This was a day of a lot of driving and not much action. My one scheduled stop was to see Casey Jones' Home and Railroad Museum in Jackson, Tennessee. It looked so kitschy and commercial I didn't bother to stop. Casey Jones was a legendary hero from about a century ago who. as an engineer on a runaway train sacrificed himself to save the passengers in the train.
The latter part of the day I spent crossing Mississippi and Arkansas Rivers delta country. It was very flat and all under cultivation. The primary crop appears to be rice.
I finished the day camping at Crowley's Ridge State Park. Crowley's Ridge is an odd geological feature that runs about 150 miles on a north-south line from Cape Girardeau, Missouri, to Helena, Arkansas. It rises about 150 feet about the delta country, which surrounds it on all sides. The rolling hills have the eerie appearance of a civil-war battlefield (think Shiloh or Manassas). Sure enough, the Battle of Chalk Bluff was fought here on May 1 and 2, 1863.
Crowley's Ridge was formed as a glacial loess deposit. It is thought to have once been an island between the ancient Ohio and Mississippi Rivers before they altered courses perhaps millions of years ago. There is evidence that uplift is currently taking place. The Crowley's Ridge Parkway National Scenic Byway runs along the Arkansas section of Crowley's Ridge
Daily miles: 382
Cumulative miles: 679
