Tupelo, MS

When driving on the Natchez Trace Parkway, you feel like you're in the middle of nature's vastness.  It's hard to imagine anything but acres and acres of the same vine-laden trees that you enjoy all along the highway.  It's such a beautiful and peaceful drive.  The 50-mph speed limit and the 'no truckers' rule keeps traffic calm and to a minimum.  We probably saw more cyclists than drivers, at least on the first part of the trip.  I can't wait to drive this in the fall.  Howard always laughs at me because I always say that about nature driving trips.  But really, don't you think it will be gorgeous in the fall?

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Our serene first day on the Trace ended when we exited for Tupelo, Mississippi.  As we turned off the Trace, I looked forward to miles of wilderness emerging into some sleepy little backwoods town.  It was a real jolt to leave the Trace and almost immediately turn onto the busiest street ever - lined with gas stations, hotels, restaurants, Target (okay, that was a happy discovery), Walmart, more restaurants, more hotels, neon, and lots of traffic lights.  If you're ever looking for a wilderness get-away but don't want to stray too far from the comforts of life, the Trace is the place for you.  I guess the neatly coiffed grass all along the shoulder of the Trace should've been my first clue that civilization was close by.

We stayed at the Best Western which was really quite nice.  We had the most comfortable bed ever and the hot breakfast was pretty good.  We went to church in Tupelo.  Here's what we saw when we drove into the church parking lot.

What in the world!?  When we got out of the car, we smelled the wonderful aromas of barbecue.  My first thought was, "Wow, they really go all out for ward linger longers here in Mississippi!"  After church we noticed a guy in there so we had to investigate.

So, it turns out he's a BBQ Champ.  He was getting ready for his son's wedding and reception that was going to take place that afternoon.  He had been cooking two pork butts (really the shoulder, go figure) since 3:30 that morning.  He showed us everything, including hamburgers and hot dogs in the small smoker.  We seriously thought about crashing the wedding later that afternoon.

He built this wheeled contraption for his very expensive hobby, competing in BBQ contests.  He told us all about the ins and outs of these competitions.  He said that some are blinded competitions, where the judges don't know who belongs to the meat they're judging.  They supply everyone with white styrofoam containers to present their cooked meats.  Competitors will be disqualified if they garnish the meat in any way, or if they have sauce drips on the outside of the container that might signal their identity to the judges.  Also, they are issued numbers and then the organizers change up their numbers again - just to keep competitors from saying stuff like this to the judges, "Hey, you'll have to check me out, I'm number seven."

He told us about the World Championship BBQ Contest, where this year his team placed 1st for sauce and 10th for ribs.  I just love meeting people like this - people who are totally 'into' to their hobby or work.