Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Shacking up

This morning at breakfast, we met a man from Sarasota Florida riding an '07 H-D Road Glide. He and his riding buddy (a youngster of just 58) were getting ready to ride the Natchez Trace so we shared some of our experiences with him. This man was 81 and has put over 40,000 miles on his '07! I only wish we are still going as strong as him when we reach 71!

Our ride today wasn't that exciting. We crossed the Mississippi River into Louisiana and then rode up through Arkansas and then back into Mississippi; the only reason was so we could cross off those two states on our "must do as many states as possible on our motorcycles" list. Speaking of that list, we also have a "must do all the counties in Kentucky on our motorcycles" list. We will be crossing off six more of those counties before we get home.

Tonight we are staying in the Shack Up Inn in Clarksdale Mississippi. The shacks are old share cropper shacks, updated with indoor plumbing and room air conditioners. They are extremely tacky but that is part of the "charm." David was skeptical when I told him I was booking this place. Now he is considering one of his favorite places. There is no regular TV, just closed circuit Blues music channel and videos to borrow for the VCR. And neither the TV or the VCR have remotes!

Tonight we didn't want to saddle up on the bikes again but wanted to go into Clarksdale to see the "Crossroads." (FYI for all who know nothing about Blues Music - legend has it that Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads of US 61 and US 49 in order to be able to play the guitar and thus the birth of a blues legend.) When we asked about the possibility of getting a taxi to take us into town (we are on a plantation about two miles out of town), the owner of this place said we probably couldn't get a taxi but he would loan us his '69 Cadillac Fleetwood. So we cruised into town in this boat of a car; rust, flaky "leather" top, and all. We had BBQ at Abe's which is actually located right at the crossroads. We then cruised through the downtown area to see the Blues Museum and the Riverside Motel where Bessie Smith died. Our last stop was Kroger to buy some snacks and stuff for breakfast as all good shacks have kitchens.

This is our Shack:

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