Mississippi Blues Trail - Part 5

 It was a bluebird morning with clear blue skies, sunshine and a definite chill in the air.  Perfect for a scooter ride and what better reason to ride than to find some more Mississippi Blues Trail (MBT) markers!  Even though I'm not an early bird I had no problem getting up this morning because I knew Eric had planned a delightful route on rural roads that would be new to us.  After finishing my morning cup of coffee I layered up in the appropriate riding gear.  First was a LDComfort base layer, top and bottom and then my Klim Altitude pants and Sidi Canyon Boots.  I also donned my Warm & Safe heated jacket because, well because it was COLD.  I topped that with my Klim Altitude jacket, a buff neck warmer and no-name thick warm leather gloves.  The Schuberth C3 Pro Women's helmet was my lid of choice.

Then, the issue was to climb onto the Honda ADV150 scooter with all that gear on!  Ha!  The scooter is so easy to get on and off especially if I'm wearing my Oxford Kevlar leggings but with multiple layers and the stiff Klim gear, well, let's just say it wasn't a particularly graceful mount.

Soon enough we were on our way.  First stop was to top of the gas tanks and then the Natchez Trace heading south.  As we proceeded along the Trace I turned up the heated jacket and before long I was toasty.  We rode about 40 miles and then took the Maben exit with the intent to reach Starkville in time to have breakfast at the Starkville Cafe.  Luck was on our side and we arrived around 10:30 am, plenty of time to order brekkie!  Here we are rockin' our SHAD top cases in front of the Cafe.

While we were parking, taking off gear, etc. we spotted one of Starkville's finest marking tires for parking violations.  He thought our scooters were pretty darn cool and come over to have a quick visit with us!  I love his Segway scooter!  Super friendly and nice officer, just on the job and doing his thing.

We were pleased that Covid (effin' Covid) protocols were in place with masks and distance seating.  It is a very popular place and while we were there it quickly filled up.  Old style main street cafe!

Eric ordered the Chicken Fried Steak lunch plate and said it was delicious.  (7 out of 10 scale.  Good steak with nice crust, ok gravy with some spice, but not much sausage and tender), He got a nice slice of Texas Toast along with fries and coleslaw.

And of course I ordered breakfast!!!! Yummy!!!  The eggs and hash browns were good but the BACON was the prize.  Super, duper delicious and three nice thick juicy pieces.  Oh yes, I ate every, single bite.  My only bitch is the South does not do "bread".  All the toasts are sandwich wonder type soft bread that is just warmed.  Yuck.  Gimmee some good hearty sourdough or French or Italian bread and TOAST it.  A little crunch is a good thing.  Okay, rant over.  Breakfast was excellent and I even ate the wimpy toast, lol.

Appetites sated we re-mounted the scoots to find our first MBT marker which was in Starkville.  The Oktibbeha County Blues.

You can sample some Big Joe Williams here.  He was the only blues player or guitar player for that matter that played a nine string guitar!

Our next stop would be in Columbus..  We followed small two lane county roads avoiding traffic and totally enjoying our journey.  The road we were on said "Pavement Ends".  Hmmmmm....the road turned to a single lane full of pot holes but still kind of paved until it wasn't!

Eric asked if I wanted to turn around but that would mean about 30 miles of backtracking.  No, let's just go.  After all, we are on "Adventure" scooters, hahahahaha!  The gravel road was better than the pot holed lane except for a bunch of washboard that rather shook and rattled the little scoot.  No problem for our raging 14.4 horsepower scooters!  The gravel road was only a mile or so and then we were back on pavement.  Yippee!

We rolled into Columbus and after a detour due to road construction we came upon Tennessee William's first home.  Nice surprise to find this along our MBT route.

Wiki link to Tennessee Williams

Just around the corner was our next MBT marker.  Columbus Mississippi Blues.  Right on the corner of Catfish Alley 😁

Listen to Bukka White sing Columbus, Mississippi Blues.

Just across the street from the MBT marker was this magnificent church. 

We had one more MBT marker to find in Columbus which took us through town to the other side of the railroad tracks where once stood the Queen City Motel, the only motel in Columbus that would rent a room to black peeps back in the day.

B.B. King called this his Best Live Performance.  It gave me goosebumps.  Take a few minutes to listen.

With the Columbus MBT markers captured we were off to West Point for the Howlin' Wolf MBT marker and museum.  Again we traversed small country lanes with little to no traffic and the weather continued to be oh so glorious still with a bit of chill in the air.  Upon our arrival in West Point we quickly located the marker.

Howlin' Wolf

Howlin' Wolf sings Spoonful

Next to the BMT marker is a fantastic granite sculpture of the Howlin' Wolf.

Leaving the MBT marker we went in search of the Howlin' Wolf Blues Museum but it wasn't where our resources said it would be.  Hmmmmmm......around the block.....up and down the street....... Ms. Garmin kept telling us it was directly on our right.  Nope, not there.  So we pulled into a parking lot to do some more research.  Fortunately for us, a nice woman and her small daughter were out for a walk and could tell we were searching for something.  She asked if we were looking for the Blues Museum.  Well, yes, ma'am we are indeed.  She laughed and said it moved!  And then very kindly told us where to find it.  Her directions were impeccable and we found it a few blocks up Commerce Street right where she said it would be!

This cool piano was sitting outside the museum.

And here is the museum in it's new location, the old Bank of West Point!

Just a gratuitous photo of me on my scooter because I love the scoot so much, lol!!!

West Point already has it's Christmas decorations out on the street!  This is a snap down Commerce Street.  So typically small, Southern town.  Love it!

And, there at the end of Commerce Street on E. Main was this business!  Only in Mississippi...

That completed our quest of MBT markers for the day so now it was just wander along small country lanes to the Natchez Trace and head north to home.

Our ride home on the Trace was pleasant and uneventful.  Just how I like it!  Even some of the really bad sections of road had been repaired so we didn't have to worry about the steep drops in the road.  Home safe and sound just about 3 pm.  After a bunch of bumping and bouncing over dirt/gravel and bad pavement, our SHAD top cases and mounts are still rock solid!

We rode just short of 200 miles today and the ADV150 scooters performed flawlessly.  Even on our three miles on a big highway (necessary to cross the Tenn Tom bridge) the scooters maintained 60 mph (the speed limit was 70 but the minimum was 40 so we were okay).

Weather dependent, we may have another MBT ride later this week.  Stay tuned to find out.  Thanks for following along!

Cheers,

Cletha & Eric