Sabbatical 2017: Severe weather, murals & a Coke

As well as fending off the alligators you have to keep your eye out for tornadoes when travelling through the southern states at this time of year.

The Governor of Alabama has declared a state of emergency today in his state, and all schools have been closed, in view of the forecast of severe storms, with hailstones the size of golf balls, and a seventy per cent chance of life-threatening tornadoes.

This area is not known as tornado-alley for nothing.

Today we had been due to drive to Montgomery, Alabamba in a 357 mile drive but with Montgomery literally predicted to be at the eye of the storm by this afternoon, it seemed prudent to stop at the Mississippi town of Meridian (about two thirds of the way there) and to resume our journey tomorrow.

On our way to Meridian we drove along part of the Natchez Trace Parkway, a 444 mile long scenic road, constructed during the Great Depression of the 1930s to create much needed employment in the south.

We then left the Parkway to visit the town of Vicksburg, the site of a key civil war battle, on the banks of the Mississippi.

We toured the historic downtown, admired the murals illustrating the town's history (close to the river), and we visited the Coca-Cola Museum, at the site where that famous drink (invented in nearby Atlanta) was first bottled. Prior to that you had to buy your Coke at a drugstore soda fountain.

Just think what America has given to the world. All this and KFC, too.