My companion and I have started walking the path of the Natchez Indians towards Mississippi. We have set up camp at an old park called Meriwether Lewis named after the fame explorer. Lewis and Clark walked this land long ago as partners in discovery just as I and my young explorer walk it today. The difference, they walked it during the birth of a nation, we walk it after its death. We now have our tent set up near the grave site of Lewis, according to the old park signs he died not far from here at a inn 
that use to stand close by. He was on his way to St. Louis walking this old Indian trail that was used quite a bit by the French, Spaniards and British as a route to the east. He died during his over night stay and was b
uried here; Clark was not with him on this trip. Over two hundred years in the past, this all happened, over a thousand years ago the Indians used this as a trade route to other indian nations. Think about that, the Indians roam and traded on this land for thousands of years. The white man comes, explorers, builds a nation, and kills off the Indians like they were a plague. And with in less than three hundred years, leaves the land in ruin. I ask you; who were the civilized and who were the savages?
As we embarked on the Trace I had found an old shopping cart that I filled with as much food and fresh boiled water as I could. I push the cart, Hope's job (as she sees it) is to ride up front and point at new discoveries. The trace is a very desolate road, one I never like to travel in a car. The main reason is you can travel twenty miles on the trace and you have seen it all. It is a flat drive with trees on each side and that is all you will see the whole 444 miles from Nashville TN. to Natchez MS.; except for the occasional Indian mound or open field. I expect this walk to be just as boring, but so far my partner has made it a little less mundane because she looks at everything as if it is brand new.
I have not been feeling very well every since we left Dickson, I thought Hope was sick, but it seems I may have a bug. My last wish would be to get sick something happen and Hope be left alone. We may rest here another day if I am not feeling better in the morning. I pray I can make it to Pontotoc and find an Amish family, if there are any left in that area. I think once I get her settled, this may be my last walk. I think I will head home and wait. I do not look forward to saying good bye to this little one who has made me smile, she has brighten my last days and I owe her so much for the happiness she has brought me. She reminds me of someone, a soul I have known before. I know I keep thinking this, but why is she so familiar to me.
Go to Day 1075
