The Shack Up Inn

this one (above) is the "shack" that we stayed in. Called Legends, it had memorabilia of famous people (Marilyn Monroe, Jan and Dean, etc).




these people took old sharecroppers cabins, moved them onto this site, and upgraded them (inside) to become an inn.

Other Clarksdale photos

this is Ground Zero Blues Club - music down below and a hotel (of sorts) above. Partly owned by Morgan Freeman who also owns the high-class restaurant up the street, Madidi's.


And this is Puddin' Hatchett. We met him at breakfast at the Delta Amusement Cafe. He sat at our table and showed us his three-card monte and his dice tricks. Then he got his photo album and showed us pictures of himself with various people (including Morgan Freeman) and his daughter and grandchildren.

Clarksdale, the main drag

this is Delta Street, Clarksdale's main street. it felt as if we traveled back in time....


notice the town's movie theater, showing "Batman" and Hancoc" - because, evidently, they don't have enough letters for "The Dark Knight" nor the 'k' for "Hancock."

welcome to clarksdale, mississippi

my favorite things

i am trying to distill our vacation down to a list of my favorite things . . . but first of all, this is a silly exercise that reduces an all-over great vacation down to a few points. and second of all, i can't seem to narrow my list down very much.

but i will anyway. these are a few of my favorite things from the Great Music Road Trip of 2008:

* the Gibson guitar factory tour
* seeing Robert Plant
* the town of Clarksdale, MS
* meeting Puddin' Hatchett in Clarksdale
* the friendly people in Memphis, including Memphis Jones
* the swamp tour
* Charlie Daniels Band singing "Devil Went Down to Georgia"
* standing at the point where the US ended and the Chickasaw nation began
* driving past all the honky tonks with a band in each one, playing loud and all that music coming into our car
* the entire drive up Highway 61

Tip for the next road trip: stay off the interstates and drive more highways like 61 - the ones that go through towns and not around them.

Clarksdale - I can't let go of it yet

After our exciting evening, we spent the night in the ultra-cool "Legends" shack at Shack Up Inn (check it out at shackupinn.com).

In the morning, reluctant to leave, we talked to Guy, the owner of the Inn. He took us to a huge barn which he is turning into a recording studio/performing space. it looks completely barn-like and run down, but he has the entire thing insulated and adjusted for sound quality. it will be be called the Juke Joint Church when he is done (he ran a recording studio in Memphis before moving out of town). When I told him we saw Robert Plant the night before, he drawled, "Yep. He'll be out here later today. Always stops by when he comes to town."

Well, yeah, but we couldn't stay, so we missed an opportunity to meet him up close and personal. But who knows what "later today" means? Could be at 9 p.m.

We drove into Clarksdale for breakfast and had another cool Clarksdale experience. Ate at the Delta Amusement Cafe which is just a tiny diner with a dog that greets you at the door and romps around your table while you eat. But the highlight here is Puddin' Hatchett. This man is 78 years old, black, no teeth and friendly as the dog was! As soon as we sat down, he pulled a chair up to our table and started talking to us. Started playing tricks: dice tricks and card tricks. He kept repeating, "I'm a baaad man," and he would chuckle. We liked him, let him keep showing us tricks. Then he wanted to show us his photo album and we said yes. He went out to his truck, brought it back and showed up photos of himself, his daughter and his grandkids through the years. Told us how he died back in 1991 when a semi hit him. But "the good lord saved me" and he is alive to tell about it all. However, he can't play the harmonica any longer because it causes a headache, something in the pressure of the harmonica against his teeth and skull.

His photos are also at the Delta Blues Museum - one of him with Morgan Freeman, and one alone, holding up his tricky cards.

While we sat at the table with him, a woman who was in the museum last night and who recommended Madidi to me came in to get coffee. She stopped to say hi to me and ask how we liked the restaurant. After her, five old white men came in for their morning coffee (they all sat at their own table in the back) and each one said "morning, y'all" as they walked past.

You'd think that was enough of the south and southern hospitality but we had one more encounter before we left Clarksdale. At the Cathead gift and music store, the white woman behind the counter was involved in a lengthy conversation with a tall black man. He was dressed in a off-white suit that may have been double-breasted (now i can't remember) and his hair was big, perfect and wavy. Like James Brown at the height of his poufy-hair phase. He was amazing to look at.

Reluctantly we left Clarksdale and drove north. Things were boring after all that. So we drove for hours and hours until we got to Springfield, Illinois so that the next day's drive to Chicago wouldn't be so long. Spent the night at a Baymont Inn and ate mediocre food at a local grill. All we did was just bask in the glow of the previous two days!

three great dinners

First, if you haven't read the post below, read it - it's about our best day ever!


1. Commander's Palace in New Orleans. One of the best dinners ever. The service is excellent - three people manage each table and they don't just refill your water glass, they give you a new, fresh glass of water three or four times during the meal. but the food! everything was exceptional: we had turtle soup, Richard had striped bass, I had shrimp in a seasoned broth, Rylan had the most perfect filet mignon of his life. Dessert was creme brulee (spelling?) and a five-way chocolate cake.

