Making Plans

Things unraveled a bit at my brother Don's. After dropping my bike at Chickasaw Campground, I decided to try to do something to prevent the same thing from happening again.

At the Harley Davidson dealership in Newnan, they suggested that to try lowering the bike from 1"-2", in order to lower the center of gravity and give the bike better balance.

It sounded sensible, so I agreed, and gave them the go ahead. Unfortunately, before they got started they found an extensive list of things that they deemed in critical need of repair - including a rear brake and tire. After looking at the $430 bill for just the brake and tire. The $200 lowering job, no longer seemed near as important as it had before. The lowering job would just have to wait.

After four days in Newnan, the bike was ready to go and it was time to get back on the road. Many thanks to Don and Mickie for all of their help.

The latest plan was to go to Stone Mountain, Georgia just west of Atlanta, then south to Andersonville, Georgia and finally to Jacksonville, Florida.

After thinking it over, the best (most scenic) route appeared to be by way of Savannah. Since I had always regretted how little time I spent in Savannah on my last trip, it sounded like a good idea to try to make amends and revisit Savannah.

It was a done deal - plan in place.

Tupelo to Newnan, Georgia

Upon departing Tupelo at about 1:00 PM, a decision had to be made as whether to head south and over to New Orleans or go east to Atlanta. My brother, Don and his wife Mickie (Michelle), live just south of Atlanta in Newnan, Georgia, (which, by the way, is a historical city well worth visiting) and I hadn't seen them in a few months. If I missed this opportunity, it would be months more. And so, it was off to Newnan.

My initial plan had been to travel down to Key West, Florida, up to New Orleans to visit friends, park the Harley (thanks' Bernie and Carrie), fly back to Michigan for Christmas on the 16th of December.

After Christmas, I would return to New Orleans (on the 29th of December) and depart for Panama by way of Mexico's Baha California Peninsula. That is still the plan, but everything needs to go just right between now and the 29th of December.

People are always asking if I like traveling alone. Of course not, but it sure beats sitting home - alone! Even so, if anyone out there has the "yen" to join me, I would certainly entertain the thought.

Over the course of the this trip, I have been forced to become a rather avid McDonald's fan. The reason - all of the McDonald's (so far) have had WiFi available. Although, they charge a rather hefty fee for this service, with the use of Boingo.com ($9.95 per month) one can connect for no additional charge. In my case, it's well worth paying for Boingo. If your wondering, this a totally unsolicited plug (just offering it as an assist to other bloggers out there!).

The road from Tupelo to Birmingham, Alabama is a four lane divided highway with forests lining both sides of the highway. Surprisingly, however, it seems to be almost a no man's land. In the entire 150 miles from Tupelo to Birmingham, despite the beautiful countryside, you travel for miles with little traffic and few signs of visible life - how strange! Once past Birmingham, everything seems to come to life. The traffic picks up considerably and you never travel far without passing by rural communities and retail developments.

It was getting dark by the time I arrived in Atlanta, the air had noticeably cooled and I was still about an hour from Don and Mickie's house in Newnan. After a couple of missed turns, I telephoned Don and he guided me via the back roads to his house where I arrived about 9:00 PM - Thanks for Keeping the Lights on for Me!

Salute to the King

After leaving Corinth I made sure that the day did not end uneventfully.

My gas gauge quit working about a week ago. It's difficult to guess at the mileage your getting when your driving at 60 miles per hour one minute and 80 per hour the next. Okay, your right, the plain and simply fact is - I screwed up and ran out of gas.

Personally I think that Harley Davidson made a big mistake when they got rid of the reserve gas tank. It used to be that you could run your bike until it ran out of gas, and then flip over to reserve and drive the nearest gas station without incident. Now, however, if your gas gauge decides not perform its assigned task, your in real bad shape.

Lucky for me, one Josh Rupert, a young Army Reservist, happened along and drove me into town where we filled four Coke bottles with gas and returned to rescue the Harley (Thanks Josh!).

The next day, with some difficulty, I found Tupelo's claim to fame, the birthplace of "the King" - Elvis Presley.

Elvis and his twin brother (Jesse Garon, who died at birth) were born at home in a 12' x 30', two room house built by Elvis's Father, Vernon and Uncle Vester. The 360 square foot house, still rest on the original landscape and there is a small museum, gift shop and chapel built by fan donations to honor his Gospel and religious roots.

Elvis only lived in Tupelo for about 13 years before moving to Memphis in 1948. The city of Tupelo bought the home with money from a concert where Elvis himself performed. Long "live"

the King!

Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center

Finished the day at Fort Donelson at about 2:00 PM and began heading South with the intended destination of Tupelo, Mississippi (Elvis's birthplace).

However, with the late afternoon departure, I found myself rather desperately seeking a campsite, just South of Jackson, Tennessee. After a couple of inquiries, I was able to find the directions to Chickasaw State Park, where I set up tent; but not without incident.

One of biggest fears, in traveling alone, has been the fear that I would accidentally, quite literally, DROP my Harley, and not be able to pick it up.

Then it happened. While still astraddle the bike, I tried to turn the bike around, at a walking pace, when I incorrectly assessed the balance point - I went left and bike went right. In a effort to upright the falling bike, I twisted the handle grip and raced the engine. Fortunately, that alerted a nearby camper who helped out of my quagmire; and shortly thereafter, I was sleeping soundly in my tent - no problem!

The next day's planned trip to Tupelo was somewhat aborted. Crossing into Mississippi I stopped, on a whim, at the Mississippi welcome center and learned of the Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center, which was actually an adjunct to Shiloh National Park. Therefore, it seemed foolish to just ignore it - and I didn't.

The Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center is a fabulous facility. If you go to Shiloh, be sure to include Corinth in your itinerary.

The facility has a couple short narrative film exhibits as well several hand-held audios that recount the writings from different sources, all of which were contemporary with the Battle of Shiloh.

At the Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center, I learned that the Grant's ultimate goal was Corinth (not Shiloh). Corinth was the location of the South's main railroad artery and supply route to the Atlantic coast (at Charleston, South Carolina), and was so critical to the South's success that it was deemed, second only to Richmond, Virginia in military importance.

Now, everything made sense, Grant was settling in at Pittsburg Landing, only so he could launch an assault on Corinth. After all, at that time, Pittsburg Landing was only represented by a warehouse, a grocery store and a settler's homestead. Hence, its major importance was its proximity to Corinth.

Shortly after the battle of Shiloh, the Confederates abandon Corinth overnight on May 29-30, 1862.

Fort Donelson and Fort Henry

Arrived late in the morning at Fort Donelson after braking camp, eating breakfast and catching up a little and website and blogsite.

One of the things I had been wondering about (perhaps you too) was - just is or was Fort Henry? The answer is that Fort Henry was from the very beginning a very poorly chosen site on the East bank of the Cumberland River; and for that reason it was never occupied by the Union Army after its capture, and today it lies beneath the waters of the Cumberland River.

Fort Donelson, on the other hand, occupied a site on the opposite side of the river, high above the banks Cumberland. In truth, neither fort was what one might expect or visualize in his "minds-

eye"; no walls afforded barriers against enemy encroachment, instead earthen works, supported by strategic cannon emplacements, were the only protection against enemy attack.

Today, an arsenal of cannons is interspersed along the sprawling defensive battle lines of the original earthen works and are joined with two other battery's overlooking the Cumberland River. Together with the Dover Hotel (where the surrender was signed), the visitors center and the Fort Donelson National Cemetery, the earthen works constitute the site of Fort Donelson National Park.

General Grant achieve his first recognition as the leader of the Union Army, with his capture of Fort Henry and shortly thereafter, Fort Donelson. Prior to this he was a quiet and little known Brigadier General in the Union ranks, but with his victories he won national fame, a promotion to Major General and the "nickname" Unconditional Surrender (the first initials of his name); when he declared at Fort Donelson that the only terms that he would offer to Confederate Brigadier

General Simon Buckner was - Unconditional Surrender.

Fort Henry had been subdued with surprising ease when Union "Ironclads" advanced up the north flowing Cumberland River and bombarded the fort into submission. By the time Grant led his forces onto Fort Henry, the white flags were already waving.

A week later, a similar naval attack on Fort Donelson was quelled by the Confederates. What the

Union failed to recognize, was that Fort Donelson occupied higher ground and better weaponry

than Fort Henry; it thus provided vastly superior Confederate defense, and therefore, success

was not to be so easily achieved.

In the end, the Confederacy succeeded in repelling the naval onslaught, but were unable to repel Grant's forces, who were better equipped and trained than their Confederate counterparts.

Backtracking

While at Shiloh I discovered that I had by-passed two important battles that took place in Tennessee and had a major influence on establishing Ulysses S. Grant's importance as a General in the Union Army.

In addition, since I was only 126 South of Dover, Tennessee (the site of Fort Donelson) where one the battle took place - and so, I just had to go there. The only problem seemed to be that by going back north, I was surely pressing my luck weather wise; but the weather had thus far been so kind that it seemed to be worth the try.

