Happy Thanksgiving - However You Celebrate

We want to wish everybody a happy and memorable Thanksgiving.  This morning was the time to reminisce about some of our holidays over the years.  And we had a few laughs.  Hope that no matter how you celebrate it brings you many smiles.  

While watching the Macy's parade this morning, a country western singer that neither one of us knew sang a lyric that could sum up things when you think about family, friends and many things we are thankful for, even with all our human flaws. 

The lyric went like this:
                God is great
          Beer is good
          People are crazy

 Hope everyone has a great day and THANKS.

Passing It Forward - The Blues in Clarksdale

What about all of this Blues Trail hoopla? Why memorialize these blues musicians? Well, of course, the state of Mississippi is proud of their native sons and daughters. And, one good answer is obvious, just the joy that is shared by music lovers. But we happened upon another answer to that question in Clarksdale, Mississippi. You might say this particular answer is “passing it forward.”

Another of our exploring days was spent in the small southern town of Clarksdale, about 50 miles south of Tunica.  Our first stop was the Delta Blues Museum.  We were busy in no time enjoying the beautiful memorabilia and information shared in this restored building next to the tracks. There are guitars that belonged to Muddy Waters, harmonicas of Charles Musselthwaite's and replicas of handmade instruments crafted out of 2x4s, and on and on. At one exhibit I learned all about Muddy Waters touring with ZZTop. The exhibits are complimented by recorded interviews with various artists, such as Keith Richards and Bonnie Raitt, telling of the influence of these early artists on their careers. So we were listening while we read.  When all of sudden we both realized we were hearing live music from somewhere.  Well, of course, we followed these bluesy sounds to the other end of the building.

There we found three young men jamming away.  Wow, just what we needed - the real thing. We stayed to listen and talk with the cordial and talented guys for a while.  They told us about the lessons that aspiring blues artists receive continually here at the Delta Blues Museum.  And they let us know to be watching for Samuel Thornton, the young man on the keyboard, as he will be featured on a special on CNN soon.  There's the answer, “passing it forward.”

The second special ingredient of our day in Clarksdale was just a block away from the museum, the Ground Zero Blues Club.  This is Morgan Freeman's club that you may have heard about, perhaps on the Food Network.  Or maybe you saw the info on his restaurant a few blocks from the blues club. The people in Clarksdale are very pleased about his investment. The Ground Zero building looks quite weather worn, just as if it was a juke joint from the early 1900s. There's even a couch on the front porch.  And the walls,ceiling, tables, everywhere inside is covered with signatures of happy blues lovers who wanted to leave a message.  One soon realizes all of this is the perfect atmosphere, especially right next to the railroad tracks. So we settled in for a visit.
Our time at Ground Zero wasn't during one of the popular live performances, but maybe that was fortuitous in one way.  We met locals and had some interesting conversations.  We talked with bikers stopping through, a couple celebrating their anniversary shooting pool and local workers who seemed to love their jobs. The 18-year-old bartender told us with great enthusiasm of her plans to leave Clarksdale to pursue her career, not in blues but as a rocker.  She was soooo grateful to her hometown for the foundation in music and to the museum for giving her a great deal of musical education. But... she was "really a rocker."   You could just see in her eyes the desire to get out there and make some music.  Again, more evidence of “passing it forward."

To complete our visit to Ground Zero I left my own thought among the scrawls covering every surface in the club.  Can you find it?
For future reference, while we were in town at the museum we discovered there are RV hookups in their parking lot available for visitors at no charge.  There's more to see and hear another time when we can park in the midst of the action.  For now, that concludes our Blues Trail travels.

Mississippi Blues Continued

We can officially say that we've been to "The Crossroads" - the place where legendary blues singer Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil and went on to fame. They say it happened one night where the casino roads now cross in Tunica County, Mississippi.  This is one of many stories of the folks who lived and learned and sang about it the Mississippi Delta.  It's been a lot of fun delving into a few of them for the past week.  I said I would share, so here goes.

Continuing our quest to read a more of the Blues Trail markers, we found this one at the Tunica Visitors Center that gives an overview of this historical project.

From there, we went only about a mile west to Old Highway 61 and found another.  Here's a bit of the story of Son House from the marker placed where his shack used to stand in Robisonville. He and other blue singers from the area performed many times at parties at sharecroppers' houses or local dances while working at the local cotton plantations.  His rediscovery happened in the 1960s when he began making recordings after moving north.   

