Day 22 June 19

WOW! Another incredible day. We had offered to drive Trystan to the airport to fly to were getting ready to leave, when she arrived at our door. Trystan asked if her wallet was in our room. I looked, but assured her that I would have noticed if it was there. She had already called Robert, who had left early that morning was driving through northern Florida,  to see if she had left in the car. She was awaiting his call back when we went down to our car to make sure it was not there. It was not…she remembered going with Robert the night before to fill the tank and was sure she must have left it in the car.

Robert called back with a confirmation. Without her wallet and ID she could not board her scheduled flight or check in at Camp Lejeune, a Marine base where she was to report for Coast Guard advanced boat training the next day.

We quickly agreed with Robert that he would turn back and we would start driving toward Florida and meet half-way. We quickly left New Orleans and Trystan called the Government Travel Office for help but after a long wait got little help other than cancelling her existing plane reservations. At any rate, we ended up meeting Robert after about a two hour drive and Trystan headed off to Panama City, Florida where she had located a flight that would get her to Raleigh, N.C. where she could then rent a car to get her to the base on time. (We also gave Robert a gentle reminder that he too had misplaced a few things during his years with us.).

We then drove north toward Hannibal, Mo., where we decided to stop for the day and to visit the Vicksburg Battlefield Military Park. It is a very beautiful but sad place. After visiting the museum and viewing a film about the Vicksburg siege, we bought an audio car tour, which provided a detailed narration of our two hour drive through the park. The Union victory at Vicksburg split the Confederacy in half and along with Gettysburg turn the course of the war against the south.

There were scores of monuments on the battleground in memory of the various units that participated in the battles from May through July of 1863 and the nearly 100,000 soldiers, north and south, who fought there.

We also saw the USS Cairo, which was an iron-clad Union warship that had been sunk during the siege and rediscovered, raised and restored about 50 years ago. I was surprised to learn that the Navy was heavily involved in the Civil War operations this far inland. The ship and museum would have been well worth a trip to Vicksburg on their own merit. All for Tonight,

Linda and Richard