Uncle Willy's Liquor Depot

So, I went up to Vicksburg over the weekend with the scouts. I was a little concerned for their well being, as the forecast called for temperatures in the upper 20s, with a wind chill in the teens. Even so, ten scouts showed up, and we headed north. We arrived at the campground that had been recommended to us around 7:30, and the temperature was already below freezing. On top of that, the wind was ripping across the field we were supposed to camp in. No shelter from the wind, snow coming down, no campfires allowed, and nothing but RVs all around us... wait, that can't be right! Who in their right mind would set up camp in those conditions? It turns out we got a bad tip about where to stay, so I hopped in the Jeep (for protection from the wind) and called home to Lauren. When she picked up, I said, "save us!" She was able to quickly find another campground about 15 minutes away and, as it turned out, about 2 minutes from the park we were hiking in the next day.
After calling ahead to make sure they allowed fires, we loaded back up, crossed our fingers, and headed to a hopefully better spot. (Some people had been trying in vain to pitch a tent, but the wind was strong enough to knock the ice chest over and dump out half the ice, so you can imagine how successful any attempt to pitch a tent was... we couldn't even get a ground cloth down.)
It turned out to be basically an RV park as well, but fires were allowed and there was some tree coverage to shelter us from the wind. It would have to do, so we set up for the night, warmed up some soup and hot chocolate, then most everyone turned in early. Smart move considering we had a 14 mile hike ahead of us the next day.
Saturday turned out to be gorgeous, and the hike through Vicksburg National Military Park was a lot of fun, even though most of the young men were wiped out by the time it was over. There were a lot of neat sites, and loads of history. It was moving to be where such vigorous fighting to shape our country had taken place. We went first down the defensive Confederate line, and then on the return loop we followed the Union line. Trying to imagine what it was like on that battlefield was an awesome and frightening experience. My favorite monument was Ulysses S. Grant atop his stallion. He has long been one of my heroes.
In the end, all the boys made it, though some only got through the last few miles because there was no other choice. Hopefully it will have been a memorable experience for them all.