Reelfoot Lake State Park, Tiptonville, TN
BBQ smokers on every lawn, fields of newly planted cotton and folks sitting on stoops with all the time in the world sure made me feel like I was in a Faulkner novel. Life on the Mississippi Delta really is the most "Southern place on earth." What an incredible juxtaposition to our visit yesterday with all the showy antebellum homes and genteel folks. This is the land of bbq, catfish, and singing the blues. This area rates as one of the poorest, highest unemployment and worse healthcare in the county so you really appreciate how the blues resonates from their soul. We were only going to do a quick stop in Clarksdale, but the friendly southern hospitality, blues, bbq, and lazy summer day won out. The junction of Highways 61 and 49 in Clarksdale is where, according to legend, Robert Johnson sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for mastery of the blues guitar. Sounds like a great place to me to soak up the local color and get lost in time.
Our first stop was the Delta Blues Museum now located in an old train depot. It was incredible! So many of the famous blues singers came from this town, not just the Delta area. Unfortunately, we couldn't take any photos inside, but the stories, costumes, guitars and especially photos of all the legends were awesome. All the greats were featured - Muddy Waters, BB King, John Lee Hooker, Charlie Musselwhite, and tons more. Even Ike Turner was born here. By the time we left we were hooked and didn't want to leave the town. Big decision of the day was to either hit Abe's BBQ (world famous for ribs) or Morgan Freeman's blues joint called Ground Zero. We popped into Ground Zero to take a look and were greeted my Miss T who was so warm and welcoming that we decided to stay. Ned got a local draft beer called Southern Pecan, I got some tea and we were settled in for awhile. Today's menu was a full plate lunch for me (by now it was around 2ish so it was lunch & dinner- really!) pulled pork, the best turnip greens I've ever eaten, black eyed peas and cornbread. Ned opted for the hamburger with pulled pork and grilled onion ON it and sweet potato fries. We got chatting with the waitress and the musician who would be playing that night. The big news in town was this was Election Day for mayor and the co-owner of the joint was running. They were pretty sure he was going to win so everyone was getting ready to share in the celebration. They almost convinced us to stay. It sure sounded like it was going to be a good time and a once in a lifetime opportunity to hear some great blues with the locals. Alas, we opted to poke around town for bit more and then continue our drive up the river.
There's a record and folk art store in town called "Cat Head". It's listed in the book of "1000 places to See Before You Die." Nothing at all fancy about this place, but it sure was fun to linger and check out their wares. We were the only ones in the store and the person behind the counter spent the whole time playing his blues guitar. It fit the mood perfectly. There's one photo of a man sitting on his guitar that I just loved! I'll put it in the photos below.
We continued on through the laid back backroads of Mississippi and then all too abruptly we were in Memphis and back to the modern world. Once out of Memphis, the GRR in Tennessee really doesn't hug the river nor does it seem to embrace the river life. The next 75 miles or so was suburban sprawl and strip malls. We really didn't feel like we were in vacation mode until we hit the lake road to Reelfoot Lake State Park. This 25,000 acre lake was created by an earthquake in 1811. We got a campsite right on the lake and arrived in time to see the sunset. Nice end to an unforgettable day.
P.S. - Just checked the election results before posting this and it looks like Bill Luckett is winning it by a landslide. Should be a good time at the Blues Club tonight!
