Woke to a nice day, 65 degrees at 7 AM. Took advantage of electric and wi-fi to catch
up on emails and publish yesterday’s blog.
Our morning destinations don’t open till 10AM, so we have breakfast,
coffee and do some odds and ends till about 9:00. We stop at a Kroger for a few supplies, then
head to Leland, home of Jim Henson and Kermit the Frog, named after a boyhood
friend, Kermit Scott.
The center was not
open at 10:00 – guess they are running on Mississippi time – but someone
arrived about 10:15. Watched a muppet
episode where Kermit talks about Leland and the Mississippi.
From Leland, we headed east to Indianola and the BB King
Museum. Born Riley B. King, his parents
separated when he was 4 and then his mother died when he was 9, so he was
raised by his grandmother. He worked as
a sharecropper on a cotton plantation, drove a tractor, but always loved music
and was part of a Gospel Quartet until he left for Memphis in 1948 and there
changed his name to BB King. His big
break was as a DJ for WDIA which had just gone to all black DJ’s and music and
he quickly became very popular. He spent
most of his time on the road and was known as a kind person, always well
dressed and well mannered. He wanted to improve the image of blues
musicians.
His guitar was named Lucille and his sound is like no
other. The museum spent a good bit of
time talking about the South that he grew up in, the civil rights
movement, and his quiet support of
protestors. The Delta region we are
traversing was a real hotbed during the Civil Rights struggle! In one of several good films, he talks about
being utterly amazed and moved to tears the first time he went on stage with a
predominantly white crowd and received a raucous and enthusiastic welcome and a
few standing ovations. He is 89 and is
still on the road, and will be coming to Indianola May 25th for his
final concert there.
We stopped at a Pecan shop next which we’d read about, tasty
samples but pricy. We would see quite a
few pecan groves in the next day or so.
Saw this old McDonald’s in Cleveland, Mississippi!
Lots and lots of fields of crops with wheat, cotton, soybeans and
corn being predominant. The topsoil in this area is deep and rich due to the
frequent flooding of the Mississippi River.
We have seen several yellow cropdusters in the past few days, though
this one was grounded – extremely windy today. They are yellow for visibility.
We stopped in Clarksdale at the Ground Zero Blues Club which
is partially owned by Morgan Freeman, who is from this area. It was mid-afternoon, so not much happening
but the barkeep was friendly and didn’t mind if we took a few pictures.
The building is quite old and run down, with assorted
stuffed furniture on the porch ( someone told us later that it is all
cast-offs). The Crossroads of highways
61 and 49 is on the edge of town – famous as a place where blues player
supposedly sold his soul to the devil in order to be a great musician…
Fitzgerald’s is one of seven casinos in the area. We paid a quick visit and Beth fed the penny
slots for a while.
Made dinner and sat outside and enjoyed a gorgeous sunset.
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