Thursday 25 September 2014

Due north - more mississippi

Dinner at the crossroads
We set the hardwoo's nose due north our next stop is the home of BB King, Indianola, Mississippi , like the homes of many famous bluesmen it's a sleepy country town, with little to look at we visited the corner where BB King busked as a young man it's hard to imagine making a living as a busker in a town such as this.
Indianola is also home the shiny new BB King blues museum , unfortunately we arrived a little to late in the day to visit but I hear good things.
Featuring Mississippi Hot Tamales !!!
What we weren't too late for is hot tamales , folks from Mississippi consider them a local dish , though they originally hail from Mexico. Mississippi ones are smaller and usually filled with meat an order is generally 3 or 4 of them whereas the Mexican or Texas Tamale is larger and often stuffed with chilies. The Gin Mill restaurant which doubles as a music store (right next to the blues museum) makes the best we've had in Mississippi defiantly stop in for an order, a cold beer and maybe try out one of their guitars for sale on the adjacent wall .
Our hunger quelled we head for Clarksdale, it is here at the crossroads of highways 49 and 61 that bluesman Robert Jhonson supposedly sold his soul to the devil . The crossroads no longer have the dusty desolate imagery showcased in many blues movies . A town of quazi tourist industry has grown up around them there is one gem though.
Abe's BBQ has been here since the days of Robert Jhonson serving up their own style of southern BBQ a little fatty perhaps for some tastes , I personally like it . There tamales are not as good as the Gin Mills but , over all it's not a bad spot .
Trail site at Tishamingo
after leaving Abe's we're joining up with the Natchez Trace parkway outside of Tupelo . The visitors center provides you with a very informative map showing all the sites and trails along the parkway . The parkway it's self runs through Mississippi , Alabama and Tennessee all with their  attractions along the way.
One such thing being a number of earth mounds , these mounds were used for a variety of ceremonies as well as burials.
Tishomingo state park is a highlight of the Mississippi portion of the parkway there is a small fee to get in (3$ a car aprox) , the park features 12 miles of trails all either low to moderate in intensity and well maintained . we hiked almost all 12 miles being in need of a little of natures perspective emotions running high as we had just begun the last leg of our journey .
We returned to the Hardwoo worn a blistered but not beaten , and our journey continues north to Alabama.