Summer of 18-#5-Wallace Creek Campground, Mississippi, Fishing and Family History

May 8th, 2018

We left Livingston and headed North on I55 toward Wallace Creek Recreation Area, Enid, Mississippi.

We stopped at The Mississippi Welcome Center.

A tribute to the Armed Forces

Mississippi State Flag

 I noticed the flag that was flying had the confederate flag as part of it.  I looked it up and it is the State flag of Mississippi.  I read that it is the only state that still incorporates the confederate flag as part of its state flag.  There has been some controversy on the flying of the confederate flag, claiming racism and a lot of places have banned flying it.  In the southern states, statues have been vandalized amid claims that they are racist and are being removed from public places.

I can't say that I agree with the removal of the statues or the banning of the flags, they represent the history of the area.  In some cases I believe they were removed to a safe place to prevent them being destroyed.

What saddens me is that it was necessary in some cases to remove the statues to prevent them being destroyed unlawfully.  What gives anyone the right to destroy public property and get away with it.  You have to respect the decisions of the courts, even if you don't always agree with them.  It doesn't matter what colour or gender you are, the rules pertain to everyone.  We are all supposed to be EQUAL. ALL LIVES MATTER!!!  Ok, off my soap box for now.

Here's Bryan waiting to get back on the road.

There were a lot of blue/purple and yellow wild flowers along the road today. The picture doesn't really do them justice.  They certainly brightened up the drive.

Hattie enjoyed the flowers

Wallace Creek is a Corp of Engineers(COE) facility and Campground.  Typically these are on reservoirs or lakes.  They have added sewer hookups since we were here in 2015.  We can use my America the Beautiful pass here for free entrance and half off the campsite.  So, a full hook up site with 50amp Electric, Water & Sewer is only costing us $10 a night.  What a bargain, especially when you see the views.  It's actually a bargain at the full cost of $20 as well.

After a long drive we got settled into our site for the next four nights.  We are on an inlet and the water is on three sides.

Our view

Like this picture of me, looking over my glasses which is quite common these days!!!

May 9th, 2018

We went for a drive around the lake, which has over 200 miles of lakeside.  Needless to say we only did a small part.  We looked around this campground and picked out which campsites are our favourite ones.  Then went to look at Persimmon Hill Campground and did the same, although we preferred Wallace Creek to Persimmon Hill.

Back of the dam

Spillway at back of Enid Dam

Our campground. Our motorhome is between the trees on the left. Swing on the right.

Having a swing!!

This guy was fishing from the back of his truck.

Guess we don't want to catch one of these!!

Bryan got a day fishing license and we went back to the house.  He fished while I did some family history research, using the free period to look at the 1939 Register for the UK.  I wanted to make sure where my parents were living at this time.  Sure enough my grandparents were in the same houses that I was used to in my childhood.

I went out to see how Bryan was doing even though I could see him from the house.  He was enjoying himself although hadn't caught anything.

Look at the tree in the picture below,submerged in the lake.  There were signs that warned boats going out about submerged roads and tree stumps.  The water has definitely taken over here.

His first fishing spot, no luck here!! 

This Northern Mockingbird is the state bird of five states including Mississippi.  He liked hanging out with us during our stay and obviously the hook pole at our campsite had been visited a lot!!!

On our patio, the birds obviously like this "perch" to sit on

Later Bryan moved spots.  I took this picture from inside the motorhome.

This is the swing you can see in the picture above taken from the dam across the water.

After about an hour there, he called me to come and take a picture.  He had caught a fish, the largest he has ever caught.  We were so happy and after I took a picture he released it back into the lake.  Neither of us like fresh fish that much, and so it went on its merry way.

                               

That's it, finished fishing for today.

Later that evening he asked our neighbor, who was taking fishing trips out on his boat every day what type of fish he thought it was.  He said he thought it was a Drum.  After he posted on Facebook, the decision has been made that it was a Largemouth Bass.  His first thought was that it was a Bass and thanks to Tex who made the identification for us.

May 10th, 2018

Boring stuff today, Walmart food shopping!!

May 11th, 2018

Not much going on today.  Bryan got up EARLY, before 7am and went to get a fishing license.  Then he went out fishing for most of the day.  Didn't catch anything though. :(  The park was busier as it's Friday and everyone came in for the weekend.  Jet Skis and Boats were coming right up to the shore and one guy even fished in the exact spot where Bryan was, only from his boat.  The kids from a couple of sites down went down and were splashing in the water with their dog, who was not on a leash.  Oh well, they pay their fees as well, but we were always taught to respect fisherman and give them their space and be quiet!!  I know, I'm sounding like the old person that I am!!!!

I watched him while sitting on the swing.

There's Lily watching us

I did some more family history research and that was it for today.

Tomorrow we leave this wonderful park and head further North.