Since we would not be pedaling on this final day, we tried to select items appropriate for sitting in the van from the continental breakfast; this is not an easy transition. At the Vicksburg National Military Park visitor center we learned that the GPS driven tour guide devices we hoped to use were not functional due to a recent lightning storm. However, we obtained a CD that provided excellent explanations at many, many sites around the 16 mile long battlefield tour. It was fairly easy to sync our location to the explanations spewing from the CD. The park is huge and has hundreds of monuments. The battle lines were extremely long an it is difficult to grasp the role of each area visited. It is abundantly clear how courageous and dedicated those who fought here were. There were over 36000 soldiers who fought at Vicksburg from Illinois alone. This image shows the Illinois monument; all units, their members, and numbers killed and wounded are listed inside.
Don found the name of his great grandfather on the Wisconsin Monument.
Near the waterfront is an excellent museum dedicated to the Union battleship Cairo. The Cairo was sunk by a crude mine and was submerged in the river for over 100 years. When raised it was loaded with artifacts. The boilers, steam engines, and paddle wheel were well preserved. It is an extremely well done museum!
The park tour is very educational and humbling; it was time well spent. Vicksburg was a key stronghold. Thousands were killed or wounded here in the quest to preserve the union.
After touring the battlefield and museum we hit the road for home at about 10:30 AM. Having decided en route to forgo another night in a motel, we pushed on to Peoria, arriving at bout 11:30 PM.
Our ride from Edgington, IL to Vicksburg, MS was a very good one. My calculations show that I pedaled about 860 miles. We had some windy days, some rainy ones, and some hot ones, but in retrospect they were all good ones! We are blessed!
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