Fri Oct 24th - Memphis to Clarksdale, Mississippi - The Crossroads

The visitors centre is an old Rlwy Stn

Fri Oct 24 -  Clarksdale, Mississippi - The Crossroads

The start of The Blues

Here we are!

Our Site at The Expo Grounds. Great

We had a leisurely start to the pack up in Memphis and drove the 2 hours to Clarksdale, arriving around mid day. We had some fun trying to find the non existent Chamber of Commerce location, only to find out by phone that they no longer handle the RV sites at the Expo Centre. Anyway we drove in turning west at “The Crossroads” Hwy 61 and 49 and, for the uninitiated, look up Robert Johnson! He sold his soul to the devil at the Crossroads.
We got to the Expo grounds and found full hook ups, got an envelope off the rack, enclosed the $20 and dropped it into the lock box - brilliant system and the cheapest full service hook up of the last two years.

The crossroads where Johnson 'sold his soul' is widely understood to be located at the junction of Hwy 61 and Hwy 49.

Robert Johnson was here!!!! We think!!!!

Robert Johnson might have been here

A great find in Rosedale at the Crossroads (2)

Now there is a discrepancy about where the actual crossroads is. A latest concept is that it is at the junction of Hwy 1 and 8 in Rosedale some 39 miles away. After all Rosedale not Clarksville is mentioned in the lyrics. Off we went to Rosedale. To be fair, Derek doesn’t want to miss any chance that he can improve his guitar playing. So we got the bases covered!!!  At the junction is Leo’s at the Levee, a dubious café but a rare gem, just wrapping up their small buffet…wow awesome catfish, fall of the bones ribs, caramelized beans and great peach cobbler. On a sharezees plate…$10.00 for lunch for us both. Fabulous.

Good eats at Leo's

The Folks in Rosedale are convinced

Cotton fields

We drove back into Clarksville, checked out some of the stores, Morgan Freeman’s Ground Zero club,  and various blues trail markers (Bessie Smith, Ike Turner, WROX radio etc.) then went a couple of miles out of town to the site where Muddy Waters house use to be on the Stovall Plantation. It was here right in the cotton fields framed with Pecan trees that Mckinley Morganfield grew up. Our imaginations were let loose as we stood on such hallowed ground. And we picked a bag full of pecans from trees that have probably been around since McKinley (Muddy Waters) was there many many years ago! We tried one and have never ever tasted such fresh soft tasty pecans… ever!!! 

Cotton fields

Roadside cotton. Looks like snow

Bales of Cotton

Swamp at the side of the road

Ike got his start in Clarksdale

Ground Zero Blues club - Clarksdale

Not pretty but big history

Ground Zero stage

Plaque at Muddy's shack location

Site of Muddy's home

Cotton fields behind Muddy's shack

......Fish are jumpin and the cotton is high..............

Fresh picked Pecan

Sharecropper's house next door to Muddy's shack

Pecans ..... YUMMMM!!!

Remains of Muddy's shack before move

An amazing feeling of connection

Roadside cotton!

We arrived at Red's Lounge early

Lucius Spiller rocked the place!!

Back to the condo, then we got a cab into Reds Lounge touted as the only remaining authentic 'juke joint'. Well it was certainly down and dirty, bottled beers out of a couple of much used coolers. Luscious Spiller, a youngish  bluesy / rocker from Little Rock, Arkansas was on. His first set began at 9.00 and was over two hours non- stop, backed by a local drummer and bass player. By 12.30 after only a 10 minute break he was still coming out with new stuff, lots of old blues standby’s with rock and his own stuff thrown in. Wow.  Called our taxi driver and got him out of bed to come and take us home…. And he was still cheerful! Mind you he was well paid for his trouble.  What a great night.

