a day late entry - but what an entry!

Oh. My. God. We could not have even planned this.

An all-day drive from New Orleans with lots of stops (to be explained below). We get in at our “hotel” – the Shack Up Inn (more below) – and the young guy who checks us in says, “Hey, you might want to go over to the Delta Blues Museum. They are having an opening tonight and Robert Plant is supposed to be there.”

Robert Plant? As in the lead singer of Led Zepplin?

We threw our luggage into our room and drove to the Museum. Hung around about ten minutes, and then ----- there he was! Robert Plant! Amazing. We didn’t approach him; too many other people from the museum had him cornered. So we just watched him. He only stayed ten minutes then he took off. But so what? We saw him! Stood a few feet away! One of the most important rock singers ever in the history of the universe!

The entire day was interesting, but that can’t be topped.

Regardless, here is the day. We left New Orleans early and headed to Baton Rouge, picked up Highway 61 there. 61 was a good drive. It went back and forth between being a two lane and a four lane road. Either way there was very little traffic. The road took us through small (very small) towns. We saw a very large tin rooster, a store that sold aluminum animals – life size aluminum animals. We drove through Natchez which has an old and beautifully restored downtown area; stopped here for lunch and ate excellent pulled pork at “The Pig Out Inn.” Walked from there to a park that overlooked the Mississippi River.

From there to Vicksburg – site of a major Civil War battle. Here the restored downtown was just exquisite. We only drove through, did not take the time to walk around. But we drove through twice. Then we drove to the Vicksburg Military Battlefield. After watching a film that explained the battle (land and sea, or rather river), we drove the 16 mile loop through battlefields.

Back on the road, heading for Clarksdale. The place we are staying in Clarksdale (or a few miles outside of Clarksdale) is the best place ever, that we have ever ever stayed in. The Shack Up Inn is made up of about 8 sharecroppers cabins. They look old and rundown on the outside, and they are funky yet fixed up on the inside. Lots and lots of stuff inside. Ours has posters of famous blues musicians, old license plates, an ancient refrigerator, funky rugs and quilts and more and more. Ry has photos. The entire complex is interesting. It all looks incredibly run-down and trailer-trashy, but it’s very cleverly put together. Y’all will have to see Ry’s photos when he gets them going on the net.

So then, after we saw ROBERT PLANT, we went to a restaurant in Clarksdale that was recommended by a woman at the museum. It as called Madidi and it is owned by Morgan Freeman. An excellent meal! I mean, really, considering that Clarksdale looks like a movie set for an abandoned 50’s town, this restaurant was top of the line.

And that’s it for one day! Yikes . . . Robert Plant.