From the Desk of The DBeazy One-Man-Think-Tank

I mentioned earlier about the motorcycle trip when Mel and I found ourselves at the Windsor Ruins in Claiborne County, Ms.  This trip became more or less our maiden voyage as far as the motorcycle trips were concerned. I had purchased a 2007 Honda VTX 1300 from a man who had to end his riding career due to a heart attack and had let the bike sit outside in the weather for about a year or more.  I got the bike running again and bought new tires, and I began to ride as much as possible, but since it was February, a lot of cold weather remained in the extended forecast.  I rode it to work and on the country backroads, then Melissa and I began to take short trips close to home. The bike never gave us any trouble, but she was still untested on a longer trip.  The Windsor Ruins trip took us a little over 300 miles that Saturday, the first day of June.  We hadn’t really planned on that long of a trip, but the weather was great and we just kept going. We were tired and sweaty when we returned home, but the bike had performed well and we spent the rest of the evening recounting the day and looked farther into the story of the Windsor Ruins.  Then we started a list of other interesting places that we wanted to visit, via motorcycle.

One of the things that we discovered on that first trip came about due to our being unfamiliar with the area.  The trip took us through a protected National Forest, meaning that options for fuel were limited and caused us to stop in a couple of less-than-desirable locations.  One, in particular, may have even been a little dangerous in the town of Fayette. Another discovery we made was how handy and relatively safe a Dollar General can be out on the road.  We could get a cool drink and take a quick break without a drunk screaming across the parking lot at a policeman.  So I mentioned that for comfort and for safety we needed to mark the locations of Dollar General Stores when planning our next trip, thus the birth of the Dollar General Tour.

For our second trip, we decided to drive through the Vicksburg National Military Park.  I was probably 10 years old when I first experienced the park while on a family trip; my dad drove us through it in a Ford LTD.  I remember not being enthused with the statues and the history of the place, but while staring out at the hills and valleys I wished that we lived there so that my brother and I could explore the park, off of the roads.  As a kid, the world seemed huge. Places like Vicksburg, MS, though only two hours away, seemed like an epic journey to visit.  Melissa had never toured the park, so we were both excited about the trip.

The park is a 16-mile ride through the woods and hills along the Mississippi River which served as the battlefield for the Siege of Vicksburg during the American Civil War.  The deep hollows, the high hills, the bluffs, and the river all played roles in this military campaign.  We rode the bike through at a slow pace, stopping at some of the many impressive statues in the park. There was a lot to digest.  The monuments and statues tell the story of the battle, but my favorite part is the USS Cairo.  This is a museum in a bluff overlooking the river and the resurrected remains of a Civil War ship that sank during the battle.  Time and our hunger kept us from staying longer at the exhibit.  We plan on a return trip to see more.

We circled back through some of the park more than once, just riding and looking and generating some wind to keep cool.  Then we exited the park and searched for something to eat.

I remembered seeing the Beechwood Restaurant and Lounge on our way to the park, so we made our way back and decided to give it a try.  After we were seated, I kept thinking that the place looked familiar, and finally remembered that I had been there before with a group from work.  The food was great and we could hear a band in another room warming up and doing sound checks.  We were tempted to stay and catch the show but decided it was time to get back on the road.

All-in-all, this is a trip that I highly recommend.  You don’t have to be a history or Civil War enthusiast to enjoy the park.  Before our next trip there, I plan on reading up a little more on the history and the battle. I think a little prep time before going would add more to the visit.  In our case, I ended up reading about it all afterward.  A couple of the more interesting details to me were the stories of Albert DJ Cashier and Peter Conover Hains.  Albert DJ Cashier was actually Jennie Irene Hodgers and adopted a male persona to join the Union Army.  It is now known that she was one of at least 250 females who joined and fought as men.  Peter Conover Hains is the only known person who fought in the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, and World War I.  He was known for being an engineer and played a role in laying out the Panama Canal.

Melissa and I were just beginning to realize that there is much to see and experience right here close to home.  It is funny how busy life gets and we get so caught up in our routines that we forget that there is a world out there beyond home and work.  Since that first trip in June, Melissa and I have traveled to places that we would not have visited in a car.  I mean we just wouldn’t have planned it that way.  We don’t require a destination when riding our bike, but we have found that we benefit by including these stops along the way, and we have found that as we ride, we look for unusual and interesting opportunities to pose the bike for a picture or two.  We so enjoy the opportunity to share pictures and stories of our trips and we have found that it is common to be asked, “Well, where are y’all going this weekend?” We don’t consider ourselves some type of tour guides, but we have realized the value of getting up out of our recliners and finding out what lies down the road.  We have how interesting the world can be, especially when seen while riding on two wheels.