Today has been a morning spent on a Bayou and swamp tour, the afternoon chilling at our cabin by the Bayou Teche and this evening we are off to New Iberia for a car cruise … so it’s the perfect time to catch up on the blog.

Wednesday 17th May. We left Clarksdale after a breakfast of pastries on the veranda … even managed to get a little video of me on the veranda, on a rocking chair playing the blues badly in the home of the blues.

After a quick walk over the railway lines to take a photo for my soon to be released album “Dave does the Blues” 😀 we were on our way, heading further south towards Natchez, our home for the evening.

First stop was the birthplace of Muddy Waters, Rolling Fork. Now it has to be said that something in both of our heads new this place for something other than Muddy Waters but we couldn’t put our finger on why we had heard of it before. On entering the town it was very evident how we knew it. 6 weeks ago the town of Rolling Fork was featured on the BBC News when a tornado flew through the centre of it leaving devastation in it’s wake. It left us cold when we realised why we knew it and i’ve got to say, I don’ t think i’ve ever seen anything like it before in my life. Blocks and blocks of housing destroyed and reduced to rubble, trees uprooted, families left without a home etc.

Got to say the devastation was heart breaking to see. I felt a little voyeuristic filming as we drove through but it’s a sight that will stay with me for a long long time having never seen anything like this first hand before.
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After the shock of Rolling Fork the stop at Leland was a little more lighthearted. It’s the birthplace of Jim Henson and features the Kermit the Frog museum ( obviously) It was only a little place but worth the dollar tip to take a look around.

Back in the car and off to Vicksburg next. An unexpected gem at the bottom of Mississippi. Lots and lots of history regarding the American Civil war here but it was more of a coffee stop and a wander rather than a historical stop for us. We got our first proper sight of the Mississippi river and a paddle steamer and spent a pleasant hour wandering.

After leaving Vicksburg it was onto the final 30 miles of todays driving along the historical Natchez Trace. It was a lovely winding road through forest and fields and over rivers. Much nicer than the freeway and we took a couple of detours along smaller roads. Eventually we ended up in Natchez itself and the Concord Quarters Bed and Breakfast … which really was a gem with the nicest hosts you could have imagined.

We checked in to the B&B and were given a tour of the building and told it’s history by Debbie, the owner and then it was off into Natchez itself to explore and find food. We ate at the Magnolia Grill down by the Mississippi River. It was ok, a little bit fishy for my liking but i think we are going to find that more and more the further down south we get. After dinner we got some goodies from the local petrol station and headed back to sit on the veranda and have a couple bottles of beer .. a perfect end to a pretty good day