S.A.M.

Mississippi – Tuesday, December 4

Since I was in Natchez, I wanted to check out the Natchez National Historical Monument, home of Melrose Plantation. It was nearby, but one of the rangers had called in sick, and they weren’t doing the plantation tours til later. But I was able to wander around the grounds, the gardens and the slave cabin area. One of the other rangers, who said he is not usually a flower person, said that when all the magnolias are in bloom in April, even he’s impressed. The magnolias still have green leaves, but they have dropped their seed pods – about the size of pine cones with red seeds inside. I wished it could be April for about an hour so I could see everything in bloom!

Then we got in the car and headed east – I didn’t really have a plan today, and knew I’d have to make a decision in about an hour whether to try to head down to the very southern part of the state by the ocean, or if I should gradually start making my way to the northern side. While I was thinking and driving, I passed Okhissa Lake Recreation Area which was part of the Homochitto National Forest, so I turned in and discovered my national park pass also gets me in to National Forest areas. The lake here is popular for fishing, but there was also a path leading around it and alongside the woods, and Tula and I got in almost 3 miles of walking. And I knew that if I tried to head south to the ocean, I would probably be trying to squish too much into too little time! And, even though Hurricane Katrina happened more than 5 years ago, they’re still working on getting everything re-built, although it sounds like they’ve made a great deal of progress. So I continued heading east with Hattiesburg as my new goal.

Along the way I stopped in McComb to see if it would be a good town to get a few more miles of walking in. But I thought I better look into my donation-for-the-day too, so I got on the computer to see if there were any food pantries in McComb, and discovered there seemed to be several programs run by the St. Andrew Ministries – S.A.M. for short. They have a couple buildings around the corner from each other, and I found them and went into the food pantry to see if there was anything in particular that they needed. When I visit food pantries when they’re open to the public, people usually (understandably!) think I’m coming in to get some food – then they’re usually happy to find out I can bring them some instead! I talked with the volunteers there, and they told me their food pantry serves seniors and people with disabilities, because they don’t want to duplicate services that other organizations help. They’re trying to make sure no one falls through the cracks. They also operate SAM’s diner, which provides a free homecooked meal to anyone who needs it, and they also have a thrift store to help fund their programs, and a health clinic. They’re working on a senior center too, so that seniors will have a place to meet and socialize. So they have a lot going on and I was happy to find them! They were in need of soup, canned meats like tuna and chicken, and hot and cold cereal. So I went shopping and got a bunch of that stuff and brought it back. Then we went outside for a couple pictures. I had wanted a close-up of their sign, but forgot to get that one, so it’s just visible over the shoulders of the volunteers.

Then I moved on, belatedly realizing I didn’t get any walking done in McComb because I was shopping and talking to the people at SAMs! But I soon passed Bogue Chitto Water Park (water refers to the river, not an amusement park!), one of Mississippi’s state parks, and they had some nice lanes to walk on through the park. It was kind of a damp misty day, and I stuck to the paved lanes instead of the trails in the forest through all the wet leaves. We walked all around the park and through the campgrounds and I only saw a couple people. There’s a river with a boat ramp where people often fish but it just wasn’t a great day to be outside! I didn’t mind though – it was pretty in the mist, and I finished up my walking for the day just as it got dark.

I had about an hour’s drive into Hattiesburg, which was my stopping point for the night.