Derek.. at the Crossroads

Wed-Thur Oct 22-23 – Memphis, Tennessee

Wed-Thur Oct 22-23 – Memphis, Tennessee

Wed Oct 22 – Nashville to Memphis

Left Nashville feeling very lucky to have been back there.  Before we left a neighbor in the park who had just arrived from Canada told us there had been a shooting on Parliament Hill.  We were shocked but didn’t hear any details until we were driving toward Memphis. We couldn’t get anything but music on the Canadian radio stations on Sirius, but were finally successful in hearing the updated news and details as they happened on CNN radio.  I think we both felt so bereft…. Stripped of something we couldn’t really identify… maybe it could be that the ‘peace’ we know to be Canada had been shattered in this one senseless shooting. Tears though very real, seemed so inadequate. Weeping for the young man who has lost his life, and for our country Canada, which has somehow lost something of its innocence! Our thoughts today are with those at home facing this awful reality. 

The traffic coming in to Memphis was awful and it took us until early evening to get to our destination.

We arrived at Memphis Jellystone RV Resort just over the state line in Mississippi (we also came here 2 years ago on our way to Texas).  Setting up quickly we sat outside in the sun chatting about the day and its events.

Thinking of you Canada!!!

Thur 23^rd Oct – Memphis

Sun Studios

WHBQ studio moved here. Played Elvis first song

The original  Sun recording studio

Original mikes and drums

The famous picture on the wall.

We set aside the day to explore Memphis as we had not done so 2 years ago. We drove into the city and started our day at the Sun Recording Studio, where we learned so much interesting information about the history of this amazing place… the story of Sam Phillips and his assistant Marion Keisker who basically ran the whole thing from the beginning. Marion was the first person ever to record Elvis and when Sam heard the recording he rejected him. A year later when they were searching for someone to fill in, his name came up and he was invited to audition. Still not impressed until a break in the session and Elvis started clowning around with a song called ‘That’s alright Mama’… Sam Phillips recorded it as they were messing around and took the recording to DJ Dewey Phillips at his studio ... and he is credited with playing the first Elvis song on the radio on his show "Red Hot and Blues" at the WHBQ studio downtown Memphis.... and the rest as they say……..

Jerry Lee to stubbed his cig out on the piano- DUH!

Love Me Tender

The history of Sun Studio is fascinating and they have left everything original in there… The Studio was going to be demolished and instead it was dismantled and taken to Sun Studios for display in the museum. 
During the tour Janice even got to hold the SAME microphone as Elvis. It is WELL worth the visit … this small unassuming location is just busting with history and fascinating stories.  The first ever identified ‘rock n roll’ record  was recorded here in Mar 1951 (Rocket 88) the sound that epitomizes rock and roll (distorted guitar) came by accident from a broken speaker stuffed with crumpled newspaper. Ike Turner was on piano… who knew??? This studio is a must do for anyone visiting Memphis. The famous photo of Jerry Lee, Elvis, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins is on the wall having been cut to remove Elvis's girlfriend who was sitting on the piano in the original version.

After leaving Sun we went on to Beale street and had a very southerm style shared lunch at BB Kings Blues club  (Gumbo, fried green tomatoes and fried crawfish poppers with remoulade sauce)… all great.

We walked up and down the famous Beale Street and then went down to the Missiissippi River for a photo before heading to Stax records location. The original building has been hugely renovated and  houses the Stax Museum of Soul Music. The Stax Music Academy was built next to it. We did the tour and though it is very interesting, we both felt the Sun Studio was more interesting and authentic. Seeing the artifacts and reading the stories of such Stax artists as Otis Reading, Rufus Thomas, Isaac Hayes, Ike Turner and Tina Turner etc etc  and footage of old performances was quite cool. I must say though… it felt weird seeing your fond memories of your youth being old enough to display in a MUSEUM!!!!! Honestly!!!!! So these two ancient artifacts jumped into our truck and headed back to camp, driving passed Graceland on the way.  Having absorbed three decades of rock and soul we settled down after supper to get the blog updated and catch up with emails etc.

So Memphis …… CHECK!!!!

On to our next destination tomorrow… Clarksdale … home of The Crossroads (look up the history of Robert Johnson) …. This is the birth of it all… Mississippi Delta Blues country.  Stay tuned!

View of Memphis from banks of the Mississippi

Tue Oct 21 - Lynchburg

Tue Oct 21 - Lynchburg

Jack Himself All 5ft 2in of him!!

