September 16th, 2021 … Summer of Fun continues! M-i-ss-i-ss-i-pp-i

We departed the Starksville KOA and it was misting and it was overcast. So, this KOA is on Okibbeha County Lake. Back in 2018, they had drained a portion of the man-made lake to repair the levee, but the repair was never made and the lake level remains low. The Wet N Wild Beach area of the KOA is sitting there, hundreds of feet away from the lakes edge and the future of the Oktibbeha County Lake Water Park remains undetermined. Over the past few years, there has been a lot of discussion and concern about the Oktibbeha County Lake Dam's levee system and its ability to contain the heavy rains the Starkville area receives.

The Emergency Management Association and others have worked together to alleviate the pressure from the levee near Starkville KOA. Since the initial concern over the dam breaking, two sinkholes have been discovered. There has been a lot of discussion of whether the waterpark at the KOA, Wet-n-Wild, would be open the summer of 2021. The water park has been closed for around five years. There was talk of it reopening this summer, but the most issues with the levee prevented it from happening. The woman who owns the water park said if the levee is fixed and the water levels can be safely regulated, the water park has a higher chance of reopening. As far as a complete repair of the levee is concerned, city workers and engineers continue to work on the issue. No official finish date has been determined.

We crossed the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, often called the Tenn-Tom, is a 234-mile man-made waterway that extends from the Tennessee River to the Tombigbee River connecting major inland ports from Paducah, Kentucky to Knoxville, Tennessee. It links commercial navigation from the nation's midsection to the Gulf of Mexico. The major features of the waterway are 234 miles of navigation channels, cut 280 feet wide, a 175-foot-deep cut between the watersheds of the Tombigbee and Tennessee rivers, and ten locks and dams. This 29-mile portion of the waterway connected the Tenn-Tom with Pickwick Lake, which forms the border between Alabama and Mississippi in the northwestern corner of the state.  

Columbus, originally called Possum Town is situated at the juncture of three rivers: the Tombigbee, The Buttahatchie, and the Luxapalila. Hernando de Soto crossed the Tombigbee River in 1540 into this area. William Cooper had a trading post near here in the 1780’s. Columbus has managed to progress as a city, while still honoring those who came earlier and forged a path. Since before the town was chartered in 1821, men and women of character and intellect had already staked their claim on the area. At that time, the still-new United States was offering land grants to anyone who could work the land. United States military officers came through here during the War of 1812, and some decided that someday, they would return to this lush and lovely land. A few did return, and built the plantations Goshen, Belmont and others after they cleared wilderness for homesites. The nation’s first state-supported college for women was organized in 1884 and the city settled into a life of culture and prosperity. Columbus is also the birthplace of playwright Tennessee Williams, whose home is now the Welcome Center on Main St.

Columbus Air Force Base is also located in Columbus, Mississippi, and is home to the 14th Flying Training Wing, Air Education and Training Command. Columbus is considered a low-cost military town and is home to many retirees. The mission of Columbus AFB is "Produce Pilots, Advance Airmen, Feed the Fight." The 14th Flying Training Wing, under the Air Education Training Command (AETC), is responsible for an intensive 52-week Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training (SUPT) program.

Centreville is a small town in rural southwest Mississippi that developed in the late nineteenth century on either side of the railroad tracks laid by the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad. The community that evolved to become the railroad town of Centreville began as a settlement known as Elysian Fields or Amite Courthouse. The name of the town derives from its geographic location in the center between the county seats of Liberty and Woodville and between the larger cities of Natchez and Baton Rouge. Soldiers from all across America were introduced to Centreville in 1942, when Camp Van Dorn, the nation's third largest armed services training camp was established. Located only three miles from downtown Centreville, Camp Van Dorn encompassed 41,844 acres and had barracks to accommodate 39,114 enlisted men and 2,173 officers. Camp Van Dorn bolstered the local economy during the war years. Surprisingly, the impact of approximately 40,000 soldiers on the physical appearance of the town was minimal.

General Andrew Jackson’s defeat of Chief Menewa, Red Eagle and the Red Stick Creeks at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814 opened the door for the migration of white settlers primarily from Georgia and the Carolinas to this region of the Mississippi Territory.  By the time Alabama gained statehood in 1819, pioneer families had established a foundation for the town of Maplesville near Mulberry Creek.  The town’s namesake was Stephen W. Maples, a merchant whose store held the first post office.  The community became a crossroad for the Fort Jackson Road, which connected Tuscaloosa to Coosada and Montgomery, and the Elyton Road which connected Selma to points north.  Inns and taverns were built to accommodate the stagecoach traffic with the area’s population increasing to 809 by 1850. In 1853 the Alabama and Tennessee Rivers Railroad was completed at the nearby community of Cuba.  The citizens of Maplesville began migrating to the new Maplesville Depot thus initiating the decline of the original town.  In 1856, the Maplesville Post Office was located to the new site effectively changing the name of the community.  By 1900 old Maplesville had become a ghost town and today little remains other than the cemetery.  The addition of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad in 1897 brought good times to the town for the next 20 years.  Many of the older buildings seen in town today were built during that period.  Over the years three depots have served the Norfolk Southern Railroad and its predecessors.  The first was built around 1853 and was destroyed by Wilson’s Raiders on their march to Selma during the War Between the States.  The second was built shortly after the war and burned along with a number of other buildings in the fire of 1911.  The present structure was built in 1912. 

We crossed from Mississippi into Sweet Home Alabama. Tourists traveling into Alabama on the interstate highways are greeted by signs strengthening the state’s official connection to the Lynyrd Skynyrd song title “Sweet Home Alabama.” Before 2014, “Alabama The Beautiful” signs stood at the state line since 2003. Lynyrd Skynyrd recorded several songs in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, but “Sweet Home Alabama” was recorded in Doraville, Georgia, in 1973.

There was a bunch of ivy growing over everything along both sides of Hwy 82. It reminds me of the kudzu ivy that grows in Georgia, perhaps it has migrated west! Its monstrous green forms climbing telephone poles and trees on the edges of the roads. It was introduced from Asia in the late 19th century as a garden novelty, but not widely planted until the 1930s, kudzu is now America’s most infamous weed.

The Talladega National Forest offers a peaceful atmosphere that is filled in wild game, camping, and hiking utopias. The forest also features picturesque scenic waterfalls throughout its striking setting. The total Forest covers 392,567 acres at the southern edge of the Appalachian Mountains. Before it was bought by the federal government in the 1930s, the area that comprises the Talladega was extensively logged and represented some of the most abused, eroded wastelands in all of Alabama. Pine forest regrowth now hosts a diverse eco-system. The forest is headquartered in Montgomery, as are all four of Alabama’s National Forests. The other National Forests in the state are Conecuh, Tuskegee, and William B. Bankhead. The Talladega National Forest is physically separated into two areas, and divided into three Ranger Districts.

True to its name, the Alabama River flows through the heart of the state of Alabama. Originating just north of Montgomery, the Alabama River is born from the marriage of the Coosa River and the Tallapoosa River near the Fall Line. As with most of Alabama’s great rivers, dams slow the progress of the Alabama River as it flows to meet the Tombigbee River and form the Mobile River.  All of the Alabama River downstream of Montgomery is commercially navigable.

Even through the rain drops, we had our first Love Bug sighting. Actually it was a joined set of love bugs. Yuck …. It’s one of the toughest seasons in the south!

We arrived at Gunter Hill COE campground, our home for the night.

The site we picked from a map is just perfect, we spent the afternoon outside sitting, relaxing and a little bit of napping!