Athens Georgia to Memphis to Natchez

From Tennessee I traveled down to Athens, Georgia and Alpha Alpha – the first founding chapter of my sorority.
There I had time to write a nice long letter home.
- yes well I picked a winner tonite – Georgia wonder chapter Alpha Alpha – whoopee-do big 100 members & 65 living in but not real exciting types – Alabama girls had far more zip – these chicks are what makes everybody shun sororities I guess – of course there are some nice ones but generally nothing spectacular – house is gorgeous Sothern Mansion whole bit w/ old high ceilinged living rooms etc like in movies but kinda musty all over – dirty old like - & rooms are poor set up for living – 4 girls to each bunk beds & cramped tiny – but have to cram them as House is expensive – noticed several large rooms being little used – but that’s their problem – had to see what this chapter was like but kinda wish I’d gone back to Atlanta or Gainesville – haven’t seen them yet – tomorrow perhaps…one thing for Georgia – even though the sororities are quantity and not quality the countryside is beautiful I really like it – the leaves are still in process of turning everywhere & all those grassy green clearings & wooded hills & rocks are neat – Louisiana is pretty green too but too flat for my taste – most of the states are beautiful in their own way

I was travelling through the land of ‘Uncle Remus’ and Faulkner, Harper Lee and Carson McCullers, a lush landscape oozing literary tradition at every turn , where any day could become a ‘zip-a-dee-do-dah day’. After another night at Bama I headed up to Memphis to visit the sorority’s national headquarters, for no particular reason, like most of my destinations on this trip just decided to up and go there, didn’t expect much and was not disappointed so off I headed back down, stopping in at Ol’ Miss to park for the night. Lonely for camaraderie, which I wasn’t finding there, I headed south wanting to see some scenery and drive along the Mississippi river. I planned to take a look at Vicksburg battlefield - having been a Civil War buff – It was such a beautiful park overlooking the river it made my day, markers diagramming gun placements and noting the death tolls seemed out of place in such a gorgeous spot - awash in fall colors where once it had been bathed in blood. Were it not so rainy I would have sketched more and followed the trace parkways criss-crossing every which way, but instead worked my way down river to Natchez and a motel. Cold and rain quashed any plans to drive around and gander at plantations. I got a bit lonely that night with the rain pelting down outside and was ready to head south and be with friends again. I followed highway 61 south the next morning towards New Orleans.