Mississippi
From deserts to bayou swamps and Tex-Mex to barbecue, this route offers a full-flavored taste of America.
US-80, which for much of the way has been replaced by the I-20 freeway, cuts across the middle of Mississippi, passing through Meridian, Jackson, and Vicksburg. Only Jackson, the capital and by far the biggest city in the state, is anything like an urban center, with a couple of “skyscrapers” and nearly 150,000 people.
Along this stretch you will mostly see small farms and Civil War battlefields, the most extensive and important of which rises above the Mississippi River in Vicksburg.