Travel Day
Sunday, Jan 4th 2026
We left Beaver Dam Campground, Minden, LA at about 10:30 in the morning. After a quick stop for diesel at the local TA Travel Stop, jumped on I-20 and headed East. We made a quick stop at the Rest Area in Choudrant, LA around noon. At about 1:45 PM we stopped at the Mississippi Welcome Center in Vicksburg, MS. I would not recommend anyone stopping here with a large RV. The parking lots and driveway are not setup for a rig our size. We got to LeFleur’s Bluff State Park in Jackson, MS around 3:30 in the afternoon.
Stats
Departure Time: 10:29 AM
Arrival Time: about 3:22 PM
Duration (h:mm): 4:53
Total Miles: 202
Number of Stops: 3
Weather: Broken Clouds
Campground Life
We stayed at LeFleur’s Bluff State Park on the outskirts of Jackson, MS. The Campground was well kept-up with lots of birds. It was in a swamp. Our site was on the shoreline of Mayes Lake. The park was also was home to the Mississippi Children’s Museum, the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science and a very nice playground. Across the street from the Park was the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum. Sadly there was much more to do than we had time in our two weeks while we were here.
Mama Bear has started getting more and more into baking. She made a loaf of sandwich bread, an artisan loaf and some muffins while dad did some routine maintenance on our rig.
The park also provide lots of opportunities to roam and explore nature. Richard has really started to get mobile.
A Storm
Thursday, Jan. 8th, 2026
We got our first storm warning for high winds and flooding. As we were next to a lake and swamp we got a little concerned. One of the worst places to be for a storm is an RV and the campground had no storm shelter or plan. Thankfully the storm missed us.
Museum of Natural Science
Friday, Jan, 9th 2026
We turned the MLK holiday into a field trip day. After sleeping in the morning after the storm we headed to the Museum of Natural Science. It was a great visit! They had lost of fish, turtles, live crocodiles, and stuffed animals in different exhibits. They also had some great dinosaur exhibits, always a great hit with the boys.
Vicksburg National Military Park (NPS)
Sunday, Jan, 11th 2026
We got to explore the Vicksburg National Military Park. Sidney and papa are really history crazy and our time at the park showed it. A one-day visit was not enough time to make see the entire park We started out at the Visitor’s Center. It had some great hands on activities for the boys and provided a good overview of the park and history.
We ran around and took pictures of almost every sign (100s of them). Sidney and papa had lots of great conversations about the battle, history and politics of the time. We took a break to sneak down the road to Tommy’s BBQ for lunch, which had great BBQ and gumbo.
After returning to the park we got about 1/2 through the park when we realized we were running out of time. We then booked it to the USS Cairo Gunboat and Museum that was located on the Mississippi River on the north end of the park.
Both boys were very excited by the USS Cairo Gunboat. They had some great interpretive information. It was really nice to be able to stand inside her (USS Cairo) remains and get a nice picture of what it might have been like to work and fight inside.
We then finished the day out back at the Visitor Center. Sidney turned in his Jr. Ranger book and got sworn in by the Ranger. As icing on the cake as we were walking to the truck, the Ranger asked Sidney if he wanted to help lower the flag and fold it. Sidney was very excited.