My good luck continued and I arrived in Dover about mid afternoon, too late to do more than just give a cursory look at Fort Donelson, but providing me with enough time to find a campsite before dark and also grab a bite to eat. There would be plenty of time to explore Fort Donelson tomorrow.

Shiloh National Park

Broke camp on Tuesday morning and returned to Shiloh National Park.

The park is well maintained and features a bookstore, visitors center, the Shiloh National Cemetery.

In addition, there is a nine mile self-guided tour route around the park that is marked by cannons and placards which recount the specific battle scene and the Confederate advance. A short film in the visitors center gives a good account of the events of the two day battle as well as to alert one of things to look for when driving around on the self-guided tour.

Although the Union troops were located at Pittsburg (sic) Landing on the banks of the Tennessee

River, the Battle of Shiloh is named for the Shiloh Church (see photo of reconstructed Shiloh Church) built by the settlers a short distance from the banks of the Tennessee River at Pittsburg Landing.

April 5, 1862:

At this time, Grant held a false sense of optimism and believed that the confederates posed no immediate threat. In actuality the Confederates led by Major General Albert Sidney Johnston were already advancing on Pittsburg Landing.

On the afternoon of April 5, 1862, Colonel Everett Peabody, in command of the Union's 25th Missouri Infantry, were on a

reconnaissance patrol about two miles outside the main encampment, when they were engaged by the Confederates, in a surprise attack, and quickly retreated.

The next the day Confederates led a charge on the Union troops and a fierce day of fighting ensued, with heavy losses on both sides. During that first day of fighting, General Johnston received a stray bullet behind the knee. The bullet struck a main artery and he later bled to death with a tourniquet, which could have saved his life, still in his pocket!

Major General Albert Sydney Johnston was the highest ranking officer to be lost, by either side, during the entire Civil War, and his loss was a major blow to the South, and initially, in an effort to not dishearten the troops, his passing was kept a secret.

On the 7th of April, Major General P. G. T. Beauregard (of Fort Sumpter fame) replaced General Johnston. Beauregard believed that with the Union forces weakened, victory was close at hand. Unfortunately for him, he was unaware that the Union Army, having been reinforced overnight with troops from Colonel Don Carlo Buell's Ohio Battery and a division of troops led by Brigadier General Lew Wallace, now represented a force of over 45,000 troops (Confederacy forces, by comparison, numbered no more than 28,000 troops).

In addition, two ironclads from the Tennessee River had shelled the Confederate alignment throughout the night, affording them little rest and softening their position.

With this turn of events, history recorded a Union victory, but at a tremendous loss of lives on both sides. Despite, the Union's tactical victory, they suffered greater losses than the vastly outnumbered confederates.

In total 23,746 lives were lost in that single, two day battle. That was more than all the lives that had been lost in all of America's previous wars. The news of the loss of lives, set a new tone for the war and foretold of an ominous future that, heretofore, both sides had thought would be of short duration.

Day Two - Arriving at Shiloh

After five days there is a lot to catch up on.

With Sundays late start and the constant threat of a change in the mild November weather, I pushed on after dark striving to make it south of Louisville, Kentucky.

Success! Made it to "Grandma's RV Park" in Shepherdsville, Kentucky, just south of Louisville, set up tent and immediately - hit the sack!

Monday, afforded a beautiful for riding and enjoying the countryside. I was still 4-5 hours from Shiloh, (located in the Southwestern Tennessee near the Mississippi border) and arrived there in mid afternoon.

The city (?) of Shiloh consists of a bar and a bar-restaurant - and that's it! After completing my "exhausting" exploration the city of Shiloh, I entered the Shiloh National Park.

Given my late arrival I had already decided to delay my exploration until the next day and only made a cursory tour of area, being more concerned at this time about finding a campsite for the night.

Fortunately, Pickwick State Park is located a mere twelve miles away, and getting a campsite at this time of year was, of course, no problem. Unfortunately, in the face of daylight savings time, the sun sets early and it was already dark by the time I arrived at the campsite. Even in the dark, however, with modern camping "technology," setting up a tent is a breeze.

With the day completed, no electricity, no wifi and with the chilling evening air I had no difficulty in deciding my next move - sleep!

On to Shiloh

Before returning to Michigan (from Texas), I promised to advise everyone as soon as new plans were formed. Well, it is now the 8th of November and, as best as it is - here's the plan.

In an effort to get back on track with the Civil War, I'm leaving today for Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, (the Battle of Shiloh).

After that, things are pretty open, but hopefully everything will begin to fit in place before the day is done.

For right now though, I just need to get on the road. We have very favorable weather here (for Michigan in November) and it is best to take advantage of it.