I come from a region called the Mississippi Delta. Not that a delta is what it actually IS. It's a floodplain, as it occurs along the banks of the river, nowhere near the mouth. A delta is a triangular shaped deposit of earth at the mouth of a river. In the case of the Mississippi River, this happens down by New Orleans, not up by Memphis. But some poor misinformed soul thought it was a delta and called it so, and the name has stuck.
     It seems that the recognized region of the Mississippi Delta has changed some over the years. In school, we were taught that the part of it which occurs in the state of Mississippi extends from Vicksburg, at the western end of the "waist" of the state, to Memphis, Tennessee. Current maps show it reaching much further down, some even unto New Orleans. Now, that's more right. Here's one of the maps.
     See, just above Jackson, the part that says Yazoo? That's where I spent much of my summers and holidays when younger, and where I lived with my father as an older teen. See, at the western "breast" of the state, where it says Bolivar? That's where I spent some of my middle youth. As I said before, Vicksburg is at the "waist," and that is where some of my early years took place.
     The Delta is flat. In fact, that's how come Vicksburg and Jackson and points south are for the most part not considered part of it, because they are hilly, Vicksburg outrageously so. Civil War buffs will remember that Vicksburg is situated on cliffs overlooking the river, which made it very advantageous, but also siezable, and it was under siege for many years. In fact, the city fell on a Fourth of July, and it is only within my lifetime that the city has returned to the practice of celebrating Independence Day with the rest of the nation.
     Anyway, the Delta is flat. Ugly flat. Straight, broad, boring, bewildering flat. We had some people move to Bolivar County from Kansas, fellow members of my church, and when they got there, they said, "Oh my goodness! It's flatter than Kansas!" I hate flat. It's creepy and frightening and fills the immense sky with menace, an overturned bowl completely surrounding, utterly engulfing, the lone human. The constant winds make me paranoid.
     Tornadoes come to flat country, and often. I have experienced two, though fortunately not to injury.
     Now, Yazoo County is tolerable, and even beautiful, because it is only half flat. The other half is gloriously hilly.

     This is turning into a very dull entry. And I have an eyelash in my eye that is making me insane.

     The reason I thought of all this today was that I was driving on the highway, with the wind snapping all around, and suddenly got an exhileration, like when I used to ride my bike all through town. I'd work up a good momentum and cross most of the town in really short order, gliding around like a bird, ducking and weaving and jumping curbs, long before helmets were even a consideration. It was because of the flat, and that's the good thing about flat land. Very conducive to bicycling.