People have asked me how do I plan the trips we take. I have lots of things I do but first I just ask Jerry what he wants to do. Luckily, we mostly always agree on where to travel. When we were coming home in November, Jerry mentioned he would like to take two shorter trips rather than one long trip in 2024. Since winter and spring have driving challenges based on weather, and my work, January is taken up by accounting tasks for end of year that must be complete by January 31st, and February is my grandma time I am not prepared to give up, it meant a trip in March. March is still too cold to plan for IL, IN or IO or states nearby.
So, I suggested Mississippi, not a common vacation spot unless you are going to the Gulf. Although I love the ocean as a spectator, Jerry does not even like the ocean one little bit in any way. We are not going to the Gulf.
If you have been following along with us for any length of time, you will know that we both enjoy the blues. We have been to a bunch of festivals and performances, the blues are always blaring from my device, they are playing now as I write this (Sugar Sweet is the song). It’s the beat and the lyrics that get me every time, When I was at my very first Chicago Blues Fest in the early 2000’s, the Mississippi tourist booth was handing out fans. It was really hot so I walked over and asked for one. As I was receiving my fan, the person asked me if I had ever heard of the Mississippi Blues Trail https://msbluestrail.org/ I had not, but at that moment I thought this is something I want to do. Well, 20 something years later I will.
I started with the Blues Trail map and started to find the places we should visit. Every time I found something and showed Jerry he said, sounds good. Then I thought about the Crossroads Blues Society we belong to. https://www.crossroadsbluessociety.com/ We have been a part of this group for about 5 years and have gone to a number of their shows. Two years ago, I found out the President, Steve who is a few years older than me, grew up in Staten Island, he knew all the places I would go to in my early 20’s and was also at the opening of the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge in November 1964, can’t say I remember seeing him there. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Verrazano-Narrows-Bridge We have become friends and he knows so much. I asked him if he has ever been on the trail and he gave me some sights we just have to see. So, then I started to find the cities, that is a very generous term for locations in Mississippi, they were located in, started to plan the roads to take and distances. Then I started to look for music locations. That is when it got really interesting. I started to e-mail the locations and talk with some old blues musicians and find out about the clubs and when they were open. The Blues Front Café was opened in 1948 and is the oldest continuous operational blues spot in Mississippi. The son of the original owner is now the owner and has won some grammy awards. He said he plans to be at the club in March and if I say hello, he will play any song I like. That is just so cool! https://www.facebook.com/bluefrontcafeblues
I have found a number of other clubs and their hours; one is owned by Morgan Freeman and we are going there as well. We are going to a number of museums and B.B. King’s hometown. I joined a few Facebook groups for Mississippi campgrounds and Mississippi blues. And I am “talking” to a lot of people. I usually look for campgrounds on Google Maps and that has always been successful. This trip is a bit different. Mississippi is not a vacation destination unless you are going to the coast, hunting or doing other down south sports there are few places to stay. The way I am finding campgrounds is word of mouth. I contact a club and say we are coming with our RV and want to visit the club and wondered if they know of a place we could stay overnight. One of them told me about a farm that has 5 RV spots and gave me the contact information. Another told me about a parking lot with hook ups near the B.B. King museum and where to eat.
This kind of reminds me of a time when I went to NYC and found a blues club in Newark, NJ and I convinced my brother and sister-in-law to go. I won’t lie, Newark has a high crime rate. When we got there, we were the only 4 white people in the place. Richard was afraid we were not going to make it out alive, or at the very least our car would be stolen or vandalized. He was so nervous and kept telling me how unhappy he was I took him there. Lots of people were staring at us. I kept smiling and when the music started, I had that look of bliss on my face I do when ever I listen to the blues and people started nodding at me, and I waved back and the stares stopped. Music bridges all gaps; I cannot wait to be in my happy place.