I'm going down to Clarksdale, take my rider by my side

I said yesterday, we should be heading to Texas and then swooping up and across Missouri via Arkansas, but I amended our plans to head straight up thru Mississippi. I am disappointed we will not hit Texas, but the stops for today are pretty neat.

First stop is Vicksburg National Military Park. This covers a Specific site and a Veteran Memorial spot for the Americana Tour and also falls under the NPS thus qualifies for the IBA National Park Tour. Three birds with one stone.

The park includes 1,325 historic monuments and markers, 20 miles (32 km) of historic trenches and earthworks, a 16-mile (26 km) tour road, a 12.5-mile (20.1 km) walking trail, two antebellum homes, 144 emplaced cannons, the restored gunboat USS Cairo (sunk on December 12, 1862, on the Yazoo River), and the Grant's Canal site, where the Union Army attempted to build a canal to let their ships bypass Confederate artillery fire.

Source: Wikipedia

The Specific item was the Entrance sign to Vicksburg.



This is the Wisconsin Veteran Memorial inside the park



Vicksburg is really a beautiful ride even if you don't care about the history.



Not pictured is the recovered USS Cairo, which was one of the first American ironclad warships built for the Union Navy at the beginning of the U.S. Civil War. We didn't visit the Cairo because we had been hear back in 2009.

If you are in the area or going on tour this is a great spot to stop at.

Up the road from Vicksburg is Transylvania. We had to grab a sign of the town. We crossed over from Mississippi back into Louisiana. As the name of Transylvania is associated by many people in the United States with the Hollywood Dracula movies, the general store in the town sells Dracula- and bat-related merchandise to people passing through on Highway 65.



We passed thru Lake Providence, LA on the way north and grabbed this great mural.

The Lake Providence area first opened for European-American settlement in the late 1830s, after Indian Removal. New settlers drained the cypress swamps and cleared the land for cultivation. By 1861, at the start of the American Civil War, the region consisted entirely of large cotton plantations worked by thousands of slave laborers.

Source: Wikipedia



Still heading north we crossed into Arkansas.



For the Something COOL for Arkansas we stopped in the Catfish Capital of Arkansas. In 1970 Tony Joe White released a song on his self-titled album entitled "They Caught the Devil and Put Him in Jail in Eudora, Arkansas."



In Leland Mississippi, (yup crossed the border again)picked up the American specific spot, Rainbow Connection Bridge, dedicated to Jim Henson, of Muppets fame, who grew up here.



Mississippi has a rich history in the Blues, Rock and Roll and music in general. It is said that American music was born in this area. The Mississippi Blue Trail is something I would like to ride sometime in the future.

The Mississippi Blues Trail was created by the Mississippi Blues Commission in 2006 to place interpretive markers at the most notable historical sites related to the birth, growth and influence of the blues throughout (and in some cases beyond) the state of Mississippi. Within the state the trail extends from the Gulf Coast north along several highways to Natchez, Vicksburg, Jackson, Leland, Greenwood, Clarksdale, Tunica, Grenada, Oxford, Columbus, Meridian and many other points. The largest concentration of markers is in the Mississippi Delta but other regions of the state are also represented. Several out-of-state markers have also been erected where blues with Mississippi roots has had significance

Source: Wikipedia

In Indianola Mississippi is the BB King Museum. The guitar statue in front is a specific stop for the Americana Tour. Having strum some strings on an electric guitar back in the 60's the one pictured here is a Les Paul. As far as I know BB King always played a Gibson ES-335 Double Cutaway Semi- Hollow electric guitar. This is what Lucille was. The major change to his ES-355, it did not have the f holes. The Les Paul was also made by Gibson, so I guess there is a connection here.



Having passed thru Mississippi at least 3 times before, I always seemed to miss The Crossroads. This spot is a specific Americana spot and we didn't pass it by this time.






The story according to Roadtrippers.com

According to legend, as a young man living on a plantation in rural Mississippi, Robert Johnson was branded with a burning desire to become a great blues musician. He was "instructed" to take his guitar to a crossroad near Dockery Plantation at midnight. There he was met by a large black man (the Devil) who took the guitar and tuned it. The "Devil" played a few songs and then returned the guitar to Johnson, giving him mastery of the instrument. This was in effect, a deal with the Devil mirroring the legend of Faust. In exchange for his soul, Robert Johnson was able to create the blues for which he became famous.

Crossing into Tennessee stopping at the Welcome to Tennessee sign. Right on the border was Muffler Man statue. Gotta love these big guys.

Muffler Men (or Muffler Man) are large moulded fiberglass sculptures that are placed as advertising icons, roadside attractions or for decorative purposes, predominantly in the United States. Standing approximately 18–25 feet tall,[1] the first figure was a Paul Bunyan character designed to hold an axe. Derivatives of that figure were widely used to hold full-sized car mufflers, tires, or other items promoting various roadside businesses.

Boatbuilder Steve Dashew established International Fiberglass in 1963 by purchasing and renaming Bob Prewitt's workshop, Prewitt Fiberglass. The oversized fibreglass men, women and dinosaurs began as a sideline.