During our wanderings in the area, we found the Tunica Museum and decided to take a little time to see what it might hold. There we learned all about the history of this county, from ancient Tunica Indians to blues artists, from reconstruction to desegregation, from cotton to casinos. A portion of the museum played out the role of cotton in the lives of the people. Many blues artists grew up working the plantations, learning to sing and play the blues from others, singing on the street and in the local juke joints.  We also learned that between 1913 and 1920 several factors, a depression, boll weevil infestation, flooding, and the lure of higher-paying industrial jobs up north,  changed the face of the cotton business. These circumstances resulted in a tremendous exodus.  Of  course, the blues men took their experiences and memories with them.   This is how many of the Chicago blues artists came to be there.

Our travels in the area, of course, included discovering good southern cooking.  One of these eating (and music) places was the Hollywood Cafe, another stop along Old Highway 61, just off Casino Blvd.  The building sits there all by itself just tempting you to try it.  This is an old establishment that was in danger of being closed a few years ago when two local engineers came to the rescue.  They have some mean catfish and purport to be the "original home of the fried dill pickle."  We must confess that we had both of these items and they are super.

Soon after our  lunch, we  were reading another Blues Trail marker ten miles south in downtown Tunica.  This one is the story of  the "first local millionaire," Hardface Clanton.  He was quite industrious.  His marker gives the basic story.

But there's more interesting details about this guy on the back of the sign.  If you have an interest, the website contains all of the stories on these Blues Trail markers.
http://www.msbluestrail.org/blues_trail/
But our blues travels aren't over yet.  I'll complete this episode in a couple of days.  Stay tuned.

Cruising the Blues Trail

Our wanderings in Mississippi are taking us to the stomping grounds of Son House, Muddy Waters, B. B. King, and many others who have shared a gift. We are on Highway 61 in the Mississippi Delta, aka "The Blues Trail."  What led us here? We met a young man named Brian Dempsey this summer while volunteering at the Stones River National Battlefield in Murfreesboro Tennessee whose passion outside his curatorial work is music. Brian told us enthusiastically about his involvement with the Blues Trail project in his home in the Mississippi Delta. The project will eventually place markers at 120 historic points all over the state of Mississippi where legends were made. We were instantly interested, so our travels this month led us here.  (Thanks, Brian.)

No, we won't be locating 120 markers. But we are having fun picking a few spots at random in our journey on Highway 61 along the mighty Mississippi. We're learning more about the people, their surroundings, their influences and the soul of the blues.

So for the next few posts here, I thought I'd share some of the stories.

First stop – while in Natchez we located the blues trail marker for “Natchez Burning” commemorating the horrible disaster in the city's Rhythm Club where 200 people died. Spanish moss decorations caught fire that night in 1940 with 550 people listening happily to the music they loved. The metal structure of the exterior of the building kept the fire inside.  New safety laws were enacted after the tragedy.  And blues singer Howlin Wolf played his haunting song about this sad day.

Then we left Natchez, moving north on 61, stopping where we can pull over in Ferd. For instance,  when we saw one of those familiar brown signs pointing us off our highway, we turned left at the tiny town of  Boyle, MS, toward our next blues tale.

As we walked across the road to read what part of the history might have occurred here,  we noticed how this tiny, crossroads town had an unusual-looking,  wide, tree-lined pathway down the center leading as far as we could see in each direction. Yeah, you guessed it – an old railroad line. The Peavine branch of the Mississippi and Yazoo Railroad inspired many songs. The local bluesman, Charley Patton, sang about the railroad, what it meant to some who escaped their poor lives in the area and blues artists traveling between juke joints.
We all have heard many a lyric about the feelings that connected with the railroad in some way.

A little further up the highway we made our temporary home in Tunica, MS. We had a great location behind the Hollywood casino for our first two nights, boondocking next to an large open field lined with trees. We enjoyed watching the heard of deer grazing in the evenings. Then we moved across the road to the Sam's Town RV Park where we could use the laundry, get water, etc.  It's been a pleasant home base and reasonable at $15.40 per night.  There's lots to see from this point.  We've  had sunny days to explore the area and found several interesting  sites to talk about. I'll share more later.

Meanwhile, if you are a blues fan who would like to read a little about this project, go to:

http://www.msbluestrail.org/blues_trail

Exploring Mississippi - Natchez to Vicksburg

We're still hanging out along the Mississippi River, most recently taking in the historic cities of Natchez and Vicksburg. While exploring Natchez we had a comfortable spot at the Natchez State Park about ten miles north of the city. The campground with electric and water is a reasonable $13.00, with the “old guy's discount” that is. It was a quiet, forested home for a few days.

