Day 4: Screaming Bugs Marching Band

Texas bound on 20 West out of Jackson, Mississippi (I learned how to spell Mississippi at an early age).  Yesterday, our expedition into the hot, humid South was complemented with Watermelon and Cucumber/Lime flavored energy drinks with a listen to Ron Sexsmith and Disc 3 of the Beach Boys' Good Vibrations box set.  We encountered our first traffic incident; a wreck on I-20 W not far outside of Tuscaloosa that had us sit still for an hour before we resumed moving again.  When the old, 1950's tow truck came slowly putting along the shoulder to the rescue, I realized we were experiencing a pre-collapse, Soviet Union-style traffic jam.  Without air conditioning in the car, we might have died.  And the hour or so we lost was compensated for by the time zone change to central.  We pulled into LeFleur Bluff State Park Campground at around 8 PM CST.  This campsite/park is kind of strange.  It's actually in Jackson.  Or at least on the very edge of the city.  The campsites seem like they're on an "island" surrounded by a small lake and marsh areas.  While the previous two nights were subtle, quiet experiences in the wild, this night was hot, humid and loud.  We could barely hear one another over the cacophony of crickets, frogs, birds, and what sounded like a UFO landing.  The bath house was oddly perched up on a story or two of stilts with a complex ramp system for the disabled.  We checked email (4G again) and learned of the US loss to Columbia in the third place Copa game thanks to live play-by-play from Cassia, Dan and Gideon.  Then we fell asleep to the screaming bugs accented by a distant, get this, marching band practicing into late night at the Michael Jordan Memorial field less than a mile away.  Up early to beat the heat, screw making camp coffee, we're packing up and getting Starbucks to fuel the last leg of the journey to Austin.