Once again, I must apologize for not posting in a while. I do not lead an interesting life like Kerry. I have traveled 1000+ miles around Mississippi over the past two weeks, not to mention two separate trips back to Tuscaloosa, but that's about as interesting as it gets.
I went back to Tuscaloosa two weeks ago for a friend's (Martin Wagner) ordination as an assistant pastor at Faith Prez in Birmingham. This is where Liz Smith (whatever her last name is now) goes with her husband, among a few others that I know. This was the first of my friends to be ordained in the PCA. In the future, Will Joseph, JC Tomberlin, Blake Johnson, and Kevin Corley will each have an MDiv. and presumably will be ordained in some reformed denomination (not necessarily the PCA...which is probably most likely in JC's case...he might go Reformed Baptist if he settles on being a pastor). I stayed in Tuscaloosa and left that Monday morning bright and early for some land use surveys throughout Mississippi. First in Yazoo City, the "Gateway to the Delta", then in Hattiesburg, home of the University of Southern Mississippi (which, incidentally, has a PhD program in Geography).
Yazoo City was very much a Delta town (to compare it, it was very much like a Black Belt town). It was by and large a dilapidated city that has a lot of potential, but can't seem to get over that hump. It's no Eutaw or Camden, but it's not exactly, well, Chicago. The governor of Mississippi is from Yazoo City (Haley Barbour). There's a Haley Barbour Blvd. in Yazoo City. They did have a decent Best Western motel and Mexican restaurant. My favorite part about Yazoo City was the sudden drop off to the Delta, which is by and large a very flat and fertile region of the country. The east side of Yazoo City, I'll define by US49 (or Jerry Clower Blvd), seems to divide rolling hills, windy roads, and such to just flat. You can see vast flatness from parts of town, and until the state of Mississippi reconfigured a particular intersection in town, I'm told one could drive over a bridge and all of a sudden see the Delta when cresting the bridge. The Delta also is known for its music, specifically Blues ("Delta" blues), as well as jazz and rock & roll. There are numerous Blues festivals throughout the Delta region. Morgan Freeman (an Academy Award winning actor) lives in the Delta most of the time (in Charleston, MS), and owns and operates a blues club in Clarksdale named Ground Zero Blues Club.
Given my interest in music, I should get out there at some time and see what Delta Blues is all about. But I digress...
Yazoo City took two days to complete, amazingly, and it was frustrating because it was something I was sort of thrown in to with no experience and just a few minutes of "training" on what to do. I did have the entire Bay St. Louis office helping me (one person), and she had done it before, so I just sort of had to lean on her experience a lot. It got less frustrating I suppose, with time.
More later...I'm going to catch something on TV now. Coming up...the (supposed) end to my A/C saga.
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