The first of the figures, a Paul Bunyan holding an oversized axe to promote a restaurant, was created by Bob Prewitt in 1962[7] for the Paul Bunyan Café on Route 66 in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Source: Wikepedia





How could one miss this colorful mural In Westwood Shores, Tennessee.



Since the mural above is for a business and might not qualify for the Americana Tour, grabbed this mural just in case. Called the Star Kids Mural by Vitas Shell, painted in 2015. Located in Downtown Memphis.




Last stop of the day was the Bass Pro Pyramid. The GPS has me going all over the place to get to it. Finally I gave up using the GPS and just started driving down streets with the pyramid in view until I got there.

The shot for the Americana Tour.



A more formal photograph.



We are headed across the border into Arkansas to stay at the Ramada Inn in West Memphis. I was really happy to see all the had to do was head up the entrance ramp where the white truck is going.

Miles for the day are 391. Doesn't look it but we did pull in as the sun was going down.

The Final Eight

Yesterday was my last day of grabbin USA towns. Entries must be post marked by September 15th which is next Saturday and I know I will not get out on the bike for more towns.

My first stop was had nothing to do with the USA Tour. It was just a scenic spot. I was heading for Auburndale. Navteq and Garmin like to shave off seconds by routing you off main roads and onto back streets which just bring you back to main roads.As you can see below rather than take me to RT12, it had me turn on side street to get there. Most of the time these are a pain in the ass and you end up scratching your head and asking why is my GPS doing that.

Today it turned out to be a good thing. It was what I thought the perfect scenic place. A lot of country with a bit of urban thrown in. Off the bike, engine off (knew I was gonna be here awhile) and pull out the tripod from the Givi. I bought this cheapo tripod from Walmart, but it does fit in the Givi and I have used it quite abit, so I will not be returning it. Set the camera for bracketing and take one regular exposure, 1 underexposed and 1 overexposed and keep my fingers crossed for when I get home to process the pics. For those that want to know and care, I take pics in both JPG and RAW. (click the photos to enlarge)

For the rest of the day I looked and looked for another spot like McTaggarts Pond. It just didn't happen.

I was headed for a different Ashby, but this was along the way. I have learned if you come across a target that satisfies the parameters of the hunt, take it when you can, because you may just find yourself back tracking. Usually I end up having to repositioning the bike because the lean and the kickstand is just not right. This was way right. When I went to get the bike off the stand and in an upright position, it had a wee bit more lean than I thought. It took alot of oomph to get the 640+ pounds into a vertical position.

Hi ( or is that how ) to you too. One of them Muffler Guys in Shirley, MA on Great Road. ( N42 35.285 W71 39.646 )

The Ayer Motel has a sister motel in Agawam, MA. Must be a chain of them.

I have actually found myself in this town and at this location a couple of times. This is on the National Register of Historic Places, and it was a good site for the An Affair with Water tour last year.

I had my doubts this was going to be a hit. I was pleasantly surprised to find it just like it said it would be.

When I left this morning (well it was more like 12:30P ) I didn't load up any BBQ places. Sometimes you just come across them. This looks like a brand new place.

Been here a couple of times too.

For the last couple of years I have been tracking down these markers, kinda sorta. Not like my quest for the New Hampshire ones. That was before the days of the Grand Tours, which do fill alot of my riding time. This one is in Sudbury on Boston Post Road.

 

 



Coming into the home stretch with Saxonville. I remember this town from my early arrival in Massachusetts in 1979. This is a teeny tiny time, but has been with me since I moved here. I was originally targeting the Saxonville Cleaners. but it only had Saxon in the name.

 

 

This joint presented a real challenge for the Smoke Chasing Tour. The joint is suppose to have BBQ or Smoke in the name. Since it is a chain, it would be accepted, maybe. I left with this picture.

 

 

Having lived in this area and since I was in chase mode, Cochituate State Park is right around the corner and has a stamp for my Massachusetts Passport book.

 

 

 

The park was just closing and they had the gates across the entrance, so I still have to chase down this stamp. Not being satisfied with the Tennessee picture I headed back there for another picture.

 

 



I am way over thinking these targets. Headed off for the last stop, Southborough or Southboro. Official spelling is Southborough and they are a bit snobby about how it is spelled. After I took this picture I knew I was going to have to lighten it up abit so you could read Southborough. The USA Tour for me is done

 

 

Well almost. I pulled up on the sidewalk for this shot. Probably not the smartest thing I could have done.

 

 

 

At home I got busy downloading the days photos. Updated my Smoke Chasing Blog and then went to preparing the two DVD's to be mailed to Jack and Marlene. In the final count, I submitted 212 visited towns. We visited 70 towns during the double bonus week, so I have a total of 282 towns. MeAsWe has slightly less at 260. So the USA Flags have been retired for the year, but ready to be broken out for 2013 Double Point Week.

 

 

Todays ride

 

 

 

Thanks to the GLMC for sponsoring this years USA Grand Tour. A special thanks goes to Marlene and Jack Backer who has to review all the photos from everybody. It was a great year.