March 23 – 2018 Broken Bow, Oklahoma

The ordeal with our camper cost us two days. That shouldn’t really be a problem since our ultimate deadline is a plane out of Chicago on August 7th , but we have a deadline in Fort Worth, Texas this week-end and another at the beginning of the week in Austin, Texas.

Therefore, we had to cut our visit in Vicksburg short. Very short, so we could catch up and get back on our schedule.

We went to the Vicksburg National Military Park.  We are back to the civil war (borgerkrigen).
The battle of Vicksburg was one of the most important of all the battles.
The North wanted to control the Mississippi River in order to cut off the supplies to the South.
And also to cut the South in half and isolate the part west of the river.
In the spring of 1863,  the North needed only to capture one more city in order to achieve the goal: Vicksburg, Mississippi.

General Ulysses S. Grant (nordstaterne) attacked the city a number of times in May 1863, but without success. So it turned into a siege instead (belejring). After 47 days, on the 4th of July, the south surrendered the city. On the very same day General Robert E. Lee (sydstaterne) retreated (trak sig tilbage) from the battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. These 2 major defeats for the confederacy (sydstaterne) are viewed as a turning point in the war, that eventually ended with the south surrendering in 1865.

A monument, to prove we were there😊

 

 Our old friends – Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant

 

We also had one last look at the Mississippi River. (Well at least until we get back to Minnesota.) “Our” mechanic told us that it is now 2½ miles wide at some points in town, because it is flood season (sæsonen for oversvømelse). We didn’t find the place that it was 2½ miles wide, but it was plenty wide, and we could see that it was flooding.

We moved from Vicksburg to Broken Bow, Oklahoma.
That took us through 5 states: Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas (twice), Texas and Oklahoma. A drive of about 325 miles (ca. 525 km). We are staying at a nice “nature” campgrounds at a state parks. It is very hilly, and there is a nice river.

Unfortunately, we got here so late, that we couldn’t really enjoy it. But we did enjoy a shower (brusebad), after 4 days without! And running water to wash the dishes and flush the toilet! Oh… the things we take for granted (de ting vi tager for givet).

A better view Friday morning than the previous days

Written by Mary & JJ