Ok, so its been over a year since I last posted. That's not surprising given my load at home, with family and at work. Anyway, lately, I've been thinking about a sort of half cross-country motorcycle ride. The purpose would be to get from Dallas back home to Baltimore, but the secondary purpose would be to visit some places I used to live and see some buildings that I worked on. I think about this idea periodically. Each Labor Day weekend, my folks buy a plane ticket for me to fly to Dallas and ride bikes with my parents, sister and occasionally her husband. The idea would be for me to buy a bike while I'm there and ride it home.
Here's how the journey might unfold. Oh, and I would avoid major interstate highways like the plague!
Day One: Plano, TX. I would leave bright and early in the morning & head towards Caddo Mills, where Dad used to teach high school math. I would probably continue on up to Greenville, TX and then turn southeast on US 69 towards Mineola. I've done part of this ride before and its not terribly scenic. That part of Texas is primarily farm country. However, its a means to an end. At Mineola, I'd hit US 80 east. 80 roughly parallels I-20 towards Louisiana. This route takes me through Longview and Marshal.
The first issue with interstates comes in just east of Marshal. US 80 merges with I-20 until you get past Bossier City, LA. I think a turn northward at this point is in order as my bro from high school and his family live in Atlanta, TX, just south of Texarkana. From Marshal, I take US 59 north right into Atlanta. End of Day One: stay the night with the Williams.
Day Two: Atlanta, TX. The ultimate goal of this day is to reach Mississippi, but where to stop? The problem with this trip is I want to see Jackson, Oxford and Starkville. As I am close to extreme northern Louisiana, a stop in Oxford first might be in order. From Atlanta, TX, I'll take State 77 southeast to Zylks, LA. From Zylks, its LA Hwy 1 to Vivian, LA then LA Hwy 2 east to Gordon, LA and then on LA Hwy 161, across the border into Arkansas towards El Dorado, AR. The goal is to cross the Mississippi River at Greenville, MS. That means US 82 out of El Dorado, through Crossett, AR, a slight detour north on AR 452 and finally through Lake Village, AR, across the river and into Greenville, MS.
I suspect this to be a very long day. Eastern Texas is slightly more scenic than northern Louisiana, but not by much. The Mississippi River Delta, no matter which side of the river you are on, is endless cotton and soy bean fields broken by the occasional farming community and country club golf course. However, dinner at Proud Larry's in Oxford, MS awaits, so I'll try to make it the whole way there!
From Greenwood, MS, I'll turn north on MS 7 through Leflore to Holcomb and on up to Grenada, MS. From Google Maps it looks like there might be a couple of turns, but MS 7 eventually ends in beautiful Oxford, MS. The snobbish Ole Miss crowd aside, Oxford is one of the best little towns I've ever visited anywhere in the south. Had Miss State Univ been in Oxford rather than Starkville, I might have never left!
Along with the aforementioned dinner at Proud Larry's, a stop by Square Books and hopefully a stay at a B-and-B on the square will also come about.
Depending on the time of day I arrive, there might be stops by the Ole Miss Library, where I did the furniture & equipment in 1996-1997 and the National Food Service Management Institute that I also worked on in 1998-1999.
Day Three: Oxford, MS. Probably the following morning will be the time to visit the Ole Miss Field Station outside of Oxford. This is where we built a couple of buildings for the Center for Water and Wetland Resources (CWWR). This project was my life for the better part of 1995 through 1999 when I left Foil Wyatt Architects in Jackson, MS and moved to Baltimore. I just visited www.olemiss.edu and the main photo on the home page is an aerial of the field station. You can see some of the components I worked on.
The first project was to do some site work and infrastructure installation. We did some clearing and rough grading, built a road from the entry to the site to the building pads and then down the hill to the one-acre sized ponds (nearly 200 of them) where the actual research takes place. This, along with the library work, was my first CA experience. Later, I worked on the Visitor's Center and the first research building, but haven't seen them built or really even a photograph of them.
Currently, Google Maps is letting my down trying to find "County Road 2078" which is what the Field Station address is listed as. However, I can probably find it once I get to Oxford. The trick will be security at the facility. It is so remote, that I can't imagine they put fences and gates around it, but they might have. We'll have to see what happens when I get there!
After a couple of hours at the Field Station, it'll be time to head down to Jackson. This trip normally would take 2 hours 45 minutes or so if you took US 278 out of Oxford and then I-55 down into Jackson, but I'm avoiding interstates. I'll cut down through the pine forests of central Mississippi on MS 7 to MS 9 through Paris, MS and Bruce, MS to Calhoun City, MS. From there, I'll stay on MS 9 past Eupora to the Natchez Trace Parkway. This is US Park Service parkway, with limited access, no commercial vehicles and a strictly enforced 55 MPH speed limit. It is a beautiful drive and probably no more than 2 hours or so from Jackson at this point.
I'll jump off the Natchez Trace north of Jackson near Ridgeland, MS. This was area of town my wife and I lived in from our marriage in May 1996 through our move to Baltimore in June 1999. I'd have to see the old apartment that we rented on County Line Road and then the duplex we rented on Northtown Road. I might want to run out to the Ross Barnett Reservoir just to see what's changed, but ultimately, I'll visit the offices of Foil Wyatt Architects on State Street in the Belhaven neighborhood of Jackson.
The balance of Day Three and much of Day Four will be spent renewing friendships with Skip and Mike of Foil Wyatt, friends from working there and from college and seeing some of the projects I worked on in the city and also what has changed in the last 10 years. I especially want to see Just Hall of Science at Jackson State University. I've seen it mostly finished, but not with the observatory on top!
I'll pick up Day Four in the next post.
