Our first stop was to visit Natchez, MS; turns out that the closest RV park was actually across the Mississippi River in Vidalia, LA. It was a very nice RV park on a batture with excellent views of the Mississippi River. (Trivia – what is a batture?) That evening we headed to the Isle of Capri Casino back in Natchez. The first thing we noticed odd about the casino, was that there were no signs giving directions to the casino? We knew it was located on the river just below the bridge, but because of oneway streets & dead ends we couldn’t seem to find it. Eventually we were forced to ask for directions & made it to the casino (which was pretty poor in our opinion).
Tuesday morning we headed back to Natchez to spend several hours sightseeing. First stop was Melrose Plantation part of Natchez National Historical Park. Next was a walk about & in downtown Natchez. Natchez is unique in that it was a major city for the Confederacy during the Civil War that survived pretty much intact. This is because although it was a major port on the Mississippi River, it had minimal rail connections. Because of this, the Union bypassed Natchez & concentrated on taking Vicksburg with its important railroad connections.
After lunch Corrie decided to check out the shops while Dan followed the Natchez Walking Tour through the town. The walking tour includes the William Johnson House also part of the Natchez NHP. William Johnson was born a slave, but was freed as a child & lived the rest of his life as a “free” black in Natchez from 1820 to 1851. Eventually he became a prosperous businessman owning his own house & other properties (including his own slaves!). The reason his house is part of the National Park system is because he also kept a meticulous daily dairy of his life & business. Even though his dairy is very detailed, it contains no mention of slavery, or his position as a second class citizen with no political rights.
http://www.nps.gov/natc/index.htm
We then got back into the Toad & headed to the historic site of the Slave Market at “Forks of the Road”. Turns out even southerners were embarrassed by the sight of slaves for sale outside stores in downtown Natchez; so the sale of slaves was outlawed inside the city limits. This resulted in the slave dealers relocating just past the city limits at Forks of the Road. This resulted in one of the few spots in the South where slaves could be bought every business day, rather than waiting for an auction. Eventually became the second largest slave market in the USA. Unfortunately right now the site consists of a barren plot of land with historical plaques, in the middle of several busy roads (hence the name “Forks of the Road”).
Then it was back to the river & Natchez Under the Hill. “In its day, 165 years ago, Natchez-under-the-Hill was the most notorious river landing on the entire Mississippi. Although it was the financial pipeline to the opulent population on top of the bluff, knife fights and killings were part of everyday life at this lawless location on the river. It was also notorious for a row of saloons built on stilts over the river, called “trap-door saloons”. Naïve travelers who wandered into one of these saloons were often clubbed to death and robbed of their belongings; their bodies dropped into the river thru trap doors in the floor of the saloon It was often the case, during the 1840’s & 1850’s, if you got into trouble with the law in New Orleans, you’d take a steamboat up river to Natchez-under-the-Hill to hide out until it was safe to return to the Crescent City. The police never ventured to the river landing at Natchez-under-the-Hill, it was just too dangerous.”
Unfortunately, not much remains of the original buildings; other than the building housing the Under the Hill Saloon, which we did not check out. Last stop was the Natchez Visitor Center (we know, it should have been the first stop). It is a large, fairly new center with excellent displays on the history of Natchez.
Wednesday morning, 16NOV, it was off to the Paragon Casino in Marksville, LA. After setting up camp Dan took off to find the Sarto Old Iron Bridge, while Corrie checked out the casino. The bridge is a steel-truss swinging bridge built over Bayou des Glaises in 1916, & is a rare surviving example of its kind.
Thursday was sightseeing in Alexandria & Marksville. To say there was little to see in either city would be an overstatement. Alexandria is a fairly large city, but the downtown was basically dead! It’s not that the city is filled with boarded up store fronts, it’s just that there are no stores or cafes that we could see. In fact, the only open food establishment we found, was a coffee shop. Marksville is a very small town with the town square surrounded by boarded up shops; because everyone shops at the national stores located outside of town.
Finally Friday morning, 18NOV, we were “on the road again” to catch Willie Nelson & Family at the Coushatta Casino in Kinder, LA. For those who have never visited a casino; their intent on providing live entertainment is to get you into the casino before & after the show. We wonder how they were going to get the concert goers into the casino since the concert was in a separate building about 1/2 mile away. In fact it was so close to our RV spot, that we planned on walking to the show. But there was an extremely deep drainage ditch between us & the concert hall. Turns out the casino collects everyone in vans, transports them to the casino, where you walk through the gambling floor & board bigger busses to the concert. After the show, the entire process is reversed! Luckily we discovered a small parking lot close to the arena; so we drove the Toad to the parking lot & walked to the show.
After finding our seats, we wandered over to check out the Willie “merchandise”. Dan figures that since you pay $50 or more for your tickets, the merchandise should be cheaper than in stores. Wrong! Cheapest shirt is $30, & every CD is $25! One unique thing we discovered was not only did they sell beer in metal bottles, but you could buy as much as you could carry to take back to your seat. If you bought more than five, you got an insulated bag to keep them cold!
The concert started with Willie & Family playing one of his biggest hits - Whisky River. Their playing & singing was “off” & very “rough”; & we were afraid the rest of the evening might be more of the same. But by the second song they had warmed up & the concert was excellent. However, Corrie couldn’t get over the fact how short Willie is. Dan was surprised at how good a guitar player Willie is & that the drummer only played a snare drum (that’s it, nothing else, not even cymbals). Also, since this was a no smoking venue, no doobies were smoked; even though Willie sang his gospel song - Roll Me Up & Smoke Me When I Die. Remember, as Willie says - whisky for the men & beer for the horses!
Trivia – who or what is Trigger in relation to Willie?
http://www.willienelson.com/
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