The first week of April this year, I moved to Leroy Percy State Park in Hollandale, Mississippi with plans to spend a week relaxing in the woods and visiting the battlefield at Vicksburg. I had been experiencing rain for months now and it wasn’t giving up yet. Consequently, I spent much of my time sitting indoors reading. Leroy Percy is a small state park with only 16 RV sites but they all have water, electric and sewer hookups, which is a huge bonus. This was my first unassisted back-in site and it took at least ten tries to get lined up properly. I was so glad there was no one around at the time to witness my humiliation.

My campsite at Leroy Percy State Park in Hollandale, Mississippi.

Just off to the left of my site was a swampy area that several egrets called home.

I was disappointed in my visit to Vicksburg National Military Park. Maybe it’s because I’ve been to Gettysburg so often and I know so much of the events there but I found Vicksburg to be boring. I should probably have studied up on it before going. For me, the most interesting thing there was the U.S.S. Cairo display. The Cairo was a Union ironclad warship that saw a year’s worth of action in a number of important confrontations on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers before moving to the Yazoo River in Mississippi where she was the first ship ever to be sunk by a mine. She stayed on the bottom of the river covered in mud for a hundred years until salvaged in the 1960s and eventually put on display at the park.

The Illinois Memorial is the most prominent and iconic at Vicksburg.

A Civil War canon looks across the field toward the Wisconsin Memorial.

The remains of the U.S.S. Cairo on display at Vicksburg. The structure above the water line was clad in iron panels to protect it from enemy artillery. Unfortunately, the hull was wood and she hit a mine and sank in 1862.

The salvaged wood deck of the U.S.S. Cairo.

A scale model of what the U.S.S. Cairo looked like in her prime.

To ward off boredom, one day I took a drive north on US-61 and came across a delightful little roadside attraction dedicated to Jim Henson and Kermit the Frog. The town of Leland, Mississippi is where Henson grew up and played along the Deer Creek, catching frogs. He said that’s where he first formulated the idea for his most famous Muppet.

What a delightful discovery while driving around Mississippi.

The museum features a number of personal photos and documents donated by the Henson family.

I just couldn’t resist a photo with a guy totally clad in my favorite color!

Deer Creek is where Jim Henson came up with the idea for Kermit.

On a couple of my drives along US-61, I witnessed this spring’s flooding in western Mississippi. This area is located between the Mississippi (10 miles to the west) and Yazoo (4 miles to the east) rivers. The main highways are built on levees to keep them above floodwaters but many of the side roads were under water and closed to vehicular traffic. What’s truly astonishing is that this happens every year—and it has since the dawn of time.

US-61 is on a levee to keep it above the annual floodwaters. This is farmland on both sides of the highway.

I passed several homes that had become islands; many using sandbags to hold back the water.

After nearly a week in Mississippi, I moved farther north to Meeman-Shelby State Forest, on the Mississippi River, just north of Memphis, Tennessee. There were a handful of other campers in the park but not in my immediate vicinity. This was a good thing because I had to back into my site once again. This one was particularly tricky because the paved pad was narrow—just about the same width as my wheels and surrounded by deep mud. After several attempts, a fellow camper who wanted to get past me offered to back it in for me—presumably so he could get on his way.  While I was checking in at the office the next camper pulled up behind me with a Grand Design Reflection just like mine. We chatted a bit and they invited me to stop over and see theirs. I did and we spent an hour taking “shop.”

My slightly isolated campsite at Meeman-Shelby State Forest in Millington, Tennessee. The site wasn’t long enough to park the truck so I kept it in an empty site across the drive.

Fellow Grand Design Reflection owners from Pennsylvania. We met while parked one in front of the other at the office.

It was so muddy I didn’t want to use my outdoor rug. Instead, I tried to stay on the little bit of pavement that only extended as far as the last step on the trailer. My extra step stool is sitting in the mud. There would be no outdoor activities at this location.

I was close to Memphis so that’s where I planned all my activities. Top on the list were Elvis Presley’s Graceland and The Bass Pro Shops’ Pyramid—the largest sporting goods store in the world.

Elvis Presley’s Graceland mansion is smaller and closer to the highway that I thought it would be.

The Presleys’ living room is the most tastefully decorated room in the mansion.

The famous “Jungle Room.”

Elvis’ media room with multiple TV screens and hundreds of vinyl LPs.

Elvis loved to ride and owned several horses. He would race on the front lawn from the porch to the street and back, about the length of a football field.

One of two jets Elvis owned that are on display at Graceland. Their interiors are just as gaudy as the mansion, with shag carpet and crushed velvet upholstery in truly obnoxious colors.

Elvis Presley’s grave at Graceland.

The Pyramid in Memphis was originally a sports and entertainment arena. It is now the largest sporting goods store in the world and includes a hotel and a couple restaurants. The piece at the top is a restaurant and bar along with a glass floor observation deck.

It costs $10 to ride the 28-story freestanding glass-walled elevator to the restaurant and observation deck at the top of the Pyramid. It’s worth it.

The aquarium in the center of the circular bar at the top of the Pyramid.

The observation deck has a glass floor that I found particularly unsettling and refused to walk across so I enjoyed my views from a corner spot with concrete below my feet.

The view south of the Mississippi River and the I-40 bridge to Arkansas.

From Memphis, I move just a little ways north to Clarksville, TN on the Kentucky border. Here I had plans to meet up with my nephew Aaron who is stationed at Fort Campbell Army Base. I love being able to visit with friends and family along my journey as a gypsy, or nomad, or hobo, or whatever I am.

My site at Clarksville RV Park was lovely with that flowering tree right outside my door. The man in the site next to me was a former Ford employee who gave me great tips for maintaining my truck. These chance encounters can be very helpful.

My nephew Aaron and I spent a couple hours getting caught up at La Morenita Mexican Restaurant in Clarksville, TN.

My next stop was a visit to Mammoth Cave National Park near Bowling Green, Kentucky. I stayed a few days at Horse Cave KOA not far from Mammoth Cave and then headed north and east for a return trip to New Jersey, arriving on Easter. I just can’t seem to stay away!

I was lucky and got a pull-thru site at the KOA in Horse Cave, KY.

My tour group assembles for a ranger briefing at the entrance to Mammoth Cave (down the stairs to the right).

It was difficult to find places to photograph because there is very little in the way of lighting. At times, the ranger turns off the available lights to show just how dark it is deep inside a cave.

There are no stalactites or stalagmites in Mammoth Cave; only millions of years of water-eroded rock. Mammoth Cave is the longest cave system in the U.S., with over 400 miles of the labyrinth explored.

Light at the end of the tunnel—my tour group ascends the stairs back where we started.

My route from Louisiana to Kentucky.

Next post:
A right turn in Ohio takes me back to New Jersey.

My name is Lindsay Reed and I’m a photographer and retired graphic artist with a passion for both lighthouses and road trips. I am living as a full-time solo RVer in my 33 foot Grand Design Reflection Fifth Wheel trailer ( I spent my first two years in a 31 foot Coachmen Mirada motohome) and plan to spend the next few years traveling the U.S. and Canada photographing not only lighthouses, but everything else there is to see in this wonderful land. I hope you enjoy my blog and will follow my adventures in the months and years ahead.