Key West; Day 12; 4/8/14

We left Long Beach, Mississippi at 8:00. It was 54 degrees with mostly blue clear skies.

Hwy 49 took us north through Wiggins and Hattiesburg to Magee, where we stopped for gas. It was a fortuitous stop. While there we found out that 49 was closed south of Mendenhall. A guy who was stocking shelves in the convenience store provided and alternate route to Jackson.

We took Hwy 28 west out of Magee.It was a very pretty ride and every river and stream we crossed was flooded. At Georgetown we turned north and west on Hwy 27 and we lost our blue skies. We saw dark clouds coming so we put on our rain suits. In short order it was raining and it continued off-and-on all the way to Vicksburg.

We had Chinese food for lunch and then checked into the Best Western motel before visiting the Vicksburg National Military Park. It is a large park that documents the 47 day siege of Vicksburg by Union forces during the Civil War. There is a 16 mile drive around the park. We made about half of it before the park closed and we were shut out. We got to see the best part, however, the U.S.S. Cairo Museum and exhibit.We also saw the National Cemetery were the remains of 17,000 Union soldiers are buried. While in the park we had to put our rain suits back on and we were sprinkled on while touring the park

We rode 242 miles today with rain and the highest temperature we saw was 61.

For more pictures from today click on the following link: https://plus.google.com/photos/104542123131082631220/albums/6000089353530719809?authkey=CKCOu8zUotyanAE