Taking A Walk

by Dwayne Phillips

Ah, Autumn. We went from mid-August to mid-November in 12 hours. Today, 55 to 65 degrees with high winds from the north – dry and cool. Wow, what a difference. I look forward to a few days of Fall weather.

I walked 17 miles today. I walked through Petal and Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

Petal is a town attached to the northern city limits of Hattiesburg. I couldn’t tell where Petal ended and Hattiesburg began. Route 11 is a four-lane divided highway with industry on both sides. It isn’t pretty (parts are downright ugly), but it is jobs.

South Bound Bagel and Coffee Shop

Soon I was in downtown Hattiesburg. I like this downtown. They are working hard to “revitalize” it (sounds like a good government term).

We ate breakfast at the Southbound Bagel and Coffee shop (photo here). For the past month, I have been eating free breakfast at the motels. Bagels are common fare at these places. The motel bagels, however, only have a vague resemblance to the real thing. South Bound has the real thing AND good coffee. Great breakfast. The place is little, no one wears a uniform; they don’t even have two coffee mugs in the place that match. G R E A T place!

The Hattiesburg Train Station

Here is a photo of the train station. It is a working train station with Amtrak coming through. This place has been remodeled completely. Very nice.

Next is a photo of the Post Office. I put a copy of this on the Wikipedia page for

The Hattiesburg Post Office

Hattiesburg. Notice the carvings on the building to either side of the words. There are pictures of what looks like airplanes from the 1920s or 1930s. I looked around the building inside and out, but couldn’t find a date of construction.

And now we have a swan. This swan is about four feet tall. I saw half a dozen of these swans in the downtown area. I learned that these are part of some civic program to improve the appearance and morale of the city. There are 182 such swans around Hattiesburg. They are not all painted like this one. I doubt that any two are painted alike. I think that each business or such that hosted one was able to paint it any way they wished.

1 of 182 Swans

I have to write that I probably wouldn’t have bought 182 four-foot-tall swans to improve civic appearance and morale, but then again I am an engineer and a boring one at that.

It didn’t take long to walk through Hattiesburg. The city is spread East to West, so walking North to South means a quick passage. I walked through about seven miles of rural area after exiting the city. The traffic was surprisingly heavy. I expect to transit a couple of small towns tomorrow. The weather should remain cool and dry and W I N D Y.

And one more thing – I was interviewed by the Hattiesburg American newspaper. My nephew lives here and knows some people at the newspaper. I will look for an article and post a link if I have one. They were friendly, interested, and interesting people.