Day 33: Mississippi

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Day 33 also is Michele and my 33^rd Wedding Anniversary! The original plan was for Michele to meet me in New Orleans and spend a few days on the road along the gulf coast.  Between Covid and the recent Hurricanes’, that did not seem like a good plan.  With Hurricane Delta hitting Louisiana last night, I modified today to stop tonight in Vicksburg Mississippi, and hit New Orleans tomorrow.

The weather in Memphis didn’t look too bad, so I hit the highway during a break in the rain and headed down the Blues Highway, highway 61. It’s the highway that carried poor rural musicians out of the cotton fields, north to Memphis and St. Louis. The rain wasn’t too bad, although the fields were flooded. It looks like they harvested the cotton crop recently and there were huge bails in the fields.

I first stopped in Clarksdale to see the Ground Zero Blues Club, co-owned by Morgan Freeman. It wasn’t open for lunch, but I drove through Clarksdale, which is the birthplace of Ike Turner, Muddy Waters and Sam Cooke. Next stop was Greenville another Blues center.  I was looking for the Weather Channel guy I saw reporting from there earlier in the day, but no luck.

I ended up in Vicksburg for the night.  I will see the national Military Park tomorrow.  I drove into town to get a look at the Mississippi river.  The city has a huge levy protecting the city, with gates that can close.  There were impressive marks on the wall showing the height above flood stage. As recently as 2011 the water got to 57 feet on the levy.  The rest of the town, that I saw, was looking a little tired. A lot of casino’s but I am learning that does not make a town nice.

Mississippi, even in the rural areas is pretty good about masks.

Song of the Day: Jackson, Jonny Cash and June Carter Cash

Podcast: Smartless, Melissa McCarthy

Book on Tape:  The Reckoning. 

Beer of the Day:  Timber Beast, Lazy Magnolia (Craft Beer is hard to find in Mississippi)

Total Miles: 260