.  My list continues to grow.

Eudora Welty's home

 At Old Trace Park just outside of Jackson is Ross Burnett Reservoir.  To get here I've driven through some classy neighborhoods and passed a few yacht clubs; it looks like a great lake for all kinds of recreational opportunities.  But today the sky and water are both grey; a few whitecaps punctuate the waves.  It must be beautiful on a sunny day; even more spectacular when the leaves turn in a few weeks. I am reminded of being at the ocean on a rainy day, knowing that on other days it looks very different.

The Mississippi Arts and Crafts Center is a lovely gallery of pottery and art and quilts and glass.  The rain hammering on the tin roof accompanies my wandering through the exhibits.

I am listening to Oprah again this morning in a conversation with the author of "Directed by Faith."  Many of his examples are stories come from his work in the film industry.  He says for your own development and your own success stay in your own movie.  Don't get in anyone else's movie; you have to stay in your own.  It's a good reminder that I need to live my own life, by my own rules and expectations, and not worry about what other people expect or think.

I drove up to the Jeff Busby viewpoint, through a very nice forested campground and picnic area.  It is totally socked in with rain and fog, but I stopped for a moment anyway, wondering what I might see on a clear day.

trees in the rain

meadow in the rain

By mid afternoon the rain has eased for an hour or so when I cross into Alabama.  Very few people are traveling this road today so I have it to myself.  In bad weather it's nice not to worry about the traffic and the trucks and what other people are doing on the highway.  The leaves are just beginning to turn a bit as I proceed north. Before long I cross the Tennessee River -- a beautiful, wide river with a boat or two crossing under the bridge.  It was a nice surprise after driving through the woods for the last two days.

Within a few miles I cross the border into Tennessee though I am still 375 miles from home, according to the GPS. I am no longer the odd ball with a Tennessee plate on my car, as I have been for the last four weeks. I am in my home state and it feels a little odd at the end of this adventure. There is a significant difference in how much the leaves have changed as I continue north.  Many leaves have already claimed the ground.

I learned today in a Natchez Trace brochure that Meriwether Lewis, of Lewis and Clark fame,  is buried here.  I never knew that until today.  It's rather fitting that this burial site is near the end of my trip since I followed much of their exploration path through North Dakota, Montana, and other parts of the Northwest. I grew up with their history; I can't remember a time when I didn't know about them.

The grave of Meriwether Lewis

I haven't gotten out in the rain today for much of anything, but I got out to pay homage to Meriwether Lewis. The broken column is symbolic of a life cut short. I was touched in a rather strange way. I didn't know he committed suicide because things had not worked out between him and the government in the years following the exploration's conclusion. They owed him a lot of money that was not approved for payment until after his death. I didn't know that he was here in my state and that he chose to die here and not some place else.  It's a grey rainy day and I find it strangely sad.  Lewis's grave is within six hours of my home and I don't know how I never knew this.  It bothers me because his expedition explored so much of the area where I grew up and the place where I feel much at home. I have appreciated over the years, my whole life in fact, what those men did to get all the way to the West when no one had been there before.  And then to find out that his life ended pretty darn close to where I live now.  The questions is, "How does that make me feel about all these years I've been in Tennessee and I never knew that?"  It makes a difference to me though I'm not sure in what way, but it's like there are kinfolk here.  I don't think Southerners or Easterners can understand the impact and importance of the Lewis and Clark expedition like those of us who grew up in the West and who are only a few generations removed from those men.  I feel a connection with them.  I don't know exactly how to explain it but maybe there's a heart connection in some way.  Maybe it's because I have just driven almost 8,000 miles and some of the early miles were where Lewis and Clark had been and unsuspectingly and surprisingly I am ending the trip where Lewis had been. I feel like I need to read more about them and understand their journey better -- better than what I learned in elementary and high school. I bought a book in North Dakota about the Lewis and Clark Expedition from the Indian perspective but I might do some other reading as well.

I ended my day at the Loveless Cafe, a local legendary place at the northern end of the Natchez Trace.  I recognized everything on the menu in this cafe that specializes in southern cooking.  I dined on fried chicken, coleslaw, fried green tomatoes, biscuits, and chocolate pie for dessert. I felt very comfortable there and the food was excellent.  And yes, it felt like home.