We are waking up early because of the time change. It's OK because we are at our best in the mornings. It is a beautiful sunrise with lots of pink sky, not quite the Arizona desert sky, but beautiful in its own right. We are showered, dumped, filled with water and on the road by 10.00am.
Down Highway 1 along the Blues Trail. The trail is a series of markers in towns throughout Mississippi that celebrate the blues music and the musicians that have created the music since the early 1900's.Each marker tells the story of a blues legend from the area.
We have a map that tells where each marker is and we cross match with a road map as we travel. Some are easy to find and others take us through back streets looking for markers that were often along the rail lines and depots where the musicians played for travelers paid by the hotels and rail lines or for tips.
Our first stop this morning is Friars Point, home of Conway Twitty. I have a post card for Stella and as I got near the post office an elderly black lady stops me and says "honey, you must be a tourist, come give me a hug, we need more of you down here". Postal lady tells me that "Nawleans" is a party, party place and we should have a very good time there, lol.. Lots of Monday morning activity around the post office. Everyone notices us and everyone waves and says hello.
As we travel south the levee is continually to our right or west.....next stop is Rosedale in search of Joes Tamale shop, unfortunately it's closed:) I am a tamales addict. Tamales don't really seem like a southern food but apparently were brought to the south by soldiers who had fought in the Mexican American War and then by Hispanic workers brought to work the fields later in the 20th century. Sad to say I didn't get any today.
A quick stop at a Piggly Wiggly grocery store looking for some lunch. Their deli was only serving chicken and we are very tired of chicken in our diet.
Went into the RV and made a plate of crackers and cheese, carrot sticks and summer sausage and ate on the road. We are always happy to eat our own food instead of trying to eat out.
Next stop is Benoit for two more Blues information markers and again are welcomed to town by a local resident.
She introduces herself as she stops in the middle of the road asking if we need any help. I tell her we are looking at the blues trail markers and are following the Missipi. As we talk a big truck turns into the road. I point out he might need to get by...she smiles and says, "we do things different down here, everyone stops in the middle of the road if they need to talk. It's just the way it is. And true to her word the truck went by on the other side of the road without a word said. She wished us a safe journey and a "y'all come back now...."
Our planned stop for the night is a casino in Greenville. Staff told us we could park in the valet parking area and we would be safe and watched over. This was after we met Atilla the security guard at the welcome Center. Her first bark was the worst. She turned out OK but our own information was as good as there's. A quiet night despite being close to the bridge traffic heading across the River to Arkansas.
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