MS to OK

Last week we got the perfect sampling of Mississippi resort-living at Lake Tiak-O'Khata. It's a family owned place with a rich history, and you can tell that it is run with lots of love. Handpainted signs, pretty landscaping, nice people. It oozes southern charm.

We picked a spot next to Ruby's Pond, pretty sunsets and a nice enough view of the night sky. We've identified Gemini and are getting the hang of the spring skies. We used our new binoculars to see the nebula M42, Orion's sword (until we learned it's name, we were calling it Orion's tobacco pouch:) It's an incredible view, even from here!

We found a godswood tree on the nature trail

This gorgeous wisteria vine was in bloom. It's almost 50 years old, the wheel it's consuming is from farm equipment from the property in the late 1800's. This stuff was in bloom everywhere, and down the roads from Mississippi to Louisiana. Prettiest invasive species evar!

Bowie doing his thing..?

One evening we strolled over to the restaurant for pie and wine. It was. The best.

"Pie and wine is whatchu asked for, so pie and wine is what you gonna get."

We left Friday, and roadtripped our way across the rest of Mississippi, through Louisiana, a piece of Texas, and into Oklahoma. We were able to jump onto Natchez Trace in Louisiana for a good 80-some miles. We first heard of this road from a woman in Berea's local yarn shop. It is gorgeous and fascinating. So, there's another roadtrip that we're already planning for next year. In the teardrop perhaps? (Mom, Dad, meet you on the Mississippi??)

The arrowhead signs are great.

Magical cypress swamp

We made a stop at the site where Bonnie & Clyde were ambushed. Here is their memorial.

And just to the right, is a memorial for the vigilant (yes) and brave (?) law enforcement officials who, some might say were a bit excessive in their force...it is quite the juxtaposition.

"Each of us six officers had a shotgun and an automatic rifle and pistols. We opened fire with the automatic rifles. They were emptied before the car got even with us. Then we used shotguns ... There was smoke coming from the car, and it looked like it was on fire. After shooting the shotguns, we emptied the pistols at the car, which had passed us and ran into a ditch about 50 yards on down the road. It almost turned over. We kept shooting at the car even after it stopped. We weren't taking any chances." 

It's interesting, all of the attention that the Bonnie & Clyde monument gets, they are clearly the main attraction. (That's who we came to see! We've definitely been called Bonnie & Clyde before lol)

We somehow found ourselves in Miranda Lambert's hometown and shop, the Pink Pistol. We were lured in on the pretext of a winery, and didn't realize where we were until we were. Not really my style, but I can dig what they've got going on there. Handmade stuff, gypsy/vintage clothing, re-purposed junk (ok maybe it kind of is my style). This Texas flag was super cute.

It was fun to take a break from camping, to go on a roadtrip! As we head west, I am seriously missing boiled peanuts, and grieving the near-absence of Waffle House, but we've had some great bbq, and picked up some regional beer along the way.

We're now at Lake Murray SP in Oklahoma. We chose a lakeside site with a very promising view of the night sky. No neighbors except for the campground host. If only this rain would freaking stop already!

Alabama to Mississippi

What a hectic Sunday. Quick recap.

After a fun-filled week in South Carolina with Cori's uncle, we said to ourselves, "Hey, let's go to the ocean." Then we looked at the weather. And all the crowds. And then we said to ourselves, "Yeah, let's stay away from the ocean this time around - we already saw that one anyway." And so we headed west.

We found ourselves, once again, in Alabama - sort of picking up where we left off last fall. Spent a week on water front property in a place called Wind Creek State Park. Which allegedly has the largest state-run campground in the U.S. - almost 600 sites! It was a pretty site with lovely scenery, although our view of the night sky was often obstructed by tenting lanterns across one of the many lake fingers. A very pretty park, but I doubt we'll be back.

After that, we trekked onwards into the west, setting our sights on Lake Lurleen state park in Alabama. We got there after a night of boondocking (which is made extremely easy with solar panels, by the way), and the park is BEAUTIFUL. Very nice little park nested around a little gem of a lake. BUT the woes of having to remain employed on the road held us back this time around - the internet was unusably slow, in spite of our many efforts to move, re-seat the antenna, and scream in frustration.

So we continued on west - to Louisville, Mississippi. We're currently parked in a privately-owned campground in a little lake-resort area called Lake Tiak-O-Khata. It's a nice, fully-forested campground with a great layout. The resort area up the road is borderline hilarious, though - Cori said it looks like they could have filmed Dirty Dancing here. Not a bad place at all - we'll call it home for now.

 Pretty view from our front door at Wind Creek

 These funny ducks were a permanent fixture the whole week

 Bowie cat sittin pretty

 Back on the road after leaving Wind Creek. God rays over Alabama.

One of the nice things about driving west, is you always get a sunset view.

(or completely blinded for 30 minutes if there are no clouds)

 Snapped a picture of this gorgeous courthouse we drove by. I looked it up later to learn there's a ghost story, and a face in the window that you can still see. Super bummed we didn't know about this (actually I did know the story, just not that this was the courthouse!) would have loved to see it :( It is the old Pickens County Courthouse in AL.

Golden ribbon road in Mississippi. It was a charming drive through the

little Alabama and Mississippi towns between Tuscaloosa and Louisville.