RALLY'S OVER

Jerry Purcell from PA won the "ugly hat" raffle off by Swanee Travelers at the rally. There was $50 on that ugly hat.

Larry was security for the rally so if there was an emergency or a problem he was called. Wednesday morning Cy Holdeen's wife couldn't wake him up so she called. Larry called 911. Cy was taken to the hospital where they got him stable and then transported him to Jacksonville, MS. Some of the other members took Cy's motorhome to Jaskson and we took care of their dog till they got back that evening. Please put Cy and his wife, Ginny, in your prayers.Thursday afternoon was the closing ceremonies. All the officers for next year rally were installed. Larry will be in charge of security.

Lou, Bev and I worked on this puzzle, finishing it at the last minute. We put together three puzzles during the rally - with lots of peoples help.

Thursday night we went into Greenville and saw the Mississippi River. I was impressed with the levees, and luckily they held this year and the town did not get flooded.

We went to the casino for dinner and played the slots for a few hour. We played on the casino's money ($10 each) and came away with $5 of it.

Friday we toured Greenville and the surrounding area. This is Mississippi welcome center.

We took a quick walk around here, so we could get to all of the museums.

We stopped in at the Greenville Museum, it was full of memorabilia. We wanted to see a film about the flood of 1927, so the man there called the flood museum and sent us over there.

The flood of 1927 was the greatest natural disaster in this country until Katrina. We were very amazed at the PBS film we saw about the flood and how the black share croppers were kept almost as prisoners on the levee after it. How badly they were treated for over four months, till finally many of them fled and went to Chicago.

We then went to the Winterville Indian Mounds. The youth group had gone here during the rally. It has a very good educational center that has programs with activities for the children to do.

A topographical map of the mounds.

The largest mound. About 55 feet tall.The steps up the largest mound.

We climbed to the top. We were thankful it was cloudy and not real hot and sunny.
Sure had a good view of the surrounding area.

We drove east a little ways to Leland and went to Jim Henson Museum, the birthplace of Kermit the frog. The building was very small but the lady was very interesting and full of stories and information. We also saw a good movie about Jim Henson and the puppets.Jim Henson lived here along Deer Creek when he was a young boy.

The frog on the right is the first Kermit. Notice the changes in the feet, collar and mouth.

This is the Kermit that was used in the movie. It is in a glass case.

Kermit is talking to Larry.

To end our very full day we went to Doe's Eat Place with John and June.

The restaurant is in a poor section of town. At first the front part of the building was a honky tonk strickly for blacks. the local doctor would go to the back door for a meal between house calls and started bring other white folks along. Big Doe had a restaurant in the back for whites and a honky tonk in the front for blacks. Eventually he closed the honky tonk and had a thriving restaurant business. The family tradition is to greet the costumers in the front kitchen, so you walk through the kitchen to sit down.

This room only held about 30 people. You had to make a reservation. There was no menu and the steaks started at 14 oz and then went up to 4 pounds. After the waitress told us what else they had she ended with "and none of it is cheap." The steak stated at $40. You could share a meal. We had gumbo that was only $10 and was very tasty. But some people from the rally had gone here and said the steak was the best they ever had.

Larry had fries ($4) along with his Gumbo.