now is mother nature beyond my control. 12 hours of downpour in alabama; five hours of intermittent downpour from decatur to jackson mississippi; signs across mississippi and louisiana of 17 inches of floods last week, tornados, hail, typical spring in the south. i am in awe at the power of the skies. and grateful for my intuition that told me to leave decatur as soon as the rain let up and drive on to reach vicksburg before dark. the rain increased between jackson and vicksburg, with high winds and hail and 3-5 inchers of rain, and i was already in my hotel room in vicksburg. i did not drive the wrong way up the hill.