April 2026

Delta Blues & A Whole Lot More

A Springtime Tour Through Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama

Deep in the heart of winter last December, we suddenly got a message from our European buddies, Toni and Berit.  They had decided to head back to the States for a bit this spring.  They wanted to fly into Atlanta, spend a couple of days in that city seeing the sights and then head in our direction.

They would be renting a van to travel in, and did we want to join them in traveling to see Tennessee and Mississippi, with bits of Arkansas and Alabama thrown in for good measure.  Almost 3 weeks would be set aside for the adventure.  They listed their most important destinations to be Nashville, Memphis

(Graceland), and the Mississippi Delta region...  And Music, Music, Music!

Did we want to go?  Of course we did!  We’d had a similar adventure with them back a couple of years, and YES! It was time to step out again.

We would be in charge of settling on the route, offering a series of places for camping, visiting, and eating (the single most important item, of course).  They’d already purchased their plane tickets (a very smart move, as it turned out), and they would be arriving in Atlanta on April 6.  Yikes!!!!  We needed to get started making plans.

We won’’t bore you with all the petty/pesky details, other than to say that we would be towing our trusty Honda along; something we seldom do because we really don’t like to be towing something.  In this case it was justified, even necessary, because we would be exploring several cities and that is really, really hard to do in a motorhome.  

In Nashville, we camped in a small COE (Corps of Engineers) park northeast of town, driving in to spend time visiting various places of interest; actually, Toni and Berit got to see more than we did.  We were having a problem with our inverter, and spent much of Nashville getting it looked at.  But we all went to visit the fantastic Country Music Hall of Fame, filled with photos and tons of info about a multitude of singers and performers, their clothes and instruments, and the history of “country” — it was a very interesting trip.  We also stopped to enjoy the entry area to the Grand Ole Opry.  T&B added a full day on their own taking a guided bus tour of the city.

South of Nashville lies Shiloh, home of some beautiful rolling countryside and our favorite Civil War site.  But before we even got there, Rick had tracked down the Most Perfect Place to hang out, eat, and enjoy the a riverside setting before heading to the Shiloh National Military Battlefield and Cemetery.  There’s a really good visitor’s center, with an excellent accounting of the brutal battle that took place there over several days, and many monuments to the various troops.  It helps to know what happened, and some of the why it happened here.  

The Shiloh site is beautiful and quiet — and amazingly unchanged since we were last here more than 20 years ago — and we spent a lot of time there.  On our way back to our resting place for the night, we explored the countryside — pretty nice area!  We were returning to our really cool overnight spot:  Hagy’s Catfish Hotel and Diner.  Fantastic place — we were parked alongside the Tennessee River where those catfish were being caught; we had a quiet place for the night; the catfish (and everything else) was excellent; and there was a walking trail near the water.  The restaurant was filled with locals enjoying themselves — what could be better.  

Shiloh is almost on the Tennessee/Mississippi border, and we could have moved on south, but we were looking to head for Memphis for a bit first.  So we angled northwest, aiming for Elvis country, along with a bunch of other wonders.

Our main goal was Memphis, but we also enjoyed some other spots in the area.  Berit and I had noticed that in Brownsville (almost a Memphis suburb) there was a museum honoring Tina Turner.  Couldn’t pass that one up!  The singer had grown up in this area, and there was lots to enjoy.  All right!!!  

Before leaving Brownsville we dropped back down south of I-40 to a refuge we’d seen information on in the Turner museum:  the Hatchie National Wildlife Refuge.  What a great choice!  We were wandering a little road through a section of protected river bottomland land where the Hatchie River that runs through it had never been altered or moved.  It was woodland, full of budding flowers and Cypress trees (you know the ones with the knobby knees?).  We really liked it.  It’s open for fishing and the like, but no developments or campgrounds

We spent some time at the Nash Museum at Chucalissa outside Memphis.  This is on the location of an abandoned ancient (15th century) mound settlement of a  tribe of the Choctaw.  We were interested in what we managed to see, but had to take off without seeing it all — a large storm had begun and we were getting too damn wet.  Another time!  

Berit and Toni spent tons of time in Memphis, seeing and hearing and wandering the various music museums, along with a great trip out to Graceland.  We all had a really nice evening in town, at the B.B. King

barbecue place on Beale Street.  Yummy food, splendid

music, and a very cool street to walk up and down.  They even had a big statue of Elvis for us to enjoy.  It was a fun experience.  We felt like we were really in the middle of Blues country now.

We’d reserved three nights in a state campground on the edge of town.  I’d been a little concerned about staying there, because Memphis has areas that are not too friendly, nor too well maintained.  But it was a terrific spot, and we even extended our stay for a fourth night; I’d recommend it to anyone (T.O. Fuller State Park).

We did have one little adventure we’d neither anticipated nor enjoyed.  Max, our cat (whom we always brag about) had been okay in each of our spots as we traveled.  Always fascinated with what’s outside the motorhome and desirous of going outside to explore the area, we’d been able to keep him inside so far, but not here.  

Due to his ability to move faster than Superman, he figured out how to get out the door before we could stop him.  Not once but twice.  He never went all that far, but we were only able to lure him close enough to grab him by offering him a bunch of treats.  

Varying levels of hysteria ensued.  Since then we’ve done certain things to forestall his whisking by and flying down the steps — so far.  In his own defense he would point out that in this particular spot, not only were there birds… and squirrels…, but several other cats to be seen just wandering about completely on their own!  So he figured if they could do it, he should be able to as well.  Not!!  

We finally moved on from Memphis.  You know the drill; things to see, time growing shorter, reservations to be kept, and ultimately airplanes to catch for some.

Leaving the city, we had planned to stop and enjoy Mud Island, an open air exhibit with a replica of the Mississippi River’s course and the sites along it.  Sadly, not to happen — our only knowledge of Mud Island was from a Sydney Pollack film from over 30 years before — “The Firm”.  Once we began looking into how to visit — you know, hours, parking, little things like that, we learned that it had been closed down back 7-8 years before.  Huh!  There you go, it’s no wonder we don’t try to make lots of plans ahead of time; we’re not very good at it.

We also had hoped to be able to travel along the Mississippi River as we started down into the Delta region.  Frump.  It’s hard to get very close unless you are crossing a bridge — and there are not many of those.  If you look at pictures of the way the river flows, you’ll see that it meanders greatly, looking like a really huge snake, and the roads have been constructed “inland” several miles, and on higher ground as a result of massive flooding incidents over the years.  But we got a few views while we were wandering the area.

We left Memphis heading south on Hwy 61, known as the “Blues Highway” (even on Sirius/XM where the name of the Blues station is “Highway 61 Revisited”.

We had a lot of towns and sites we would have liked to see, but naturally we had limited time and energy, and had to make choices.  We wanted to experience the history of this area, which had begun as a series of very large plantations — cotton mostly — worked by slaves and owned by their masters.  The richness of the River supported the plantations, and the music the area produced underlay the survival of those who did all the work.

B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, just a few of the big names from the area.  They had museums; there were Halls of Fame and Welcome Centers in many towns;  lots of nightclubs and restaurants to enjoy.

We could have hung out in the area for several weeks.  Our problem was a lack of time, attached to all of us getting more tired each day, accompanied by an additional issue: we found that we were a little early in the season and many things weren’t open as many days as we would have liked.  We went where we could make it work within the time frame and talked about returning again another year.