A Day of Travels

Mississippi and Tennessee
March 17, 2010

I wanted to title this post as "A Typical Day of Duane's Travels." But nowadays there really isn't a typical day for me, and that's the thrill of traveling without an agenda. Today was a day that did have many of the elements I go through as I travel across the country, and I wanted to share a full day of travels with you.

My day started in Columbus, Mississippi, a town at the junction of highways where I ended up when it got dark and I got tired the evening before. I only had one goal at the beginning of the day: to find Elvis Presley at the start and the end of his life. At 7:00 a.m. I headed north and in an hour I was in Tupelo, the birthplace of Elvis. I was early though and thought I would notch another national park site on my travel resume. The Tupelo National Battlefield is a small remnant of the battlefield of 1864. It encompasses only one acre and resembles a neighborhood park more than a national park. The only facilities are a couple of historic monuments typically seen in Civil War battlefields and two informational boards explaining the battle. It is definitely on the bottom of the list of national park sites to visit.

Remembering Luther Latham, A Man Worthy of a Highway

Mathiston, Mississippi
August 6, 2016

memorial: something (such as a monument or ceremony) that honors a person who has died or serves as a reminder of an event in which many people died.
(Source: Merriam-Webster's Learner's Dictionary)

On my way home to Texas from Kentucky, I was traveling along the Natchez Trace Parkway and making small detours to find Natchez Trace monuments placed by the Mississippi Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution in the early 20th century. I found one placed in Mathiston along US Route 82, but what caught my eye was the marble sign next to it. It simply read:

Luther Latham

Memorial Highway

Senator

Webster County

1928 — 1931