Monday, July 17, 1967
Breakfast with Francis and Jessie Mai and another quick look around her antiques, and at the paintings on the walls all done by Jessie Mai. I like her flower pictures best, but she does landscaipes very well. One year she did nearly 80 paintings and last year 50, but now that she is selling real estate she has put her paints away. She has sold most of her “pictures” as she calls them. The house is completely furnished in antiques, or good reproductions, and in such good taste.
8:30 Leaving, and it’s another beautiful morning, cool and sunny. Downtown Nashville, around the capitol is quite impressive -a true city of tomorrow. The IBM and Southern Baptist Convention Building were outstanding. Steel, in an almost lace pattern, covered the windows on the whole outside surface of the buildings.
Out of Nashville on I40 and into the hills of Western Tennessee — tree covered and beautiful, but without this Interstate 4 lane highway they would be treacherous to drive. I see why AAA routes us to Memphis and then south to take advantage of them. Daddy would certainly have enjoyed these new roads.
Along the road has been planted scotch broom. Now it is fully leafed out, but when it would be blooming it would be a lovely sight.
10:00 AM 13,870
Crossed the Tennesaee River and even down this far is backed up by the Kentucky Dam near Paducah. News on the radio of the nationwide rail strike-with notices that no parcel post would be accepted to points more than 150 miles.
10:30 AM 13,908
Hear Jackson, Tenn saw our first cotton fields, and complete with sunbonneted woman and straw hatted man–hoeing. These are small fields, tucked in odd corners that are a little flatter than the general area. A kind of small black eyed susan covers the road cuts. The cotton looks like very sturdy well cared for soy beans.
10:45 AM 13,925
Stopped for gas and lunch (our stomachs think its 11:45) and I gathered some seed of the pretty yellow composite and asked the proprietor what the yellow flower was. He replied “That aint no flair. Thasa wide. We cull it bitta wide. (bitter-weed) When I told him I collect seed he said I shu didn’t want that growin’.
Especially if I had any cattle, it makes millk bitter.
12:05 PM 13,987
Outerbelt I240 around :emphis so w saw nothig except a few housing developments. Ten south on I 55. Mostly woded area through low hills. Plantings of red pine along the road would reduce mowing costs. At Granada I 55 ended and route 51 south was a narrow two lane, but traffic not bad. Now we see more what Mississippi is really like. It’s true that every state looks alike from a freeway. Now there are many small cotton fields, sorghum ( which David tasted at breakfast and decided in
favor of honey), quite a lot of cattle, an occasional. house in the southern colonade tradition, and many small houses in the rural areas that aren’t too pretensious. However in Granada houses occupied by Negros were much above the Senate Street level.
3:15 PM 14,105
Canton Miss, gas stop and we getting consistently 13 mpg which is better than I expected.
Here the downtown area was all negro. Back onto I 55 and into Jackson.
3:45 PM
The throughway south of Jackson was through pine forests, first hilly and then levelling out as we came into Gulfport. Big ships in the docks, and lovely homes set among huge trees along Beach Blvd. Found the Deckers apt house with no trouble, a new pink brick structure. And soon Kathy and Don were rushing
out to greet us.
Their apt is lovely–David was quite impressed. It reminds me of their house at Stead. And since there is a vacant two room apartment tte manager-a cute tanned
blonde-put it at our disposal:. Kathy had made up the beds and furnished the bathroom, and even had a vase of flowers. So we have our own sleeping quarters with a view of the Gulf.
After supper we showed a few slides, and turned in early. The weather has been perfect. Only up to 82 in Gulfport yesterday.