Latest Update from Karla

Subj: Natchez, Mississippi, March 17-19, 2003
Date: 4/8/2003 9:43:54 AM Pacific Standard Time
From: kbwalk@mymailstation.com

Howdy Everyone!
   Wow, talk about getting WAY BEHIND. I was just going to skip these areas that I've missed writing about and just write about where I'm at now, but I decided that there are enough good stories in this last month that I'd go ahead and try to retrace some of those days.
   I had a great time in Natchez, a very historical town along the Mississippi River. Joanne, executive director of the Epilepsy Foundation in Jackson, MS had made some contacts for me ahead of time, and through her I ended up contacting Nancy, the executive director at the Natchez Children's Home.   Nancy had made many ocntacts for me and had set up a place for me to stay, and several speaking engagements.
   While I was there in Natchez I stayed in a big, Big, BIG old house owned by one of the board members of the Children's Home. This house wsa HUGE, and I was the only one there. I could've had 40 guests there, and there still would've been room!
   Joanne came down from Jackson and spent a day with me. While there I was able to give a talk at the Senior Center, another at the Children's Home, one at a Lion's meeting, another at Trinity Episcopal School, and again at an evening church service. The Lions club made a donation to the Epilepsy Foundation, and one of it's members owns a sporting good store. He told me to come and get a free pair of shoes, which I gladly did.
   Another board member of the Chlldren's Home owns a Taco Bell, and he gave me $20 worth of free Taco Bell gift certificates. He also got Joanne and I free admission to the Historic Natchez Pageant, a play that takes you back in time through the past history of Natchez. The pageant was a great play, and I especially enjoyed seeing that.   Also while I was in Natchez, the manager at Churches Chicken told me that I could come and eat there for free as often as I'd like. Another time, while I was walking down in a section of town called "Under the Hill," a newspaper reporter whom I had visited with that morning drove past me, then hit reverse, backed back up and told me to "jump in." She then hauled me to the restaurant she and her husband own and fed me lunch!   And during my time there, Joe Mitchell, Director of Developement at the Children's Home, made sure all my needs were met and was hauling me all around to all these meetings. As you can
see, the people in Natchez were extremely hospitable and taking care of every imaginable need. Natchez will always be one of my favorite places simply because of all the wonderful people I met there. Natchez, a town of great history, great people, and true southern hospitality. I was so lucky to be there!
   While I was there, the director at the Senior Center had made contact with a church in Sibley, the next town I was heading to. As I was getting ready to head out, the phone rang and it was Linda Moore, a lady who heard me talk at the church. She said that she and her mother own a restaurant that I'd be walking past that day, and that I should stop in there for lunch. "Mammy's Cupboard" is a restaurant shaped like an Aunt Jemimah bottle of syrup. The dome of the restaurant is the skirt of the lady -- a huge statue built in 1940 that is a beloved landmark on Hwy 61 south of Natchez. Linda and her mother Doris served me a wonderful dinner of roast pork loin with muscadine sauce glaze, garden rice, southern green beans, tossed salad and broccoli cornbread, some sweet tea, and then finished it off with a big piece of pie. I especially enjoyed visiting with Linda, Doris and their staff, and as I was heading out the door they handed me an envelope
with $40 in it.   When I got to the Rehoboth Church of God in Christ Church in Sibley, Pastor Elijah Lewis, Sr had left a note on the table, a basket full of fresh fruit, and some bottles of water waiting for me. People are so nice!

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