We began our Natchez time looking around the city, poking into anything that caught our attention. Had catfish for lunch at a grill “Under the Hill”, the area under the bluff where shipping took place when the river was a major transportation hub of the country. The Natchez community presents a vivid historic picture, the barges gliding down the river, the blues bars and restaurants, the stoic old churches, the preserved mansions and the contrast of the poorer areas of the city. Actually, in the early 1800s, 13 of the 16 millionaires in the country lived in Natchez due to the economics of cotton. To get a little better flavor of the history, we visited the Natchez National Historic Park which preserves the spacious and impressive Melrose Plantation. This grandiose home and its grounds are picturesque.

It gives an overview of the entire scope of the society as it was in the 1800s, leading up to the Civil War. The guided tour of the mansion provided some insight into the lives of slaveowner and slave. We walked through the elaborate surroundings of the home and then into the slave quarters just behind the mansion.

So close but so far away. Many of the landowners owned multiple plantations in addition to their mansion(s) in town. Their slaves worked every day of their lives, performing every service without question.

Then we went downtown to see the exhibits at the William Johnson House. Mr. Johnson was a "free person of color" who owned several barber shops and ventured into other types of business. He was a successful member of the community and had many white clientele.  Mr. Johnson revealed a great deal about the times through his diary that he wrote every day for 16 years, covering every kind of business transaction and everyday encounters between 1835 and 1851. He bought land, made loans and discussed politics and life. Included in his transactions was the purchase and sale of his own slaves. How can this be? It just was. There is no way we can understand or explain it.  We spent a considerable time reading listening and looking at his family home and the interesting displays.

All this reading and thinking sure makes one hungry, too. Wanted to say that if you are in Natchez a great place for bar-bq is The Pig Out Inn on Canal Street downtown. Enjoyed it.

The next stop was Vicksburg, just 75 miles north of Natchez on Highway 61. We stopped for the night at the AmeriPark Casino RV park. The rate is $22.50, including two breakfast buffets worth $14.00. The park's a friendly and clean place and the casino's food was excellent.

Continuing our history touring, we decided to visit the Vicksburg National Military Park. The Battle of Vicksburg was critical to the outcome of the Civil War. Control of the Mississippi meant the passage of troops and supplies. The horrendous siege lasted 46 days, until the Confederates surrendered on July 4, 1863. It's a long and sad story told well in the visitors center and by a huge number of markers on the battlefield explaining each event.  Taking the 16 mile tour of the battlefield lined with memorials is a sobering trip. There are bunkers built to defend the city of Vicksburg by the Confederates and trenches where the soldiers made their shelters.  As you drive, it's plain to see the terrain that would have been treacherous for those poor men, all of them desperate for victory. 

We were amazed at the elaborate memorials. For instance, the Illinois memorial in our photo. Here's just a glimpse at the outside. Inside it is lined with bronze plaques with the name of each Illinois soldier who fought at Vicksburg.

Another notable aspect of several memorials were the women used as symbols. They are denoted as “Monumental Maidens.” For example, here is a photo of the “Spirit of the Republic” on the Missouri monument. She guides the ship of state through troubled waters. The Missouri monument is 42' high, in honor of the 42 units of soldiers, Union and Confederate, that fought at Vicksburg. The park is a reminder of another annal in the struggles for freedom, however each participant defined it.
We're moving up the highway again now, following Highway 61, the Blues Trail. See you down the road.

Mobile to Natchez – off-the-beaten-path encounter

A couple of days ago we left Alabama on our way to Natchez, Mississippi, thinking we'd spend a little time in that river city. Our travel plan was to take the red roads once again, enjoying the hills and valleys and towns between Mobile Bay and Natchez. A day of 200+ miles through small towns is just about right for us. We usually have a rough idea of where we will stop depending on how we both feel as we progress through our day. It's not necessarily at a conventional campground or park. If it's going to be after 4:00 when we stop and only an overnighter, we may choose to stop at perhaps an Elks lodge, a WalMart or any number of other establishments that allow overnight parking. One of our options for this day was the Elks Lodge in Natchez, for our first night in town anyway. We have a directory that shows us which lodges allow RV parking. Some have electrical hookups, most don't. Some charge a nominal fee, some ask for a donation. Some have designated parking and others say park anywhere in the lot. Another option was the local WalMart that we knew would allow an overnight stop.

It was a pleasant drive. Along the way we decided to call the Elks Lodge just to check to see if our directory information was current. The person answering the phone mentioned that the two spots they had with electrical hookups were no longer there since they were “building a pond.” (Huh?) But we were welcome to park anywhere else there was room. Before we knew it we had made the 200-some-mile trip to Natchez and were on the road to the Elks lodge.

As we pulled up to the lodge we noticed folks standing all along the front of the property with signs. Were they picket lines at the Elks? Most can't even afford to pay employees. Guess what! The lodge was a voting location and there was a steady stream of cars in the lot. Don't you think that the person on the phone would have mentioned that? Not a word. After we finished laughing out loud, we pulled into the “empty” parking lot of the business across the road, and asked for permission to sit for a while. It turned out to be two hours.

