Today we diverted a bit from the Trace by following the Tombigbee River from Fulton north on the river’s east bank. The Tombigbee was substantially altered from its original configuration when the Army Corps of Engineers connected it with the Tennessee River up in the northwest corner of Alabama. They built locks, dams, bridges, made massive cuts through limestone rock, put up visitor centers and campgrounds and had an all-around good time starting back in the late 1970’s. It was a massive project with a length of some 240 miles and allowing barge traffic to leave the Tennessee River and take a shortcut to Mobile Bay in two days. The other option is down the Tennessee to the Ohio to the Mississippi to New Orleans – about 1000 or more miles further.
We followed the Tombigbee all the way up to Tishomingo. Today was different from our other days near the Trace – we spotted lots of turtles, a good assortment of wading birds and a green heron, another addition to our bird book. We were on the John Rankin Highway all the way up to Tishomingo State Park which is a beautiful gem in the northeast corner of Mississippi. The park has a venerable swinging pedestrian bridge over a river, wild pink azaleas, abundant dogwoods in bloom and lots of neat buildings and improvements made back in the make-work days of the CCC.
We headed out of the state park and continued on the Trace up to the Tennessee River in Alabama at about milepost 330. The Tennessee River is huge. I had no idea it was even a river until I learned better recently and I was impressed at its width. It looks like it is maybe 1/2 mile across where the Trace passes over it. We will pick up our travel on the Trace later in this trip but we are going away from it for a while so we can explore in western Tennessee a bit.
Before heading home today we decided to find some grub to eat before the long drive back to Tupelo. The restaurants in the town of Cherokee didn’t look too famous so we went to a supermarket called a Piggly Wiggly for lunch makings. Their lunch meats and cheese were okay but their chocolate chip cookies had a list of ingredients longer than War and Peace.
There’s some pictures. Click here