Natchez Trace Parkway

Thursday morning we drove north to Birmingham, then turned west. We arrived in Tupelo, Mississippi in the afternoon. There we visited the Tupelo National Battlefield, the Tupelo visitor center for the Natchez Trace Parkway, and the Brices Cross Roads National Battlefield. Only the Natchez Trace Parkway had a Junior Ranger program, and to earn that we had to watch the orientation movie and drive a short distance up the parkway and stop at a couple of stops.

The Natchez Trace Parkway runs from Natchez, Mississippi to just south of Nashville, Tennessee. It marks the route that early settlers would take after floating down the Mississippi river to sell goods. It was the kids 100th Junior Ranger program.

Both the Tupelo and Brices Cross Roads National Battlefields are pretty small sites, with just a couple of signs, monuments, and cannons at both. Neither had a National Park visitor center, and there wasn't any information about them at the Natchez Trace Parkway visitor center. After we completed the Junior Ranger program at Natchez Trace, we camped nearby.

We set out Friday morning to travel northwest to Memphis, Tennessee, to visit Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley. Unfortunately, as soon as we got on the freeway, the RV failed to accelerate, and the "check engine light" came on. After a while, we were able to get to the next exit, where we added some oil. We then drove to Memphis, where a mechanic determined that a clogged fuel filter was the problem. Unfortunately, by the time the repair was finished Graceland had closed for the day, so we camped in an adjacent campground.