Day 14 - Mistaken Identity in Jackson, Mississippi

We awoke to another balmy Mississippi morning. After breakfast (our last at a Super 8 motel), we checked out and headed back into Oxford to indulge in some more Kodak moments and pick up some stash. We each purchased a vest at the Rebel Bookstore, a shop affiliated to the university (the Rebels are the Mississippi football team) which also had uni paraphernalia of every kind: chairs, mugs, baby bibs. Mine featured the only mention of 'Oxford' in the store, the rest of which almost exclusively read 'Ole Miss'.

Happy with our spending, we made our way back to the car and onto the road once more. Now that we were heading to Jackson, an eatery that has been featured on 'Man vs. Food' was finally within our reach. The only caveat today was that our destination is bizarrely not open for lunch. After a refuel, we powered down the 180 miles and arrived about 20 minutes before close at the Chimneyville Smokehouse.

I had had barbecue brisket on my eat wish-list since the beginning of the trip, so was excited to finally try some of this marinated barbecue beef. Turns out it is delicious! We each had a serving of brisket and pulled pork and came away with a healthy satisfied feeling in our stomachs and in our ability to hunt down 'Man vs. Food' quarry. Another highlight was strawberry Fanta!

The creamed corn was a little gross... 

Too sweet

Lunch over, we headed up to the hotel just down the road. We swung into the driveway of a very nice Hampton Inn & Suites. Old Molasses even seemed excited. We hauled all our bags into the lobby and were greeted with spacial ambiance, tasteful decor, and a smiling clerk who had an assuring motherly tone. It transpired unfortunately that we were in the wrong place: "You want the place next door, baby." Apologies all round, we ambled back out into the car park and drove next door, preparing ourselves for a come down but hoping in vain for a pleasant surprise. The police car in the car park was not encouraging.

This old banger was also chugging around outside

The interior was better though, and when we got to the room we nearly fell over. Greeted by the most gigantic beds we'd ever seen, we speculated that perhaps it would sleep six people cosily.

Four head pillows...lol

After some healthy gulps from the wi-fi tap, we decided to head over to a local reservoir to check out the scenery and give the old Nerf the throw around. The park and the water were lovely. We first drove over the bridge that bisected the body of the frankly gargantuan lake and caught some great shots of the water meeting the sky in a delightful dance of shimmering blue...or something.

The sun was intense and our workout was extreme, so we took our vests off to cool down and work on some base tans before the beach hopping. After some hefty throws and beefy catches, we wandered down to the fake beach and mini pier to have a dip in the water and a look out.

A long launch appeared from the right hand side of our vision, and bounced over the water. The two occupants (probably a father and son) gestured in our directions so I waved back, briefly sharing momentary salutation with a stranger. A little while later they called out to us as we were walking to the edge of the pier. "Hello thar!" I proclaimed in my best Bertie Wooster, before waving like a dork. Jannick then informed me that the greeting they had shouted at us was 'queer'. I had not helped the situation. At this point we were still soaking up the sun sans shirts, but had nevertheless assumed we weren't going to be subject to misdirected hate vitriol. The tirade continued, to our consternation, as they drove away hurling one final "faggots" in our direction. We decided to pick up our clothes and head back rather than risk a second round of abuse from the cowardly pair.

It's safe to say we were rather speechless, though JD had warned us that we might possibly wander into this sort of territory. It was a shame to encounter such unpleasant intolerance on what had been a very enjoyable day and dampened the mood of the drive home considerably. Both of us have gay friends and we understandably bristled at the remarks, though were perhaps surprised by how victimized we felt ourselves. Obviously not an area famous for its acceptance, the Deep South apparently still needs some time to catch up to the rest of the world's (or even country's) open stances. I mean, why can't two male friends just enjoy a topless lakeside paddle with cameras on a warm summer evening without people thinking anything was going on?

So hetero

After getting home feeling slightly deflated, we reheated some food we had stored up in take-home boxes over the last couple of days and watched telly, taking some time out to blog about the day.

Before this post though, I will conclude on a happier note (that will have been recontextualised in light of our late afternoon encounter). We took this video in the car; you may want to turn your speakers on full for this one.

Bye for now!