Day 9: April 28, 2024
A Few Miles on the BoA
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Old Highway 49 led directly from my bin to Clarksdale. There are no curves to steer around but avoiding potholes will keep you busy.
Breakfast was at Our Grandma's House of Pancakes where butter and Beatles both had a bigger presence than I would have guessed.
Breakfast was followed by snapping pictures of a few Clarksdale theaters.
I drove by Red's Lounge yesterday but didn't grab a picture. After Red Paden's death late last year, I thought the lounge might fade away but see that it still has a pretty full weekend schedule and Red's Old Timers Blues Fest is planned for Labor Day weekend.
I left Clarksdale on US-61 headed toward Memphis. By chance, I checked a list of POIs stored in my GPS and learned of a Big John statue at the Tennessee state line. Spotting the statue on the opposite side of the road, I pulled over and snapped a few shots before I figured out how to get closer. There are photos on the internet that show the giant in much flashier attire with a Boom City Fireworks logo on his shirt. He is now sporting what appears to be a Ralph Lauren logo.

ADDENDUM: May 3, 2024 - It turns out that I saw and photographed this statue in his flashy fireworks outfit myself just five years ago. I apparently did not realize it was at the state line and that will be my excuse for not remembering. That picture, taken southbound on the way to the 2019 JHA Conference in Natchitoches, LA, is here. I still don't know why his clothing has been toned down.

I jumped on I-40 at Memphis and began retracing last week's path. I wearied of the interstate after an hour or so and moved to US-70 eastbound at the same point I had moved to US-70 westbound to visit Brownsville last Sunday. This took me to Jackson where I headed to another POI I had noticed on that list.

Back in 2012 I had visited a Rockabilly Hall of Fame in Jackson. I knew its owner had died and there were indications that the museum had closed despite talk in his obituary that it might stay open. My GPS took me to the spot which is clearly no longer a hall of fame. The park next door that had held a stage is now a paved parking lot. Guess I need to put some effort into finding out what happened to that pair of blue suede shoes and all the other stuff on display.

Of course US-70 took me into Dickson and right by that wonderfully restored Broadway of America mural. I think this might have been the first time I've entered the city from the Memphis end of the mural. Note that, while the mural seems backwards from the east-west orientation we normally think of for a map, it is in perfect synch with the real world.
I left US-70 at the east edge of Dickson and turned onto TN-96. Even though I had no idea where I might eat dinner tonight, I knew where I wanted to eat breakfast tomorrow. I picked out a motel and headed toward it under the great looking Birdsong Hollow Bridge on the Natchez Trace Parkway.
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