We thought about going to Memphis. Well, I thought about going to Memphis. I think Mrs. Wigglebottom thought we were going to the park.
Instead, we got off at the first exit across the Tennessee River and headed south. Eventually, we ran into Shiloh, which was nice, because, not only did I see a street sign with my name on it (though I did not take it), the battlefield was free today.
So, Mrs. Wigglebottom and I found an out of the way spot to put the car and then we walked around reading signs and sniffing and peeing on things. In case any of my Southern readers are concerned, I don’t believe we peed on any of your dead folks, but, if we did, let’s just assume they enjoyed seeing a dog and a woman, instead of only sobbing old men from Missouri, who seemed to be the only other people in the park.
I’m not knocking crying over tragic deaths. I’m just saying that, after a century and a half, I bet the dead folks like to occassionally have a cute dog come by and sniff around the trench their remains are piled in.
For those of you who’ve never been to Shiloh, it’s really something to see. I’m always especially moved by the Iowa monument, which is a big stone looking thingy with a statue of a woman on one side who is writing something which I should have bothered to remember on the side. Ha, that’s a ringing endorsement, but really, it’s very cool.
Then we were trying to decide if we were going to go to Mississippi, but decided against it, since we didn’t have any of the CDs we wanted with us. I don’t know what made that the deciding factor, but it was.
We meandered east until we hit the Natchez Trace Parkway and wandered up it. We saw this enormous turkey vulture that seemed to be just hanging in the sky, the circles it was making were so slow.
And I can’t remember what else we saw, but it felt good to be out and around.