A destination

We are at the Jeff Busby campground on the Natchez Trace Parkway (map). We rolled in right about 2:30 yesterday, and landed one of the last few spaces, and likely the only one with a shot to our satellite. The place seems to be filled with Quebecois, and there were even two other bus conversions her when we arrived -- an MCI-7 and an MCI-8. It's lovely here, in a great stand of eastern hardwood forest.

A trail leads from our camp site to the 603' (woo hoo) summit of Little Mountain, with a panoramic view of the forest canopy in all its fall color. An exhibit there discusses nature's slow reclamation of the land from clear-cut for farming by early settlers back to hardwood forest. Sadly, the decimation of these forests in the 19th century drove many species to extinction, including the Carolina Parakeet, the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, and the Passenger Pigeon. The forests are returning, but these animals never will.

This particular campground, located, as it is, more or less at the mid-point of the parkway, was previously billed as having a gas station and camp store. The building and the gas pumps are still here, just as we remembered them from our last visit, when they were closed due to Katrina. It now appears, though, that they are closed permanently. The current site map makes no mention of them, and the icons on the road signs have been obliterated. The store appears vacant.

We have been slow-rolling north on the parkway, enjoying immensly the fall foliage. It will take us another three days to arrive at its northern terminus in Nashville, where we will try to meet up with some friends. After that, we had no particular plans, however, as I posted here last night, I have contracted to buy a scooter, which happens to be in western Maryland, and so we now have a destination of sorts. I'm not sure what the route will be from here to there, but weather will likely play a large role.