Their own charcoal for filtering

Proof we were here!!

Jack Daniels Distillery- Lynchburg, Tenn

A trip to Lynchburg, Tennessee for a tour of the Jack Daniels Distillery. We were surprised to discover that all Jack D sold around the work is produced in this one location. We managed a quick walk around town as well as the distillery tour. The distillery is located in Moore County which is a ‘dry’ county... go figure!!!! But it was a fascinating experience to see how ‘hands on’ the production still is right down to coopering and toasting their own barrels and making their own charcoal. Apart from the fact that they are caving in to the modern trend for flavoured alcohol (Cinnamon flavour and honey flavour), they still make the distilling of their Old NO 7 an art form.

Heading in to the Grand Ole Opry

We drove back to Nashville directly to the (Modern) Grand Ole Opry in Music Valley as we had tickets for the live-aired Grand Ole Opry Show. There were 3-4 okay performers, but then a 12 member group of musicians called The Willis Family (they are all sisters and brothers) playing mostly Irish based celtic music. They were phenomenal!!!  Keith Urban topped off the evening’s show with a great performance … sheesh that’s one good looking country music star… Janice is ready to buy boots and a lasso.  Another great day in Nashville. Tennessee… time to roll on to our next destination… Memphis!!!

Happy to be here

Anticipation inside the Opry

Keith Urban - Great performance

Sun-Mon Oct 19-20 - Nashville Tennessee

Sun - Tue Oct 19-21 – Nashville

Sun 19th

Finally parked in Nashville .. Full circle!

After leaving the Walmart… refreshed and ready for anther beautiful sunny day on the road, we drove happily to Nashville, we went back to Two Rivers Campground, the VERY SAME campground where we started this journey almost 2 years ago on Dec 1 2012. It is totally surreal to be back and it seems like a lifetime ago since we were here… what a journey we have had in these ‘almost’ two years. Having been here before, we knew we hadn’t explored the city enough.

Tim Atwood (R) and Brent Ronen (L) - Excellent

After setting up camp we decided to stay at the campground for the evening and head into the city on the shuttle the next day, and we were glad we did. There happened to be a free live music performance on the stoop by the camp store and we were treated to some awesome music and hilarious comedy by a couple of talented artists called Tim Atwood (worked at the Grand Ole Opry for 38 years) and  Brent Ronen (the lion story was the funniest – ask us about it when we see you)

We settled down for the evening still talking about the fact that we have come full circle.

Mon 20^th Oct

DOWNTOWN AUSTIN VIEW

COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME FOYER

A tourist on Broadway strip - Nashville Tenn

Inside the Ryman Auditorium

Backstage Ryman - Old Grand Ole Opry

We hopped on the shuttle right at the campground and got driven into the centre of Nashville City.  On the way in, the driver told us that he thought Lynard Skynard was playing a free concert at a street party in town that night. That made us decided to hang out in the city to see them. A quick look in the Country Music Hall of Fame, we decided not to pay the entry fee and instead headed straight to the Ryman Theatre, the original location of the Grand Ole Opry show from 1925 to 1974 when it moved to the new site in Music Valley. It was a really interesting tour and quite the experience to stand on same stage and in the same spot as such greats as Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, Hank Williams etc.   After this tour, we headed over to the Johnny Cash Museum. Janice’s Dad was a great fan and we reminisced about the time we surprised him and took him to see Johnny in a live show in Toronto many years ago.  It was well worth the entry fee… go if you have the chance. We left when ‘ I Walk the Line’  became just too overpowering… it took a while to get it out of our heads!! We walked up and down and stopped in a Honky Tonk bar to listen to some local music. After more walking in town we stopped for a coffee and then headed back to Broadway where preparations for the street party were underway. We found a great little spot for a bite to eat and were treated to some very talented music by  father/son (and occasionally mom) called The O’Donnells. We eventually braved the chilly evening air and stood on a curb and thoroughly enjoyed watching Lynard Skynard and a couple of guest performers including Michael Allman (Gregg Allman’s son)…. They were great. We hopped the shuttle back to camp totally pleased with a fabulous day in Nashville.

