Mississippi meanderings
Delta Blues Trail
When passing through Mississippi, you will find many references to the history of the Blues. However, you will find that most landmarks are on Highway 61 that travels north or south through Mississippi and Louisiana. At the center of the Blues route is the 'infamous' Crossroads at Highway 61 and Highway 49 located near Clarksdale, Mississippi. This is where legend tells that Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil in exchange for the blues. Before visiting this area, travelers might like to watch the movie Crossroads, which depicts the story of Robert Johnson and his brush with the devil at the Crossroads.
Just by traveling from Vicksburg to Clarksdale on Highway 61, we could understand how the blues emanated from the cotton picking history to the soul stirring blues that the south is known for. The roads are long and straight and are bordered by the old cotton fields that this area was previously known for.
Visitors to the area can get a map of the Delta Blues Trail, which can take a few days to follow to the areas that spawned the likes of Joe Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and many others.
We enjoyed our visit to the Delta Blues Museum and we can recommend having a drink and a lunch at the Ground Zero Blues Club that is covered in graffiti from the doors to the floors and every inch of furniture. Sadly, we could not find a suitable spot to place our own brand of graffiti.
If you have the time, try to sprawl out on the well-worn furniture placed outside the bar while you take in the atmosphere that this area gives off. You can also be sure that you will be seated where actor Morgan Freeman would have sat while visiting the bar that he owns.
The main street in Clarksdale looks a bit old and tired now, but if you take a walk down the sidewalks and imagine the sights and sounds from a bygone era, you leave the town with a level of respect for the history it leaves behind.
Where we stayed in Mississippi
When we are on a long A to B route, we like to break up our journey with quick overnight stays at either Walmarts or Flying J truck stops or Casinos. So, I made our first overnight stop at a Walmart Superstore, listed on our route, we were disappointed to be told that they do not allow overnight parking. We moved on to the next Walmart, only to be told the same information. At this point, the day was moving on and we need to find somewhere to stay, so we went to the town of Greenville, MS expecting to be allowed to stay there overnight. Sadly, this was not the case, so we came to realize that we needed somewhere, apart from a Walmart. My GPS informed me that there were two casinos in the area, so we went to the closest, called The Trop, which was located on the banks of the Mississippi. The parking lot on the left side as we looked towards the river was quite empty, so we found an out of the way spot and then went inside to ask about staying overnight. I spoke to the Security Manager, who visually saw where we were parked and confirmed that he did not mind us staying in that location.
Needless to say, we had a good evening, walking along the banks of the Mississippi as well as paying a visit to the casino, which I found to have quite a fresh smell to it and the games appeared to be quite new and varied.
When we left the casino the next day,, we went further north to the town of Clarksdale, MS, where we knew there was a Walmart and from internet feedback, is is OK to stay there overnight.
The Walmart at Clarksdale was happy for us to stay overnight, so that was convenient for us to know, before we went into the Clarksdale town center to learn about the history of the area.
The next morning, we left Clarksdale and drove about 40 miles to the Hollywood Casino at Tunica. Because of the layout, and the number of casinos in Tunica and Robinsville, we had decided to base out overnight stops in this area on where the best buffet deals were. We had learned that the Hollywood casino had a special price on their buffets on Tuesdays, so that was our first destination. As it turned out, we were not given permission to stay overnight at this casino, because they have an RV Park on the premises. However, we decided to try the buffet, which was very good and cost around $5.00 each.
After lunch, we chose to drive another 8 miles to the Fitzgerald Casino to spend the night, because there was a good deal on their buffet the next day and from previous experience, we knew parking would be no problem.
We had a bad night in the parking lot here, due to a huge Fedex truck that moved very close to us and ran his engine all night (one of our pet peeves when on the road).
So had another cheap buffet at the Fitzgerald Casino, but after a fairly good meal, we chose to leave that parking lot (after our experience the night before), and headed over to the Sams Town parking lot, where we knew there was another special deal on the buffet. Are you seeing a trend in our thinking? heh heh
The Sams Town parking lot is very big, leaving ample room for a number of RVs to park. They also have their own RV Park next to the parking lot, but, unlike the Hollywood Casino, they have no issue with RVers who choose not to pay $20.00 per night for a full hook-up. Because we have spent a lot of money on our solar equipment, we always balk at the prospect of paying a dime for parking in an organised RV Park, so we happily spent a couple of nights in the Sams Town parking lot.
From a previous visit, we knew that The Resorts casino had an RV dump facility in the parking lot at the back of the casino. However, before making the move over the road to proceed with our dump, we took a walk over to ensure that there was still a usable dump. We were glad to have taken the walk over, because we were disappointed to find that the parking lot was blocked off with yellow tape and this included access to the dumping area.
After inquiring at the reception in the casino, we learned that there had been a RV show in the parking lot the previous week and staff were still cleaning up the parking lot before they would allow access to us.
Nobody could tell us when they anticipated being able to open the area, so we chose to stay another few nights in the Sams Town Casino, before leaving the area in pursuit of a reliable dumping facility.
