I woke up and went for a run. If it’s so humid that it feels like you’re running through a shower, do you have to shower afterwards? (Answer: yes, duh!). After the run, I showered off and we had breakfast at the Bezinsky House. We talked to the owners for a bit before heading off to the Vicksburg Military Park. SMS wanted to check out the USS Cairo, a well-preserved “Ironsides” boat from the Civil War. It was sunk by a remote-operated landmine and the silt of the river preserved it for many years.
The reconstruction efforts were extensive and resulted in a pretty incredible display. The engineering of the ship with the turbine steam engine was really interesting, although there was no reconstruction of the steam engine connection to the turbine for moving the paddlewheel, so I was a little confused. Also, it was pretty amazing to see the weak spots in the ship design. Although it looked like an armor-covered large toad, there was definitely an Achilles heel where the turbine was located since it was rather exposed with no cannons stationed nearby.
After the USS Cairo, we drove through the battlegrounds on the way to the Interstate. We crossed the Mississippi into Louisiana where we were disappointed to learn that the drive-through daiquiri stand didn’t open until 1. We backtracked through Jackson with another stop at Deep South Pops after lunch at New Southern Food near the hospital.
Then we made the long push to Pensacola where we were staying with friends from my residency. We had an awesome night catching up over takeout from McGuire’s. We also “helped” put their kids to bed, which I don’t think was particularly helpful since the kids were all revved up over their visitors. They were very cute!
