well what do ya know!

Tuesday morning we woke up to rain hitting the roof of the RV and a few rumbles of thunder in the distance. The skies looked like the rain was setting in for the long haul. We decided to do a little exploring and drove into Decatur. They have a small college there but other than that it is your typical small Mississippi town. Their claim to fame is this is where murdered civil rights activist Medgar Evers was born and raised http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medgar_Evers

After driving through Decatur we headed north to Philadelphia which is quite a bit larger but also has a very ominous past. It was here in 1964 that three civil rights workers were kidnapped and murdered. Their deaths at the hands of the KKK and the resulting investigation made national headlines and was a big catalyst in the civil rights movement. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_civil_rights_workers_murders

This was a very turbulent and sometimes violent time in the history of our country.

We stopped into the Super Wal Mart and picked up a few items while we were there. We also stopped at the Williams Brothers Store which has been serving this community since 1907.

This variety store had everything from "soup to nuts"! They even had a complete saddle shop in the rear of the store. The building itself was like walking back in time with it's creaking wood floors and wooden front door with the well worn push bars. Rudee noticed they had football jerseys hanging from the ceiling, one for Peyton Manning and one for Eli Manning. I knew that Archie, their Dad as well as Eli had attended college at nearby "Ole Miss" and wasn't surprised they had some fans in the area but as Paul Harvey would say, "now for the rest of the story". When I got back to the 5th wheel I looked up the history of the store and found out that Peyton and Eli's Mother's maiden name was Williams. Yep, the same Williams'. The store was started by two brothers which I would assume were Peyton's Great Grandfather and Great Uncle and is still ran by the Williams family over 100 years later. Wow, we were in the store owned by Peyton Manning's Grandfather, pretty cool for a couple of Colts fans like us :-)

The rain is supposed to continue Wednesday so we'll have to play it by ear on any activities. I'll keep you posted.