December 29, 2012. Ridgeland, Ms. A Drive.

First, get on The Natchez Trace going south.   Next take Highway 49, which takes you southeast straight to Hattiesburg, our destination.  After driving around historic downtown Hattiesburg, we drove north on highway 15, and finally back to Jackson on Highway 18.  Rather than coming home on the main highways, we took the back roads along the south side of the reservoir.  We left at 11:00 and returned at 6:00, with an hour to stop for Chinese food for lunch and a thirty minute walk in Laurel.  The rest of the time we were driving.

In Mississippi there are lots of roads and they are all good.  The smaller highways are elevated so you drive with ditches on both sides and with so much rain the past couple of days you see standing water on both sides of the road.  Of course, there are no shoulders on the roads.  The countryside is very pretty with farms and forests lining the roads.  Hattiesburg is the home of the University of Southern Mississippi.  The city seems old but it was started in 1882.  During the sixties, it was a hotbed of civil rights unrest.  Originally it was a lumber and transportation hub.  The greater area population has about 150,000, equally split between white and black.  Interestingly, there are 1% Hispanic.

It was a lovely drive through the countryside of Mississippi today.  Green is everywhere.   The annual rainfall is 62 inches.  No wonder the fields are green and the woods are flooded.