(MARCH 6, 2018) It was a rainy, and dreary in Birmingham when I go up this morning. While at breakfast I checked the Google Map App on my phone and most of the roads around me were covered in red indicating traffic was basically at a stand still.
So I decided to wait and give the traffic a chance to clear up before I left the hotel. While i was waiting a friend and former co workers saw my Facebook post and gave me a call. He has relatives who live a couple of miles away from where i was staying and is very familiar with the area and Birmingham Traffic. He gave me some advice on an alternative route which allowed me to get on the road without further delay.
I was still about an hour later departing than I had planned, and it was still raining which i pulled out of the hotel parking lot at 9 a.m. Central Time. It was still raining when I hit I-20 about 20 minutes later but I could see blue sky in the distance and by the time I got to Tuscaloosa the temperatures were climbing and I was in bright sunshine.
With clear skies and bright sunshine I decided to venture into Tuscaloosa and onto the campus of the University of Alabama. The students are still in school and there is very little parking around campus, but as luck would have it I found a parking spot right in front of Bryant-Denny Stadium.
I had been to the stadium several year ago but there was something new in the plaza in front of the stadium. Since my last visit the Nick Saban statue had been added to the to the Walk of Champions in front of the Stadium.
Saban's statue takes it's place alone side the statues of the four other National Championship Coaches; Wallace Wade, Frank Thomas, Bear Bryant and Gene Stallings.
I wasn't sure I was exactly legally parked so I hustle down the Walk of Champions and snapped a few pictures before heading back to the car and moving on up past the Presidents House and the Denny Chimes. I wanted to stop again at the Bear Bryant Museum but because spring break hadn't started and the students were on campus I couldn't find a parking spot and just headed back to the interstate.
Putting Tuscaloosa behind me I headed west across western Alabama. I must tell you that there is absolutely nothing between Tuscaloosa and Meridian, Mississippi. It takes a little over an hour for me to make it to the Mississippi line and another 20 minutes or so to get to Meridian.
Just east of Meridian I leave the interstate and make my way to the Oak Grove Baptist Church
Jimmie Rodger died on May 26, 1933 from a pulmonary hemorrhage. He was 35 years old. A native of Meridian Jimmie his wife and his family are all resting here in the cemetery at the Oak Grove Baptist Church.
I had visited his grave before several years ago but that day was cold and rainy.. Today it was a beautiful sunny day and just as I was leaving the cemetery and heading back to the Interstate I had my XM Radio tuned to a county music channel, and wouldn't you know it, just as I was making the turn onto I-20, what starts playing on the radio but the Blue Yodel #1 or as most people know it "T For Texas." Wow!
From Meridian I make way around Mississippi's capital city and off to the right in the distance I can see the dome of the Mississippi Capitol. I had visited the capitol grounds several years ago and saw no reason to fight the downtown traffic to revisit the area. I continued on west and and just under an hour later I arrive at the Vicksburg Quality Inn, which is my accommodation for the next two nights.
Tomorrow I plan on touring the Vicksburg National Military Park and the Historic Area of Downtown Vicksburg. So tomorrow is going to a pretty full day with very few miles.
TODAY'S MILES: 288
TOTAL MILES: 861
Here is a short video of my visit to the Grave of Country Music Great Jimmie Rodgers
Roll Tide! I hear the eating is good thru that part of the world so stop at some of those lunch countets and bbq joints and let me know how it is. I thought Jimmie Rodgers was from TN - always learn something new from the Deacon sneakin' around!
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