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25 June onto Highway 61, the Blues Highway
Today marked the beginning of the intensive blues period of my break, when I reached the Blues Highway, US route 61. I started at the southern end of the Natchez Trace Parkway (remember I was at the Northern end near Nashville) for a few miles before reaching the Blues Highway late morning.After that I have zig zagged around the Mississippi delta to see some of the blues heritage, covering a little over 400 miles in the day.
Early on, a sign for the Elizabeth Female Academy caught my eye. In my mind was training school for Hooters, but it turned out to be a school which closed in 1854 and all that was left was one wall. Wow. Then a quick look at the Natchez Indian settlement, which turned out to be a replica of something 7 miles up the road. Why not just show us the real thing??? Still, it was free!!
Then onto the Blues Trail. I have added meaningful captions to pictures today rather than blogging, First stop was Bentonia, which looked about as like a Mississippi town as I'd expected - very poor, and mostly black as far as I could tell. Then to Belzoni, the catfish capital, then Indianola (where B B King was raised), then Greenville. Finally on to Clarksdale which is something of an epicentre for the blues. Memphis would be it's commercialized sister. If you Wikipedia the Mississipi Delta you will see the list of famous names from the delta region. Oh, and I happened across the Jim Henson museum in Leland too!
The first task in Clarksdale was to get a hotel. The starting price for the motel I chose was $65 plus tax but I'm happier with the $45 we finally agreed on!!
I spent the last part of the evening in Morgan Freeman's (actor) Ground Zero blues bar listening to some extraordinary local bands. Yet another t shirt…
I could be off line until Sunday evening my time, as the next two nights I may be camping at a Blues Festival.
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