Wednesday, September 28

I can describe this morning in two words, fog and traffic. Ruth deposited us on Highway 82 this morning and the traffic was very heavy and the fog thick. After a bit we came to the bridge over the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. No photos as all we could see was fog. On we walked to the Highway 182 overpass that would take us through downtown Columbus and might save a step or two in reaching the MS/AL state line.

Downtown Columbus was very nice. Lots of renovated old buildings and some old churches. Still no pics, fog.

But we were looking for a special building, a donut shop. On we tramped and what should appear, a Shipley's Donut Shop. When we entered, one of two old ladies sitting there said, "Are you the Walkers?" "No", John said, "My name is Goodman". Ignoring John's humor, she went on to tell us that we had been on the local TV news.

That was news to us as no one had contacted us. Our guess is that Peggy Branch in Starkville called Channel 4 in Columbus and told them about our walk.

Fortified by our glazed donut served by Kay, the donut lady, we proceeded on. It didn't take long before we realized that we were indeed being filmed by the Channel 4 News. We could see them up ahead. We were greeted by reporter R H Brown and his cameraman, Ralph of WCBI TV, a CBS station.

Mr. Brown requested an interview and we said of course. He interviewed us separately as Ralph did the camera work. It took about 15 minutes and Mr. Brown said it would appear this evening on local Columbus TV. We said our thanks and good byes and walked away as they continued to film us. They drove ahead of us and filmed us some more and again and again. I guess it was a slow news day.

John, his sweet tooth awakened by the donut, decided it wanted some ice cream. The first attempt at McDonald's failed as the ice cream machine was not on. But, Bullets Burgers, serving Eskimo Pie Ice Cream saved the day. John was happy as we continued walking.

But I was worried as this was our last day walking in Mississippi and we had not found a Mississippi license plate. Note: we have found at least one license plate in every state that we have crossed. But thanks to eagle eye John, not only did we find one, but two. What joy!

On we walked until we turned back to Highway 82, took the shortcut by scampering up the overpass ramp and we were back to our old familiar highway. At another mile we saw Ruth and Carol at the Mississippi/Alabama state line. "Sweet Home Alabama"

In the 13 miles that we walked, we found a pair of tin snips, two bungee cords, a spoon, two Mississippi license plates and .13 cents. Total money found in Mississippi - $ 1.81. Stay tuned ...