When passing through Mississippi, you will find many references to the history of the Blues. However, you will find that most landmarks are on Highway 61 that travels north or south through Mississippi and Louisiana. At the center of the Blues route is the 'infamous' Crossroads at Highway 61 and Highway 49 located near Clarksdale, Mississippi. This is where legend tells that Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil in exchange for the blues. Before visiting this area, travelers might like to watch the movie Crossroads, which depicts the story of Robert Johnson and his brush with the devil at the Crossroads.
Just by traveling from Vicksburg to Clarksdale on Highway 61, we could understand how the blues emanated from the cotton picking history to the soul stirring blues that the south is known for. The roads are long and straight and are bordered by the old cotton fields that this area was previously known for.
Visitors to the area can get a map of the Delta Blues Trail, which can take a few days to follow to the areas that spawned the likes of Joe Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and many others.
We enjoyed our visit to the Delta Blues Museum and we can recommend having a drink and a lunch at the Ground Zero Blues Club that is covered in graffiti from the doors to the floors and every inch of furniture. Sadly, we could not find a suitable spot to place our own brand of graffiti.
If you have the time, try to sprawl out on the well-worn furniture placed outside the bar while you take in the atmosphere that this area gives off. You can also be sure that you will be seated where actor Morgan Freeman would have sat while visiting the bar that he owns.
The main street in Clarksdale looks a bit old and tired now, but if you take a walk down the sidewalks and imagine the sights and sounds from a bygone era, you leave the town with a level of respect for the history it leaves behind.
Where we stayed in Mississippi
When we are on a long A to B route, we like to break up our journey with quick overnight stays at either Walmarts or Flying J truck stops or Casinos. So, I made our first overnight stop at a Walmart Superstore, listed on our route, we were disappointed to be told that they do not allow overnight parking. We moved on to the next Walmart, only to be told the same information. At this point, the day was moving on and we need to find somewhere to stay, so we went to the town of Greenville, MS expecting to be allowed to stay there overnight. Sadly, this was not the case, so we came to realize that we needed somewhere, apart from a Walmart. My GPS informed me that there were two casinos in the area, so we went to the closest, called The Trop, which was located on the banks of the Mississippi. The parking lot on the left side as we looked towards the river was quite empty, so we found an out of the way spot and then went inside to ask about staying overnight. I spoke to the Security Manager, who visually saw where we were parked and confirmed that he did not mind us staying in that location.
Needless to say, we had a good evening, walking along the banks of the Mississippi as well as paying a visit to the casino, which I found to have quite a fresh smell to it and the games appeared to be quite new and varied.
When we left the casino the next day,, we went further north to the town of Clarksdale, MS, where we knew there was a Walmart and from internet feedback, is is OK to stay there overnight.
The Walmart at Clarksdale was happy for us to stay overnight, so that was convenient for us to know, before we went into the Clarksdale town center to learn about the history of the area.
The next morning, we left Clarksdale and drove about 40 miles to the Hollywood Casino at Tunica. Because of the layout, and the number of casinos in Tunica and Robinsville, we had decided to base out overnight stops in this area on where the best buffet deals were. We had learned that the Hollywood casino had a special price on their buffets on Tuesdays, so that was our first destination. As it turned out, we were not given permission to stay overnight at this casino, because they have an RV Park on the premises. However, we decided to try the buffet, which was very good and cost around $5.00 each.
After lunch, we chose to drive another 8 miles to the Fitzgerald Casino to spend the night, because there was a good deal on their buffet the next day and from previous experience, we knew parking would be no problem.
We had a bad night in the parking lot here, due to a huge Fedex truck that moved very close to us and ran his engine all night (one of our pet peeves when on the road).
So had another cheap buffet at the Fitzgerald Casino, but after a fairly good meal, we chose to leave that parking lot (after our experience the night before), and headed over to the Sams Town parking lot, where we knew there was another special deal on the buffet. Are you seeing a trend in our thinking? heh heh
The Sams Town parking lot is very big, leaving ample room for a number of RVs to park. They also have their own RV Park next to the parking lot, but, unlike the Hollywood Casino, they have no issue with RVers who choose not to pay $20.00 per night for a full hook-up. Because we have spent a lot of money on our solar equipment, we always balk at the prospect of paying a dime for parking in an organised RV Park, so we happily spent a couple of nights in the Sams Town parking lot.
From a previous visit, we knew that The Resorts casino had an RV dump facility in the parking lot at the back of the casino. However, before making the move over the road to proceed with our dump, we took a walk over to ensure that there was still a usable dump. We were glad to have taken the walk over, because we were disappointed to find that the parking lot was blocked off with yellow tape and this included access to the dumping area.
After inquiring at the reception in the casino, we learned that there had been a RV show in the parking lot the previous week and staff were still cleaning up the parking lot before they would allow access to us.
Nobody could tell us when they anticipated being able to open the area, so we chose to stay another few nights in the Sams Town Casino, before leaving the area in pursuit of a reliable dumping facility.
