25 July 2021
I said a teary goodby to Tanis and Archie and was on the road by 8 am. My GPS wanted me to go west on US 80 and then take I-20 west until I connected with US 49. To me that was the long way so I headed east towards Meridian and US 45 south. I passed a lot of memories on the way – exits to Forest, Lake, Lawrence, Chunky, Newton, Decatur, an of course, Meridian, my birth city.
Forest was always the football (and economic rival) of Morton when I was a kid. The center of town has pretty much moved north because the center of the old town was on 16th section land which was set aside by the Land Ordinance of 1785 for public schools. Land is divided into townships which normally are six square miles. The township is divided into 36 sections with a section considered as 1 square mile. The way the sections are numbered, section 16 falls dead center of the township. The old town of Forest sat dead center on 16th section land, reserved for public schools. However, the state was allowed to lease the land and it was common political practice (and a corrupt one) that the lease ran for 99 years for $1.00.
I used to teach my students township, section and range in my physical science classes and most had never heard of them. Sections are further subdivided and a lot of deeds are recorded by township, section and range, so if you are into property, it’s something important to know.
Mississippi had an attorney general that realized most Mississippi lands were coming to the end of the 99 year lease and decided to ask for fair market value for the lease to support education in Mississippi. Most small businesses in town couldn’t afford that. Let’s just say that down town businesses Forest had a lot of fires for the next few years.
Lake, Mississippi is a very small town (smaller than Morton during my time) and we often held a warm up game for the season by playing them in football. It was also home to Robert Logan, a friend while at Ole Miss. I remember getting into a religious discussion with Robert and asking if he believed in god. He said he didn’t know but he thought it was best to hedge one’s bet and go to church.
Just past Lake is Chunky. When I was a kid, there was a fish camp on the Chunky River and my grandmother and I would often stop in there for lunch. It was a long wooden building and you could get your fish cooked any way you liked as long as it was fried.
A part of the Chunky River area is Dunn’s Falls, the only really true waterfall in the state. You can go to them by going to Enterprise or, like I did, from the Chunky side. By the way, I never found them. Still a mystery to me.
Just before Newton is the exit for Decatur, home of East Central Junior College (now East Central Community College) where a lot of Morton graduates started their college careers. I remember visiting cousins there. It was a very small college back then but I’m sure it has grown significantly.
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Just before you get to Meridian, you could head south on SR 11 to Heidelberg, really just a bump in the road, but at one time, it hosted the national chrysanthemum competition. Don’t ask. That’s my birth flower and Ruby took me to the show and it is still one of the most amazing floral shows I’ve ever seen. How this little hole-in-the-road got to host this, I’ll never know but it was amazing. I first saw spider mums there.
I passed through Meridian to get to my turnoff for US 45 and passed the exit for Poplar Springs street where we lived while I was born. Archie said he was over in Meridian not too long ago and the house is gone but the street is still there. It’s at that house I have my first memories.
US 45 is four lane until you hit the Alabama state line where those cheapskates turn it into a two lane road with 55 mph limit. Yes, there was a state policeman that had pulled over someone heading north. I had quite a line of cars behind me but they never seemed to want to pass and stayed back. I was more than OK with that.
With the time change from CDT to EDT, I pulled into Tallahassee at 4 pm and was promptly routed through downtown to my hotel. It is Tru by Hilton. It’s sparse but it is also new and clean.
Dinner was Whataburger. I’ve eaten toooo much meat this trip but there wasn’t much alternative other than fast food establishments. I’ll be glad to get back to my vegetarian diet when I get home.
Tomorrow is a short 3 hour drive to Cedar Key. It reminds me a little of what Key West used to be when I first moved to Florida. I’ll spend two nights there before heading home.
Stay tuned!