Down south
Trip Start
Jul 01, 2004
1
64
68
Trip End
Ongoing
Jackson,
Mississippi,
United States
Sunday, November 11, 2007
So I went to Jackson Mississippi to visit Jen and help with her Home Movie Day. Jackson has never had one before. Mississippi hasn't ever had one before. I've never been to "the deep south" before. It ended up not being quite much like anything...
My journey began from Toronto to Windsor, hanging out with my folks and then taking the train from Detroit to Jackson. 24 hour trip with a stop inbetween in Chicago.
This turned out to be the most exciting part of my journey. I decided to get a compartment, AKA "roomette" because I had always wanted to travel by train and SLEEP in a BED like thing on the train
jen on natchez trance
. If you've traveled long distance on the train you know they have these tilting chairs which are quite comfy and almost allows you to be fully horizontal. However if you are a side sleeper it doesn't work so good. And the trains are FUCKING COLD. I remember one journey I had THREE pairs of sox on and slipper socks as well! It was unbelievable. So anyway I treated myself to a roommette both ways. It ends up being not so expensive if you were travel with a someone and because meals are included. I was traveling by myself and the meals were a wash out because I ended up only being on board for one meal and the other I could have had but didn't want to chance being on the train for 12 hours without anything hot to eat. They actually give you vegan food and if you are to believe Joe B it is GOOD vegan food. I, however, got either an incompetant dinning car attendant or some really freezer burned food. It was a kind of schnizle with rice and half of it was dry and hard as a rock. The good part was tasty.
The room had its own climate control which totally rocked and the whole little place was cozy and fun. Too bad I had a HELL of a stomach ache, but better dealt with by myself than having someone sitting/sleeping next to me and wanting to chat. I really just feel like being alone and quite when I'm feeling ill..
jen IS a catapillar
.So I got to Jackson at 11 in the morning and it was sunny and warm - around 70. Back home it was like portland - cold and rainy. So I was pretty stoked.
Jen and I hung out when she wasn't at work and went for walks and cooked and ate cookies and went to the food co-op A LOT. Rainbow seems to be the only place where cool people hang out. Jackson was pretty dead and there was only one movie theatre downtown (Jen lived basically in the suburbs and was right next to a multiplex). The people there were nice and silly and there was a girl that was definintely either trying to pick one of us up or figured we were lesbians.
Rainbow's cafe is the only veg place in town, and it's only open for lunch. This is the CAPITAL of Mississippi here! There were other options like good Middle Eastern but mostly we ate at home.
I didn't have any way of getting around (couldn't rent a bike) so I stayed around Jen's place during the day. That meant only walking on this trail right beside the main busy street or watching Turner Movie Classics, which I have rediscovered
Train Roomette
. One day I walked around "the cool area" near Rainbow and was very disappointed. The second hand clothing store was pretty neat (they lower the price every week on each piece of clothes) and there was an old school candy store/soda shop that had this whole extra place just to sit and eat your sweets. Nothing else except the arhitecture was mildly interesting. Poor Jackson... I know they have a Roller Derby team so there MUST be some cool people and cool stuff to do SOMEWHERE... but I did not find anything. Apparently there isn't even a used bookstore in town? Both the Mayor of Jackson and the Governor of Mississippi are stupid arses from the stories I've heard. Mayor just goes around personally bulldozing crack houses without any notice, Gov is deep deep down in the pockets of Tobacco.
Home Movie Day went really well, with crap loads of 16mm - which I was really shocked at. Lots of nice sweet old people and even some sound super 8 - which is always a good time. I was working nonstop - good thing there were vegan cinnamon buns for nourtiousment provided by Rainbow!
Oh, I also played a game of scrabble with Jen and we both got over 300 points! I was acceptionally happy with that - perhaps I shall beat the pants off JC next time??? Well, not likely but maybe the game won't end with him 100 points a head of me. (My key word by the way was "shellaced")
Comments
I agree
Sorry, I don't know you, but I had to read your impressions of Jackson. My wife and I drove around the deep South recently, and we spent a day in Jackson. Granted, we were only there for a short time and so we may have missed out on some of the cool districts, but the downtown area was SO depressing! There wasn't a soul in site, as we were practically the only people walking around. The capital building isn't all that impressive, and just a few blocks away from the capital we drove through some of the poorest neighborhoods I've seen in the U.S. Needless to say, we didn't spend any more time there than we had to!