Memphis & Nashville

Well, we thought there were a lot of "B's" for the New Orleans post, but there are more here.... blues, BBQ, booze, Beale St., Broadway (Nashville) and as always... bikes!

Beale St., Memphis and the blues were first, and we had a lively evening listening to a great band at BB King's bar.  It's a hoppin' street and got even crazier the next night when it was "Motorcyle Wednesday".  There were hundreds of bikes lining both sides of the street with their owners all hanging around in leathers, having a drink and appreciating each other's bikes.  It made for some great people watching and one of our favourite helmets was a shiny, stainless steel bowler hat!



We strolled by at least a dozen more bars with live bands playing great music!

 Next, it was time for some delicious BBQ, the food of choice in these parts.  We agreed on the "world famous" Rendezvous Ribs (there are soooo many world famous places everywhere we go!)  and you could smell the wood smoke 4 blocks away - mmmmm.

The bikes were next, as we had a great time exploring Memphis in the daylight.  It's full of historic buildings and a nice, pedestrian friendly downtown and riverfront.

The trolley system is great and only costs $1 per ride.

And finally, Jim found a place where he could play all the games he wanted!

 

Being on bikes allowed us to interact with the locals and unfortunately, homelessness is a problem in Memphis, so we heard many sad stories.  One man was hoping to make $6 for the 15 lbs. of cans he'd collected and all the people we interacted with were polite and friendly.

They also had a sense of humour as we heard from one man, loudly proclaiming as we passed, "Dang, it's a weeknight!  These people are just too broke, slash, cheap to gimme anythin'."

Our ride took us past the famous Lorraine Hotel where Martin Luther King Jr. was shot.  It's now part of a Civil Rights Museum.

The wreath marks the spot of the assassination and we experienced strong feelings of sadness at the loss of this great man.

It was here that we met Jacqueline Smith, who was living in the motel at the time of the slaying and was subsequently evicted when they decided to turn it into a museum.  She has spent the last 23 years on the street, across the road, protesting the museum.  She justifiably felt that the millions spent on the museum should have gone to low income housing, as Dr. King would have wanted.  The gentrification of the area now that the museum is there, has put more of the poor out on the streets.  We were astonished to hear that the local casinos have sponsored parties on the grounds of the hotel and as Jacqueline asked, "Do you think they would do that on the 9-11 site?"

She asked us to share her website with the good people from Canada. http://www.fulfillthedream.net/

We drove a few hours west to Nashville, through hilly and heavily treed terrain.  We listened to a lot of country music on the radio and had no idea there were so many sub-genres; alternative, rock, gospel and even techno!  This was the name of our favourite small town ... Bucknsort, Tennessee.


Apparently "Buck" founded the town in the 1800's and was a moonshiner, so.... people would head to Buck's for a snort!



Nashville's equivalent to Beale St. is Broadway and it's got even more live bands playing.  We heard everything from country, honky tonk, bluegrass and rock-a-billy to hard rock.  There was a very eclectic crowd with plenty of cowboy hats and boots. They seem to have cornered the market on large and unusual statues...

As you can see, Jim is still misbehaving and it seems to have rubbed off on me too!

We listened to this crazily energetic rock-a-billy band, then walked the main drag enjoying more yummy BBQ,  the colourful people and twangy accents.



We've finally escaped the record-breaking heat - 90 degrees or more every day, but managed to stay cool at each hotel.  Naturally, Jim's method was to incorporate activity into the cooling process....

We'll leave you with the last "B" - more billboards!



Despite the very attractive prices, we didn't go in.



Yikes!

This morning, we're off to the Smoky Mountains in Eastern Tennessee for a hike up to some waterfalls!





The Mississippi Delta

Our travels have taken us through the historic flooding of the Mississippi River and we've seen its impact all around us.  We have been following long lines of pick-up trucks with trailers, filled with personal belongings as people started to evacuate their homes.  It's been so sad to watch the river slowly and insidiously rise, knowing that many of the small towns and fields of sugar cane would soon be flooded when the spillways were opened.


The sandbags show how high the river is - just about to flood.

That's a "No Parking" sign in the middle of the river.



The Army Corp of Engineers have built these sandbag levees everywhere.

These pictures were from Natchez, Mississippi where locals and tourists alike flocked to the river to see the never-recorded high levels of water.  Old-timers told us they'd never seen anything like it since the 1927 flood that prompted the initial building of the levees - and now the water is higher than that.  True to form though, Southerners are a relaxed lot and we stood outside a local bar where everyone took their drinks out to the river to watch.  We were told it was a nice place though, as they charge $2.50 for a beer, "To keep the riff-raff out"!  Apparently you can get beer for $1 to $1.25 "further out back..."

The view across the river (in Louisiana) shows a hospital and residence under water. You can click to enlarge.

Just the roof showing...

Natchez is an extremely picturesque town, filled with the largest number of antebellum mansions in the U.S. 

It housed 50% of all the millionaires after the Civil War, so the architecture and abundance of gorgeous homes is incredible.  It was a perfect place to take out our bikes again and tour around.



