THE BIG MUDDY

ST LOUIS TO THE BIG EASY

 

Saturday, September 23, 2023

 

Pouring the Itaska water
on the banks of the Mississippi

Another 1,204 road miles and we have now just finished driving the Great River Road from Lake Itaska to the end of the road at Venice, Louisiana. We properly celebrated by pouring a cupful of Lake Itaska water into the bottom of the Mississippi River and by having a seafood lunch of fried shrimp and seafood gumbo. Lynne was OK with the lunch, but said the water thing was a waste of time—eventually the water would have made it the Gulf of Mexico on its own, by gravity. Oh well---it’s the thought that counts!

 Below St Louis, there are two major cities on the river: Memphis and New Orleans. One of our highlights in Memphis was dining at Tops, the yummy BBQ ribs joint recommended by Victor, the manager at the park we used in Memphis. Our other fun highlight was a tour at Sun Records,

Lunch at Tops

where we got to stand right where Elvis made his very first hit. But by the time we got down to New Orleans, the temps rose into the mid-nineties with bucketloads of humidity, so our wanderlust was tamed a bit. Since we had visited New Orleans several times before, we sufficed with a trip to the World War II Museum and a driving tour of the Big Easy. But we did have to indulge in one more run southern cooking—this time crawfish pie and crab cakes at the neighborhood restaurant, Segette Landing. My, oh my!

Longwood
Natchez, MS

In this part of the South, antebellum mansions are a big draw. We toured a couple (Longwood in Naches, MS and Houmas House near Baton Rouge, LA) and they seem to have an often-poignant story. They remind us of the mansion building competitions in Newport RI, but Southern style. However, one difference is that these were built in the last few years before the War Between the States (no one here calls it the Civil War) on the foundation of the horrible institution of slavery. It seems to us that a person would have a really hard time visiting these plantation houses without quickly becoming an abolitionist, at least looking at it 160 years later.

And speaking of houses, one side trip we made was to see if we could find the house

Another Sunset 
on the Mississippi

Roger’s family lived in when he was in the first and second grade in Millington, Tennessee. With help from Alan, Roger’s older brother, we think we located the likely house, but it sure seems small for a family of five. Have you ever noticed how much smaller your childhood home seems when you visit it many years later?

Well, that’s it for the Mississippi River Road. We now turn our travels northwestward. Our plan, such as it is, it to use non-interstate highways and continue to visit small town America. Once we get home, we will write up a final post to this blog and let you know how he third leg of this trek goes.

 Happy Trails,

 Roger, Lynne, and Salty

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