Corinth and Shiloh

I barely slept. I had checked out the menu for breakfast at Abe's Grill in Corinth, MS the night before. The sun came up and the time had come. Blew off the free breakfast at the hotel and a new road trip day had started...

Slight rain had begun, but it was warm and cozy in Abe's. Hot coffee, homemade biscuits, sawmill gravy, and PORK BRAINS! Find that at Cracker Barrel!

Anyway, it's a tiny little place where you sit at the bar on a stool. All the cookin's going on right in front of you. Owners never let you run out of coffee.

I opted for the pork tenderloin, biscuit, egg, sawmill gravy, and coffee. Too early for the brains. REAL sawmill gravy, not something out of a package. We're talking $5.50. Fabulous. Wife went for the same with bologna instead of tenderloin. Bologna is big in these parts evidently.

We almost couldn't leave. This is so totally my kind of place. We chatted with the owners, drank coffee and then finally pryed ourselves back onto the road.

I drove for 3 hours with a big smile on my face just thinking of that fabulous tenderloin with sawmill gravy and homemade biscuit. 3 hours.

Into the rain and Tennessee we went with a stop at Shiloh National Park. We pretty much had the park to ourselves. Here the Yankees got a little obnoxious with the Rebs.

23,000+ were killed in the span of 2 days. Fairly sobering in the rain with the thunder rumbling, as the battle was fought in the rain.

I'm still thinking about Abe's.

On to Corinth, MS

I've now got it on the brain to be in Lynchburg as my last night, so I'm trying to do the math on how far to travel and I don't know how many historical markers are between me and Lynchburg. In the meantime, more beautiful Natchez Trace...

We're getting further north now and really beginning to see more critters. Count the heads on this one - a mamma turkey with some of this year's children.

Mile marker 269.4: a short walk down the trail takes you to the graves of 13 unknown Confederate soldiers.

Mile marker 286.7: the Pharr Mounds, eight burial mounds built 1,800 to 2,000 years AGO! Take that Europe. There's actually several burial mound stops along the way. Here's what they look like, and after the first 6, your wife won't need to see any more.

We blow through Tupelo since we've already hit Elvis' birthplace previously (but otherwise a mandatory stop).

Gotta eat, but we're in the land of no towns and no restaurants, so I head for Cherokee, AL on Hwy 72 and discover JJ's Restaurant. I didn't take any pictures of the grub. I figured they'd throw me out if I started snapping away. Meat and three kind of place.

Corinth is on the horizon and I'm aiming for the Corinth Interpretive Center (FREE!) which gives the story of the battle of Corinth and Shiloh (where I'm heading to tomorrow). Good little stop, good movie and museum. No B&B's available, so we're going to have to be regular people and stay in a hotel. I have already scoped out my breakfast tomorrow (IN LIEU of the FREE one I have at the hotel, so you know you've got to come back to see how this goes down.)