While many were in fantastic condition, there were many that needed repair, and you could only imagine what the cost would be.

And as has been the case everywhere in the South, the huge gap between the very rich and the very poor is immediately evident.

Next stop was Jackson, Mississippi, but we took the road less travelled and journeyed through the Natchez Trace Parkway.  This is a stunningly beautiful road that follows an old Indian trading footpath.  It is extremely scenic and historic and no commercial vehicles are allowed, so the pace is leisurely.  It's a curvy road where the topography changes from the flat Mississippi Delta to gentle, green hills, lakes and pristine cypress swamps.  It is so densely forested that we couldn't get a GPS signal (aka the marriage saver) for 150 miles!

A ceremonial sacred Indian mound.

We stopped at this peaceful swamp and explored for a while.

click to enlarge

It was so quiet, the only sounds you could hear were the rustling leaves in the wind and exotic bird calls - amazing!

... and this isn't the only horse's ass I've been dealing with for the last 7 weeks!!!

Of course, he insisted on taking this picture...

We ended our day in Jackson and found the most authentic, Blues bar you could ever want.  It was jam night sponsored by the Mississippi Blues Society and we were entertained by amazingly talented Delta Blues performers, singing, jamming and improvising lyrics all night.  They ranged from old, legendary guitarists to young artists looking for exposure. 



The sheriff was moonlighting as the security guard and we watched him stock the bar and set up the band's equipment with his gun and holster still on...  When they heard we were Canadians, they welcomed us from the mike - "Y'all are most welcome here - y'all enjoy yoselves tonight" and they'd even heard of the Southside Shuffle Blues Festival in Port Credit.  There was lots of audience participation with everyone joining in on the singing - Jan, you would have loved it!!!  At the end of the night, many of the patrons came up to shake our hands and thank us for visiting.  It was definitely one of our favourite experiences of the trip!

Y'all would LOVE Louisiana!

Hands down, Louisiana is the most distinctive and culturally rich place we've visited on the road trip!  We have encountered so many friendly and fiercely proud Cajuns who want nothing more than to share their joie de vivre with you. And the food... we are leaving this area a few pounds heavier having indulged in rich, complex gumbos, etoufee, more crawfish, boudin, pralines and even participated in a "Bread Pudding Taste-Off". 

The only other thing the Cajuns like as much as their food (and booze!) is their music.  We were treated to Cajun music by this old-time band who spoke mostly French, but when I tried to talk to them, couldn't understand their accents at all!  It's almost identical to our East Coast Acadian music.

There were lots of outdoor concerts to go to and we heard our first "Sacred Steel" band - kind of a mix between blues, rock and slide guitar with a southern influence.   And boy, do these Louisianans love to dance!  They hop to their feet as soon as it starts and they're all ages and colours.

Our absolute favourite was the Zydeco music breakfast in a little town called Breaux Bridge - the "Crawfish Capital of the World".  People start lining up at 7:00 a.m., the doors open at 7:30 and you sit down to a rich, hearty Cajun breakfast c/w grits.  You're not asked if you want to start with coffee - it's Caesars or Mimosas!  The band starts at 8:00 and within seconds the dance floor is packed.


The washboard gives the distinctive Zydeco sound.

 I only wish the blog would allow for video (not working for some reason) because the dancing was so energetic and frantic, we had to move out of the way not to get trampled!  The men all have towels sticking out of their back pockets to wipe off the sweat because they're working so hard.  Everyone knew the specific steps (a bit of a country/line dancing influence) and sang the French lyrics to the songs... and it was 8:00 in the morning!  The bar and restaurant continued to be packed all day.

The entire area of South Louisiana is very French and very Catholic.  There are beautiful old churches everywhere and all the cemeteries are above ground, like New Orleans.

Some other interesting differences:  It's "Good Morning Acadiana" on TV, not "Good Morning America."  No one refers to the Civil War, it's the "War Between the States."  We were called "Miss Celia" and "Mr. Jim" and did you know that the plural of y'all is "all y'all"????  We even heard one guy say, "Have a gator great day!"

There were also many other beautiful antebellum (pre-Civil War) homes and historic government buildings.

and of course, many more of those big ol' oak trees just waiting for a retired teacher to climb...

We also explored 2 more universities - University of Louisiana at Lafayette

 and the massive campus of Louisiana State University, home of the Tigers and yes... there is a live tiger living there as a mascot

It's in Baton Rouge, but has rabid fans throughout Louisiana and most homes fly their flag out front.  We saw little babies and toddlers dressed in LSU outfits and their 90,000 football seat stadium is called "Death Valley".  It evolved from "Deaf Valley" as when its filled to capacity, the noise from the fans has actually registered on the Richter Scale!

The campus is so large, you have to drive via divided highways to get to the other stadiums.

Basketball Stadium

Track & Field Stadium

 We were happy to end our time in Louisiana with Danny's good friends from university, Chuck & Laurie,

and were truly sad to be leaving this unique and fascinating region - and it wasn't just because the convenience below was coming to an end!