On the River: We were supposed to be docked in Vicksburg, MS, this morning. What I see out the window is an overgrown riverbank and no city.
We are told a barge grounded somewhere up ahead and traffic is backed up on the river apparently in both directions. It is like a traffic jam at an accident site on the highway, except what is backed up here is river craft, not autos and trucks. We wait while the stuck barge is freed and moved.
For those who planned to be ashore in Vicksburg touring the excellent battlefield park, our plight is frustrating. As with so many things along this route, the DrsC did it years ago - driving, not cruising - and redoing it now is optional, so if we don’t it’s no big deal.
Later … I posted the above before 8 a.m. It is now 11 a.m and we still aren’t in Vicksburg. Passenger scuttlebutt says the first barge is freed but another is now hung up.
Vicksburg was on the Mississippi during the Civil War but after the war the meander loop it was on was cut off by the river. It is now on the Yazoo River, rerouted to flow past V-burg and thence into the Father of Waters. V-burg is now 4 miles from the big river.
As I write this we just started moving again. Let’s see how far we get this time.
Even Later … Vicksburg, MS: We finally arrived around lunchtime, and people are headed ashore. We missed a whole morning of touring time, no way to make it up. The National Battlefield Park here is excellent. Everyone will be back aboard by 5:30 p.m. when both the cocktail hour and open supper seating begins. Tomorrow we’re in Natchez.
