We’ve had a mixed run with technology this trip. Having data on our phones is great for
booking the next motel from our phones in the car before we arrive, but the
problem is that you get to rely on it.
The same applies to GPS. Dora
spat the dummy completely this morning.
Clearly she hadn’t woken up yet, and I spent a FRUSTRATING hour and a
half trying various things to get her to work.
She would fire up ok, but I couldn’t get her to accept any input. After much perseverance, she was able to
recognise where we were, and was able to tell us that we needed to do a U-turn
….. at every intersection we came to…… but she would not take our next
instruction and give us directions to Natchez.
So we had to do it old school, using maps. Hard to believe we navigated our way around
Europe using just maps 14 years ago, but we did. Anyway, eventually, after restoring factory
settings and deleting all recent addresses we’d put in, I was able to get her
to work. Moral of the story is, fire her
up EARLY and if possible, input the next location you want to head to before
you shut her down at night. I think she
is just such a basic device that she is struggling with the amount of data she
has/not enough memory …. And at 50, I’m beginning to relate.
Eventually we got to Natchez, a cute little town on the
banks of the Mississippi with a stunning sweeping view of the river and the
surrounding countryside. It was hot, 30
degrees, but felt even hotter than that.
Most of the town was shut, and we got the distinct feeling we were out
of season, which we probably are. Also
being a Monday, we were just after the weekend rush and almost everywhere was
shut. We eventually found a café thanks
to the Natchez local guide and grabbed a slice of cake and a coffee to tide us
over until the next stop.
Onwards we went to
place called Windsor Ruins, which was once a stunning family home built
in 1861 that burnt to the ground in an accidental fire in 1890. The pillars are all that remain. Based on those, it would have been a stunning
house. The drive into the site was
really pretty, narrow roads almost overgrown with trees, very much off the
beaten track. I would never have heard
about it except one of my work colleagues had been a few months ago and said it
was worth a visit.
Once that was ticked off the list it was onwards to
Vicksburg where we decided to stay for a couple of nights. It is the site of a significant Civil war
battle and seemed like a really pretty little town that was quite interesting. We found a cheap motel on the outskirts of
town and schlepped all our crap up to the room.
We’ve already expanded to the overflow bag – oops. After a quick freshen up we headed back into
town to find something to eat. Similarly
to Natchez, lots of places closed today but we found KJ’s River Town Grill
where we had a lovely meal, I had blacked catfish with crawfish Julie sauce and
Joe had steak and chips.
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