2. The Palace Cafe in New Orleans (somehow related to Commanders). long wait to get in, long wait to have our order taken, not very good service. but the food was, once again, excellent. Rylan and I had peach-stuffed pork chops that were heavenly. Richard had a fish (I don't remember what kind) that was seasoned very well.

3. Madidi's in Clarksdale. This is the place that is co-owned by Morgan Freeman. The chef is fantastic. as appetizers, richard had a pierogi with leeks that he said were the best pierogi he's ever had (and he's had millions), while rylan had bbq shrimp on top of cheddar grits and both were very tasty. Ry and I both ordered filet mignon and Richard had fish. Everything here, down to the vegetables, was cooked perfectly and tasted wonderful.

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.

swamp things!

i always wanted to see a bayou and i'm so happy we took the time to go on a swamp tour. the place was about 45 minutes out of New Orleans. there were 24 of us tourists on a pontoon boat. the tourists were from everywhere: australia, france and holland, besides a bunch of US people.

so we get on this boat and go upriver a little way, then turn into this narrower channel and immediately the water is covered in this green floaty plant, and the cypress trees are dripping with spanish moss. hey, it's like disneyland except it's real! it was very pretty and peaceful. the first wildlife we saw was a heron or an ibis - can't remember which but we did see a lot of both birds. then we came alongside a 5 foot alligator. the tour guide tossed out some marshmallows - turns out gators like marshmallows - and we watched it chomp. we moved on and were lucky to see the grandaddy alligator of the swamp. his name was Guapo and he was 14 feet long! he came right over to the boat and the tour guide put hot dogs on the end of a stick and he would eat them right off the stick. huge mouth! and it's really RIGHT THERE off the side of the boat.

a little further on and there was a young gator. our tour guide knew each one we saw, could tell from the markings who they were. he said, "this one likes to jump," and so he put a hot dog on the end of the stick, and held it out about 4 feet above the gator. the gator looked up, and then jumped, straight up out of the water! it was amazing. rylan got photos of it and we'll get those photos on the internet eventually. he did this 3 times so we got a good look at a leaping gator.

we went on, up and down the river and into other bayous. didn't see any more gators. saw lots of turtles, large and small. saw fish that jump out of the water and flop down against the surface (to rid themselves of parasites). saw Katrina damaged river homes. it was hot and humid, but not as bad on the water. oh, and it rained at one point as well, which felt good.

as we drove the freeway there and back we could see a lot of Katrina damaged homes. it's sad that there is so much devastation. it's been three years. we saw houses in fine shape right next to completely abandoned, dilapidated houses. lots of them. and this was just from the freeway. we could have, but didn't go into the Lower 9th Ward - it was too dangerous (there were 5 murders in the 9th ward just in the weekend we were here). but if we did go there, that's where the devastation is the worst.

the French Quarter, however, looks great and we are staying in it and not exploring outside of it too much. we did take a drive down St. Charles street which is lined with trees and incredibly beautiful southern mansions. also saw Tulane University ("Yes," says rylan as we pass, "I know that I could go there.").

dinner tonight and then we hit the road, heading up the Blues Highway, highway 61 towards Clarksdale Mississippi, home of the delta blues and the famous crossroads, where Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil. a little more music history.

humidity and the respite of museums

Okay, so it's in the 90s and it's humid. We tried to bravely go forward into the French Quarter anyway but we suffered for it.

After a mediocre breakfast, we walked and looked in store windows, wilting more and more. So we did two museums (because museums are not only interesting, they are air-conditioned). The first had a huge exhibit about Mardi Gras so it was very colorful and wild! I liked the sketches of costumes, like fashion drawings gone crazy.

The second museum had to do with the Louisiana Purchase - we walked through the room where it was signed - and then a special exhibit about the aftermath of Katrina. This was all photos and, needless to say, depressing.

(A tangent - it was REALLY weird when we drove into New Orleans the other day because we came past the Superdome; Rylan commented that it was an unhappy icon and we all felt sad to see it.)

We walked from there to the Mississippi River bank where we saw the port and lots of huge ships looking too big to go upriver, but they did. Walked around a little more and the humidity finally beat us down - we returned to the hotel. Later, Richard and I went on our own to two more museums. An 1850s house which was just what it sounds like. And the former US Mint, which had an extensive exhibit about Napoleon Bonaparte. Didn't think I was much interested in Napoleon, but it was educational (and air-conditioned).

Our hotel room is the perfect temperature, the local TNT station runs movies constantly so Ry can relax at the tv, and we hide out here until it is time to go do the next thing . . . out there in the heat.

Tonight is dinner at the Commanders Palace, supposedly the best restaurant in New Orleans, or the South or maybe even the United States! whatever. it will be good, it will be air-conditioned.

Tomorrow - a swamp tour!