Wednesday, August 24, 2022

Annie Lee the Argosy Update No. 062

Natchez State Park
Natchez, Mississippi
 
[Only kinda, not really, *IN* Natchez, Mississippi... 
at least 20 minutes out of town -
AND LONGER WITH THE VOODOO ROAD.
HA.
 
 But we had a great time!
What truthfully started out as an Argosy Adventure 
ended up being a Vintage Airstream Club [VAC] Region 6 Gathering...
And this was JUST THE BEST little group of people!
 I'm the new VAC Region 6 Rep,
dontcha know...
And I wish we could have several of these gatherings a year!
 
Vintage Airstream owners from Alabama, Louisiana and Tennessee 
gathered together and, I don't know, 
kinda melded into one great group.
I really hope we can camp together again!
But let's start at the beginning - 
We took two days to drive the entire Natchez Trace Parkway... 
all 402 miles of it...
Starting at Loveless Cafe in Nashville, TN
and ending at mile marker 1 in Natchez, Mississippi...
Although Magic Myrtle really wanted us 
to get off about MM 11 to go to the State Park...
 
The Trace is everything we've known it to be on 
our short drives around North Alabama and Tennessee... 
Quiet, calm, and uninhabited spaces for miles...
AND BICYCLES. 
[[But we managed, since the speed limit is only 50 mph]
 
We enjoyed a few stops along the way...like lunch at the French Camp Academy [an interdenominational Christian boarding home and academy intended to serve children who live in troubled households. The school operates several businesses in French Camp, including a bed and breakfast, a gift shop, and a restaurant...] 
- a neat little area...
 
Once we got to MM 1 we had to head back North a bit to get to the State Park... and once we got there -- the road was closed... 
so we kinda had to find the detour on our own... 
and once we found it... Oh. My.
  
[The note I sent to others who were headed our way...]
I'm not sure how to even describe how narrow this road was with trees hanging over and homes in very poor repair with zero property lines... dogs running out in the road... stuffed scarecrows [?] hanging from trees...
 
And we had to take that road 
Every. Single. Time.
we left the campground.
Maybe that's why we enjoyed hanging around and visiting so much!
  
Again - These new friends were great and 
we enjoyed getting to know each one and visiting together so much!
Craig and George cooked pancakes for us one morning and I think we stayed and visited until almost noon when we were set to visit camper-to-camper.
I really enjoyed seeing everyone's camper 
and hearing about the changes / renovations they've made.
Our #AnnieLeetheArgosy fit right in 
since we're all airstreams and had so much in common...
And I love that we all had things a little different due to preferences / needs...
We ventured into Natchez a couple of different times and 
would have loved to had more time to explore the shops...
We did have a couple of good meals while in town
[of course we did!]  
  
Breakfast at The Little Easy - 
 I had the biscuit with buttermilk fried chicken, 
hot honey, sausage gravy, cheddar 
and yes - collards. SO GOOD.
 Later we had a late lunch at
The Guest House
 
It's Mediterranean - and DEELISH.
I had the grilled shrimp wrap with feta salad.. 
Craig had gumbo and Cajun rolls... 
But most importantly, we drove across the bridge to Louisiana 
and found a FABULOUS campground for our next adventure in the area.
[No more detours for us! And it's MINUTES from downtown Natchez.] 
We also explored around The Trace in that area a bit... 
some of the mounds in the area date back to the 1500s.. 
But again.. we mostly had a relaxing weekend 
hanging out at the campground... 
Enjoying our site 'on the water.' 
[If you peek through the trees just right!] 
And I came away with the conclusion 
that BIG camper gatherings are a lot of fun... 
But the smaller ones are so great 
because we had the chance to really visit 
and enjoy getting to know everyone!
My take:
Natchez State Park - Natchez, Mississippi 
[Not to be confused with Trace State Park in North Mississippi or 
Natchez TRACE State Park in Tennessee - lol --]
The campground we were in was updated, clean, and neat.  
[Campground A, not so much - ]
By luck we had a BIG spot where everyone could gather -
some sites were very small...
Bath houses were clean - 
Internet / cell was good.
Due to proximity to town [and the detour] 
we probably won't be back...

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