Sign for Johnny Cash Guitar-JC Museum

 

Johnny Cash's first Guitar

Johnny's parents, him and his Brother

Hall of discs and albums- SO many

Self Explanatory!!

Great music ion a Honky Tonk

A Nashville-size street snack !!

Nashville Broadway strip sunset

The O'Donnels- Father and son

Lynard Skynard - Free street party

Wed-Sat Oct 15-18 - Sarnia

Wed-Sat Oct 15-18  -  Sarnia

Camped at the Countryview Motel and RV park

On our way south we decided to stop for a couple of days and spend some time with Grant in Sarnia.  We camped at the Countryview RV Park about 20 minutes out of town (the closest we could find) It is a basic but sufficiently comfortable RV park.. not a 'destination resort' but good enough for a few days while visiting the city. 

Getting some mighty good hugging

We had a great time with Grant just chilling and cooking and catching up (with a little guitar playing thrown in). We were treated to one amazing trout dinner at Grants apartment, cooked to perfection and we even managed to watch a hockey game together, (which was fun despite the loss). 

Time to say goodbye.. see ya soon!

Grant stayed with us in the trailer on the night before we left and we dropped him off close to home, with a few tears shed by Janice as we took off again for points south.




We drove for about 7 hours through Michigan, Ohio, into Kentucky and after a disappointing stop at a truck stop where we intended to park for the night (it was too full and very noisy) we drove on for a while to a Walmart parking lot just north of Louisville, Kentucky in a small town called La Grange. It is a perfect spot for a quick overnight free boon-docking, and we could even pop into the store for a couple of supplies before filling the hot water bottles in anticipation of a cold night.

Summer 2014 - general

Oct 10 2014

Backyard family time with friends

Our site at Fifty Point Conservation Area

Since we got back from West Africa and UK in June, our summer was spent at Fifty Point Conservation area and we took a break from blogging other than to document our six week trip to the East coast. . Fifty Point is a great place to hang out and we have booked it for next summer based on the fact that our 2 year allowed absence from Ontario (for government health coverage)  is over and we now have to send a minimum of 5 months in the province each year for the next 5 years.  It has a marina, a beach, picnic areas, a restaurant and some great views across the lake.

We reunited with friends and family and enjoyed a trip to a cottage, BBQ’s, a baptism, plays and concerts. (Seeing Colm Feore play King Lear in Stratford was fabulous.) We enjoyed a ‘family thanksgiving; with friends and visits from so many people it would be too hard to list them all. It was a beautiful summer and we loved being able to visit family and friends. The biggest problem was that the time went so fast that we missed seeing many people. We have booked to return to Ontario for 6 weeks in Dec/Jan and will be staying in a cottage in Niagara On The Lake, so hopefully we can tempt a number of people to come and see us there.

So I am going to start up the blog again after leaving Fifty Point and hope to find time to diarize the next stages of our journey of adventures. …. So stay tuned. 

Tues Aug 12th - Tour around Ile D'Orleans

Tues Aug 12th - Tour around Ile D'Orleans

Lovely boulangerie...

Scrumptious treats

What was forecast to be a rainy day turned out, to our delight, to be quite sunny with a few high clouds, so after a slow breakfast we set off at about 11am to tour around the island. We reminisced a little as we drove about the time we were here many years ago with our friends from UK Derek and Lin. Stopped at a Boulangerie for coffee and bakery treats late morning, then drove around the point of the island looking out over Quebec City, then on to the Cassis maker where we bought some Cassis, then a winery ( Le Vignoble de Ste Petronille) to have a tasting and bought a bottle of nice white. More tastings at various food and cideries etc with a last stop at the 'fromagerie' for a tasting of fried cheese... yum!!! Bought some local cheeses, some dry smoked sausage and, armed with our fresh bread from the boulangerie, we headed back to camp to enjoy a lovely platter of our goodies... a quick walk to the Quai before bed.

Land around Vignoble de Ste Petronille

Vignoble de Ste Petronille

Cheers to the good times