We woke up beside the Mayes Lake in LeFluer’s Bluff State Park, Mississippi.

It was already getting hot and muggy at 7am so we packed everything up as fast as we could. RJ headed to the bathroom for his morning tinkle where he ended up making a friend with a dude who was also on a motorcycle trip. That boy has gotta learn to stop talking to strangers when he pees. Once he finished telling me all about his new friend, we headed over to the Jackson Capitol building.

It was a short and unmemorable drive to the landmark. By this point in our adventure, we’ve lowered all expectations for parking near the capitol building; however, we were fortunate in this instance. After finishing our usual routine of removing our gear, evaluating the possibility of being ransacked by passersby, and then consequently locking up our helmets, we headed towards the capitol. From the outside, the building looked very similar to the other capitols we had visited.

But the moment we entered the building, our poor conception was dismantled. The adage “Never judge a book by its cover” proved to be right again. The interior was gorgeous. It was the first capitol we’ve been to with darker marble instead of the usual bright white interior. The darker overtones elicited a deference to the modest architecture and masonry.

We walked to the information desk where two endearing old ladies greeted us with their warm yet marked southern accents. Soliciting pamphlets and self-guided tour information, they happily stamped our book and offered us pins of the capitol building. RJ excitedly took some from the lady. As we walked down the hall examining the pins we realized they were plastic and quite cheap, not to mention, when am I ever going to wear a pin of the Mississippi Capitol, so I threw it in the trash. I briefly considered returning the shoddy pins back to the ladies but wasn’t sure how to politely say: “Sorry, but these pins are trash.” Either way, RJ was crushed.

We toured the building in awe of the darker stonework.

After we made our rounds throughout the floors, meeting even more incredibly nice people, we headed to the gift shop to buy our compulsory mug before heading out.

And lo and behold, we met the coolest lady whom also happened to run the gift shop. She was a fellow mug enthusiast as myself which endeared us to her even more. As I spent my usual time dithering about which mug to get (to my husbands chagrin), RJ struck up a conversation with the lady. We learned all about our addiction (as RJ would call it) regarding mugs and how she was running out of space to store all of her collectables. She stated in her strong yet endearing southern accent a quote that RJ and I will never forget: “I got 94 cabinets and 56 drawers and not enough space to fit all my mugs.” This woman is my human spirit animal offering validation for my penchant for mugs. RJ will just have to deal with it I guess. After finally selecting and purchasing my mug, we headed to Moty and were chuckling to ourselves all the way back about how awesome the gift shop lady was and making jokes about that’s what my future will be.

Painted by a local artist with his signature on the bottom of the cup.

Cheers, ~rj and em