I was pleasantly surprised to see that Hotels.com had not taken away my accumulated points from 2019. In 2020, they announced they were extending the deadline but then in 2021, I thought they had communicated that the rewards program would end its pandemic extension period. Fortunately, it looks like we got a reprieve. That was handy because we were planning a two week trip to Gulf Shores.
It made sense to stop in the Jackson, Mississippi area for a couple nights and do some sightseeing. I have driven through Mississippi a number of times but hadn’t really explored the state and it was time to change that. It was a chilly day in St. Louis when we left but Kismet was ready for a road trip.
Once you enter Mississippi, just after crossing the river Memphis, the scenery begins to change. The highway is not as cluttered with billboards and pine trees cover the landscape making a cold day seem a little warmer. The experience is similar to the drive into Michigan from industrial northern Indiana.
We stayed in the suburbs of Jackson and the area was impressive. A complex of hotels-multiple brands in the Marriott family, restaurants, and some high end single family homes set on a lake. This is all just south of a huge Nissan plant. There are no shortage of restaurants in the area and we enjoyed pizza takeout from nearby Soulshine Pizza.
Nearby Jackson is not doing so well. The city, which is the capital of Mississippi, has been in a water crisis for over a year. Crumbling infrastructure, decades of neglect and historic flooding have left the city without clean, reliable water. I won’t pretend to understand all the factors involved. But let me share some facts. The city of Jackson is 82% Black. At the same time, Mississippi is one of the most dependent states on the federal government, currently ranking third in federal funding. So there is federal money but it seems none it, over the last 30 years, has made it into Jackson’s water infrastructure.
Tate Reeves is the current governor of Mississippi. And here is a link to see the two US Senators from Mississippi. I am certainly not blaming any of them. I just don’t know how we got here. But it is certainly hard to believe that a state capital in the US is unable to provide clean drinking water to its residents.
I will concede that it was our concerns around the water crisis that had us staying in the suburbs. I had also looked at booking a hotel in Vicksburg but nothing was available. At first I was mystified but then remembered a 60 minutes special about Jackson State University. Their football coach, NFL legend Deion Sanders, aka “Coach Prime” might be the reason. Two historically Black colleges, Jackson State and Alcorn State were playing that Saturday near Vicksburg. Sanders and his winning record means Jackson State is drawing big crowds.
But we were able to visit Vicksburg and in my next newsletter , I will feature our day trip.
Our multiple trips through the south while we lived in Texas gave us an up-close view of the failure of Reconstruction. It is heartbreaking to see the poverty throughout the southern states and you know that people can't just leave to change their fortunes. Many are stuck because how would they move?