We noticed from our vantage point that there were several banners and signs indicating candidates for sheriff being waved madly by the people on the road. (My photo is poor, through the window. But you get the idea.)  As each car passed or turned into the poll they would wave, smile and push their candidate's sign into a prominent position. As we watched more closely we saw that indeed there were only sheriff signs lined up along the pathway to the poll. It was time to get more information.

We walked across the street to introduce ourselves and learned a lot. These two ladies supporting their friend, Randy Freeman, were full of information. Sure enough, there were seven candidates for sheriff, no particular political party for any of them. Have you ever heard of that? It was great to see the enthusiasm of these supporters based strictly on their opinion of this man's character. They so impressed us with the positive experiences with Mr. Freeman we wished we could vote for him.

It turns out that these ladies come from a family that has sponsored fund raising events for the needy people of the community for many years. They told us the stories of their parents who raised 14 children, over half of them adopted. Their father died of cancer. And three of the children, including these two sisters, were cancer survivors themselves. Their parents taught them to help others. Despite their own situation, they had raised money to help numerous cancer, accident and disaster victims. One of these women had four adopted daughters as well. The stories were amazing. They had many funny stories to tell us too. The time passed quickly and the “Cox Sisters” went to have jambalaya at the election party headquarters. The voting closed. We pulled into the lot for the night and had a safe stay , wondering who had won.

You never know what and whom you will run across as you travel this country. This turned out to be one of those unexpectedly interesting experiences that you find – just a little off the beaten path.

A Small Town Story

Small towns along our route have many times turned into favorite stops. Some of them hold unique surprises and they most always have friendly people.  A few days ago during our stay in southern Alabama, we had another good experience in small-town America. Our timing was perfect for the Elberta German Sausage Festival. Elberta is a town of 552 that's approximately 15 miles east of where we were staying in Summerdale. It was established in 1903 by German farmers from the Midwest.  The town is known for their popular, locally- produced sausage, only available from the Elberta meat market. There's nothing like a really good German sausage, right?

Add the sausage to some music and beer and friendly people. Need I say more? 

Upon making our own taste test we wholeheartedly agreed with the high caliber of the sausage. We had, of course, the customary kraut and mustard additions.  The festival had a variety of  music to mix with your sausage and beer. 

These two ladies, on stage near the beer tent, offered a different slant from the accordian and saxophone players on the main bandstand. 

After that great food and drink, we needed a walk.  So we meandered through the rows of booths, looking for that item we just had to have. One item that's everywhere in this area of the country is boiled peanuts, especially cajun style.  I've missed out on this in my life, so it was time to try them.  Not bad. Tastes something like the Mexican pinto beans, like those in Hatch valley in New Mexico.  But the featured item at this festival seemed to be hot sauces. And samples were plentiful.  We tried our share and decided we had better take home some of Dunk's Green Thang, Cajun Thang and Crazy Thang. We'll be looking for friends to help us out with new hot sauce recipes in the coming months. 

I'm sure there was more of Elberta to see, shops and restaurants and the museum we heard was very good.  But that would have to be on another visit.  But, before leaving Elberta we did want to see the meat market. Had to have some of that fabulous sausage to go.   It's a fresh butcher shop in another one of those out-of-the-way places where you might not expect it.  But they do ship anywhere. And while we were there we picked up some sauer kraut, too.  Oh, yum.

At the Shore in Alabama

Continuing south toward warmer temps, we are now stopped for a while in Summerdale, Alabama, about 20 miles north of Gulf Shores.   It's been raining off and on but we are enjoying our stay here at the Escapees Park, Rainbow Plantation.  On previous travels through here we've only stayed a day or two. So this time we've decided to pause a little longer and look around.
After a couple of days of life's chores, shopping and laundry and cleaning, we decided it was time to set out on one of our exploration days.  It was a warm day and the rain drops ceased, so what better than to head for the beach.

We ended up at Gulf Shores, Alabama, a short ride south past Foley, down highway 59.  This could be any typical beach town, shops filled with all the necessities for enjoying a vacation on the sand and restaurants with Jimmy Buffet music and smiling wait staff on the patios.  Late October isn't the heighth of the season here, so it was easy to park and the beach was only scattered with a few patrons. 

How perfect for us. It was around 80 degrees with a good combination of sun and breeze. The surf was definitely up as the wind was sending waves crashing ashore. Local surfers arrived after school to catch the waves.   It was nice to walk a little in the sand, listen  and watch the ocean.