Riverboat country : Mississippi

This is a story about the time I visited Mississippi. It’s a bit long so I’m running it over a couple of days.

You notice a certain something, as soon as you get off the plane. It felt quite different when we ventured down to the southern states. The air was warm and sultry despite it being the middle of the winter season.

We were told that Mississippi was an extremely poor State and some had commented that it was a bit ‘run down.’
I thought the place seemed to be more ‘laid back,’ without that ‘over developed’ feel that you get from other places in the U.S.

I was there representing the company that I was working for at the time, and was accompanied by a colleague who I shall call Stu.

We were picked up at the airport by our local company rep. and driven deep into the State till we reached the banks of the famous river.

We dropped our bags off at the pre-booked ‘Bed and Breakfast’ run by a retired army Colonel. It was a Beautiful old white washed house. Each bedroom was dominated by old fashion humpbacked beds, and lacy doilies were draped across all horizontal surfaces.

A Thick afternoon fog had drifted in through the trees, and the solid cloudy mass collected as drops on the leaves.

I enjoyed a constant, gentle dripping on head and shoulders, walking about underneath those drooping boughs.

Climbing back into the car, we were taken on a driving tour to check out the floating casinos on the river, and then for a cruise along the beach. This stretch of sandy riverbank was at one time, mainly mangroves anchored in sticky black mud. One day someone decided that this wasn't very attractive, and they imported sand from South America, and built long pale artificial beaches (recently I've discovered that the Kiwis have done the same thing along Oriental Parade in Wellington).

To be continued…

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