SCOOTER DIARIES 2013 : The Delta Blues Country

I was rolled out of bed at 5 A.M. with window rattling, rolling thunder, and flashes of lightning through the curtains. I looked and there were whirling dervishes of rain in the parking lot but Big Red sat calmly in the portico of the hotel.

When I checked in last night the front desk clerk, Shirac, said not to worry but the water in Greenville has a slight tinge of brown in it. Despite my world travels I cannot remember where I saw “brown” water in a hotel except when it came unfiltered out of a river. Not only was it brown, but it was hard and would not even rinse the soap off in the shower.

The high yesterday was 84 and the high today is going to be 59. I hung out at the hotel reading and inspecting Big Red. The internet in the area was down from the storm, so I could not do research on upcoming parts of the trip. The last of the rain passed through around 10:30 and we started to roam the Delta. The first stop was Leland, MS and the Highway 61 Museum. Not overly exciting but I met some Australian, Germans and several local school teachers just out for the day. We left Leland and headed east on some back roads to Indianola, the birth place and home of B.B. King. This a fairly busy little town with all the farming that is done in the area and Indianola being the hub. I stopped into the “Pea Soup” restaurant assuming they would have soup. They don’t. I ordered a catfish po-boy and they issue a number and you wait for a table. When they give you a table you put the number in a little holder and they bring you your food after they cook it. The place was packed and the po-boy was good but I had wanted pea soup.

now where is he making me go?

bb king

I roamed some more, but the 50 degree temperatures got to me, so we did a swing through Clarksdale, met lots of friendly people, had a Gucci coffee and headed out of town to the Shack Up Inn. Pictures and words cannot describe this place. Part is a old cotton mill that they have built rooms into. The other part is genuine share cropper/slave shacks that they found and moved on to the property. I love this place! Not because it is so eclectic but it has a great “feel” to it. As usual, the owners are even more interesting. I have booked in for two nights.

morgan freeman's ground zero

steve kabula plays at the ground zero tomorrow

local musicians/artists steve street and wife cleaning treasures

bill and guy, owners of the shack up inn

the share cropper cottages

room 3 complete with 55 gallon drum night stands

Last night I went into town. Downtown Clarksdale is pretty much a closed up town with just a few operating businesses. The big draw is the Ground Zero juke joint, owned by Morgan Freeman and a partner, that has jazz and blues almost every night. Freeman and a partner had a upscale restaurant but it closed. That left three restaurants in the downtown and this past weekend one of those closed just leaving the Yazoo Pass and Bistro. It is a coffee shop with great food. They serve dinners at night and I had one of the best pasta dishes I have had in a long time. The owner was my waiter, and though the place was slammed with the other restaurant having closed, we had a great conversation. Though it is great for his business, he really hates that the other business closed. He has a large local clientele, but like all businesses on the Blues Trail, the international customers are his bread and butter.

From there I went to Ground Zero to hear the music. There is a lot of energy in the place because of the international visitors, but the music was just fair. I called it a day and rode back under a bright almost full moon. Great way to end a day.

what does a guy who washes light fixtures do at night?

.........make music

The Next Day.

I awoke to a clear deep blue sky and temperature of 39. I was not afraid as I knew that today it would warm up quickly. I had not had a real grits and egg breakfast on this trip so I headed into town to the Rest Haven. The front desk (if you can call it that) at the Shack said the food would be good but that I had probably not been in a more Republican den in my life with Fox New blaring. He was not wrong. The google reviews said the food was good but the service sucks. They were not wrong. There were four or five tables of locals eating and smoking while Fox News talked of a “terror tornado took down a tree”. This is national news and a “terror” event. The locals were nice and as usual they asked about the scooter and “...you didn't ride that up from Florida did you?”. I also heard the word “nigger” a lot. Something I have heard before on this trip in Mississippi. Yes, folks racism and prejudice is alive and well in America. I paid up at the cash register under the Grade B sanitation rating. B seems to be the standard to shoot for here in Mississippi.

Morning at the cotton gin. Red is front of my room

I crossed the street to O’Riely’s Auto parts to get some sandpaper for some work I was going to do on Big Red this morning. O’Riely’s had been on the receiving end of a drive by shooting a few days earlier. There were people in the store but no one was hit. The boys in the Rest Haven wanted to know why they didn't have any action and get some drive by shootings.

Back at the Shack I began some maintenance on Big Red. There is a gasket on the two part exhaust that needs replacing from time to time. Right before I left, Dave Masse, from Montreal had asked on the internet if it was safe to drive with the gasket leaking. I told him yes, but that just answering his question would put the jinx on mine and I would for sure have to change mine now on this trip. I was right. The job can be straight forward and easy and today it was. I had offers of help from the Shack maintenance man and a couple of the Harley riders, but luckily their help was not needed.