Baton Rouge to Big Easy to Biloxi

Woke, Monday March 22, up at the Hollywood, while not the bait and switch bargain offered across the street, it was a nice room and they had a hot tub and pool. I swam in the morning while Den reviewed items on the computer. We packed,left under an overcast and foggy sky that turned to cloudy, partly cloudy, partly sunny, sunny, clear, sunny, mostly sunny to partly sunny and headed for the Great River Road (aka US61). We could not locate the Delta Blues Museum on the GPS but when we arrived in Clarksdale there were plenty of signs.

We took pictures outside. I was allowed to enter at the senior rate but Den paid full price, well worth the entry fee. The museum seems to have been updated since visiting it last year. The Muddy Waters film is far more professional this year. There is also an entire section devoted to Charlie Musselwhite, blues harmonica player. They also seem to have replaced some of the original guitars. Last year there were more Kenmore guitars. Some of the added guitars were made of metal or gas cans. We both picked up hand bills about a festival in April that we used to send postal cards home and had them hand canceled at the Clarksdale MS post office.

The Great River Road in upper Mississippi is straight as an arrow and flat. The Delta is FLAT! There is a sign in the museum explaining how the Great River has always done what it wants but only in the past hundred years or so have humans tried to tame her. We stopped in Cleveland MS at the Southern Grill, a local hangout. Nothing but pickups and our four wheeler in the parking lot. They feature a small buffet lunch but we have had enough of buffets for awhile. We had Chili, too bad it was from a can. Back to the Great River Road.

US61/US278 is mostly four lanes, divided and limited access in most of Northern Mississippi but through Port Gibson it is single lane through a developed section of town. There are signs on every house's lawn, “Save Church Street” (aka Great River Road aka US61/US278). Every denomination, it appears, has a building along the road. Many look like architectural treasures and I assume the project to widen this main thoroughfare would destroy some of them. If I may, let me put in a plug for Port Gibson and hope they are successful in detouring the road around Church Street. Just think is we asked our Representative to divert just 30 cents of our tax dollars for every person in the country Port Gibson would have the money to build a bypass and the historic Church Street will be saved. We continued toward the Louisiana border and Baton Rouge.

Too bad, we arrived after the Welcome Center closed and had to select a motel without benefit of coupon book. The master negotiator selected a Super 8, go figure, and received a more than fair price, We ventured out to find vittles stopping first at Cash's diner Casino but then moved on. Several closed restaurants later we returned to Cash's for a fine meal and six pack for the motel. I puffed on a cigar in the courtyard of the Super 8 prior to turning in for the night.

Tuesday morning we set out to tour the city. The Docent does not arrive at the Old Governor's Mansion until 10:00 AM but a nice lady pointed us in the direction of the State Capitol complex. We did the walking tour, Huey's grave, Pentagon Barracks, site of first US Air Mail delivery, and more. We then decided to go to work.

What a bust at the Hollywood Casino in Baton Rouge after a great tour. So dusting off our shoes we set out for the Big Easy. The posted picture is of me with a local street performer. The hat is a 'PIMP' hat and Den walked the distance of Bourbon Street, with me in the hat, back to the car near Harrah's. Oh, I forgot, Den cleaned up at Harrah's which, was good because it meant he bought lunch. We then walked to the ferry dock, took the Thomas Jefferson to Algeria and back. A four minute ride each way (not including docking, un docking). We walked to St Louis IX cathedral. There is a statue of Andrew Jackson out front with the inscription “The Union Must and Shall Be Preserved.” Back to I10.

Instead of I10 we choose US90 as our route to Biloxi. The Super 8 accepted our cheap coupon and also gave us a comp 2 for 1 at the Isle of Capri Casino. Even though that casino is 5 miles away, you can't just turn down a comp. I did well at the Black Jack table and Den was trying a system modification (chalked his poor performance to 'training'). We returned to the motel driving along US90 which follows the Gulf coast. A beautiful ride in darkness or daylight. The daylight ride did reveal some buildings that were still severely damaged by Katrina but for the most part the areas we saw are coming back strong.