Twitley Branch COE Campground, Collinsville, Mississippi

Bob and I took our time driving to Twitley Branch Campground. Sol needed fuel and we didn't want to purchase it in Florida. We finally found a station in Atmore, Alabama that had diesel for $2.99. It was the best price we available AND the station had separate pumps for diesel! After fueling Sol, we were on our way to Collinsville which is about 10 miles northwest of Meridian, Mississippi. Our reservations were for 2 nights at Twitley Branch Corps of Engineer Campground on Lake Okatibbe.

After a leisurely drive, we settled in at our campsite for Happy Hour as it was too late for lunch, too early for dinner. Our site backed on the lake so we had a good view.

The following day we walked the campground areas and did some geocaching in the park.

After lunch we drove to Meridian to visit Dentzel Carousel. It is housed in a special building at Highland Park. Unfortunately, the carousel was closed. We were able to look in the windows to see the double row carousel built around 1890.

The Jimmie Rodgers museum, also located at the park, was closed. Jimmie Rodgers is known as the singing brakeman and the father of country music.

I guess Monday is not a good day to visit small town museums.

From Highland Park it was on to Wal-Mart to purchase a few items, then back to the campsite.

Since it was such a nice afternoon, we decided to ride our bicycles around the park. It was the first time in a very long time that we had ridden our bikes. After our bike ride, we sat outside and just enjoyed relaxing. We finally got out our maps and gazetteers to plan our drive the following day.

So far this trip, we have had reservations, but for our next stop, we didn't have any. We weren't sure how far we wanted to go, but we knew we didn't want to drive all the way to Texarkana, Texas, from Collinsville. We finally decided on a couple of places we might stop, but we kept our options open...no reservations! Our stop would depend on our drive and the weather.