Up way to early yet again this morning.... I'm blaming the time change of a couple of days ago, but it could be that I'm just getting use to waking up earlier these days..... Am probably goin' to have to work on that a little bit.

    So not much new over the past two days. It has pretty much been driving steady for about 5-6 hours per day and then stopping early at some rest area and checking in for the night. No real incidents at all from yesterday, other than a brief stop I made at a Target store somewhere around Jacksonville Mississippi. Had to pick up a few needed supplies, but the story is really about the Snack Shack/Taco Truck thing out at the edge of the parking lot. They had this big hand lettered sign out front advertising hot 'Gater Bit's', boiled 'Mud Bug's' and fresh fried pork skin's. Well, I'll tell ya, with an invitation like that how can someone refuse. Went over and got a plate of alligator bit's and crayfish for a snack. Actually pretty good stuff. I have eaten both before, but it's been many years since I had eaten anything to do with alligator.... and yes, it does taste a little bit like chicken. Chicken fingers to be exact, but doesn't most everything that is breaded and then deep fat fried, especially when you have some really good homemade BBQ sauce to put on them. Never got to the fresh fried pork rinds though.... way to full of 'fried' stuff by that time.

    Spent the night in a rest area somewhere east of that point and then was up early again this morning. An hour or two of driving this morning brought me into Alabama where I stopped at the entrance rest area for a pit stop and to pick up a new map. Took a look at it while there and also picked up some brochures of local sights to see. One caught my eye that would be just up the highway about 60-70 miles, and I made a plan to stop there at the 'Moundville Archaeological Park', to see what there was to see.

    Administered by the University of Alabama the site was home to the 2nd largest settlement of 'Mound Builders' in the country. Holding more than 1,000 inhabitants in the town itself and more than 10,000 in the surrounding area, the only site larger is up in Illinois just east of St Louis.

    These days about the only thing  to see is about 24 large mounds standing anywhere from a few feet to more than 60 feet above the surrounding landscape. I wandered around, took pictures, climbed a few mounds and wondered what it must of been like when it was a thriving agricultural center.

    They also had a small museum that I toured which showcased some of the more than 14,000 individual artifacts that were recovered. Most of those were done in two different time periods, the first being the years 1805-1806 when an amateur archaeologist from New York came down and started exploring the area, and the other in the 1930's when the CCC's, Civil Conservation Corp, were on site and helped clean up, repair and excavate about 15% of the total site. These days there is still some exploration going on, but not much as the site is riddled with the burial remains of many of the original inhabitants. While it might be nice to be able to see what the site holds, I can sort of understand the reluctance of the remaining Native Americans might have in digging up and disturbing people they may have been related to. Photo's will follow when I get a chance to download and sort them.

   Other than that there isn't much going on this evening. I'm sitting in a McDonald's right now using their WiFi connection. I'll continue on once I am done here and head for a rest area somewhere up the road. Will be on the road again tomorrow and will make it into Atlanta sometime in the afternoon.