Tuesday, May 09, 2000
Tupelo, MS -- May 9
We left Rainbow Plantation on Sunday, 4/30, and headed for Paul B. Johnson State Park, 8 miles south of Hattiesburg, MS. We got a lovely camping site on the lake, with lake surrounding us on two sides in a quiet area filled with tall trees. We immediately started seeing new birds -- most notable were the Red-Headed Woodpecker, Brown-Headed Nuthatch, Pine Warbler, Eastern Bluebird and Orchard Oriole.On Tuesday, May 2, we headed for Philadelphia, MS, a small town with a large gambling casino, that was the closest place with available campsites to Noxapater, where Willie's parents live. We had planned to stay for a week, but the campground wasn't great (okay was the best it got -- and half price because of a club we belong to) and it was a little too far from Noxapater. So, with the promise of a nice spot on a lake in Louisville, MS, we headed there on Saturday, May 6. Alas, the former occupants had decided not to leave, so we got to camp in an overflow spot next to the tennis courts. The bad news was that it had only electric and lots of security lights. The good news was that it was FREE! Our comfort level was much enhanced by the acquisition of black-out material from Willie's cousin, Ann Covington, just two days before, so we were able to sleep in darkness.
We visited Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge on Thursday, May 4, and met our full-time friends, Fred & Linda for a few hours of birding. It was fun to see them again, and quite unexpected -- one of the advantages of having email. We also saw some new birds -- Indigo Bunting, Summer Tanager and Prothonotary Warblers. We had hoped to see the endangered Red-Cockaded Woodpecker, but it had eluded us. Sunday morning we made a quick trip back to the refuge and were rewarded with a sighting of this adorable bird. It was one of the most memorable sightings of our trip.
We had a wonderful visit with Willie's parents and also visited with several other friends and relatives. On Sunday afternoon we drove to the Jeff Busby campground on the Natchez Trace Parkway and visited again with Fred & Linda. We also checked out the campground for future needs.
Today (Tuesday 5/9), we headed north on the Natchez Trace and stopped at a campground just south of Tupelo, MS. Unfortunately, we won't see Fred & Linda along the way, since they had to return to Georgia due to a family illness. We saw lots of interesting sights along the Trace, including several Indian mounds dating back 1000 to 2000 years. There are also some of these very old Indian mounds near Noxapater, at a site called Nanih Waiya, which we visited last week.
We have to comment on the amazing change in Amber as a traveling cat. She used to be the one who always got carsick -- usually at the beginning of each trip and then she just meowed the rest of the way. Now she meows when we are getting ready to go -- then she curls up and goes soundly to sleep, completely ignoring the other cats' meowing, only waking up when we stop. Now if only she would train the others!
As we slowly head north to Kentucky, we can only hope that the weather gets a little cooler. It has started being in the 90's with humidity in the 80's -- but we know it could get worse.
# posted by Doug and Willie @ 8:15 PM 
