This was a part of our recent travels. Our article on the “new” U.S. Civil Rights Trail is in the current issue of Canadian RVing magazine, a great publication we’ve started writing for on a regular basis. Really enjoying working with this fine people in the publishing world.
Read it here: U.S. Civil Rights Trail
Sometimes that “what should I write about?” falls right into your lap.
While travelling, we got a heads up through a work email that January 15 (Martin Luther King Jr. Day) was to be the launch of the brand new United States Civil Rights Trail. Took us about five seconds to make a decision, tap the new coordinates into our GPS and follow the two-hour detour to Greensboro, North Carolina.
Greensboro was home to the first student lunch counter sit-ins, an action that (according to MLK) gave the Civil Rights movement “a much needed shot in the arm.” That very first lunch counter sit in was held on February 1, 1960 by four young students from A&T University (Jesse Jackson’s alma mater). The stop on the new Civil Rights Trail is at the original F.W. Woolworth’s building, the site of the lunch counter sit-in. Now it is the home of the International Civil Rights Center & Museum. The museum is a worthwhile stop on its own, but the highlight is definitely the completely restored lunch counter. It’s a sombre, but inspiring sight.
Craving some ocean waves, we drove southeast to our first week of camping at Huntington Beach State Park, about 20 miles south of Myrtle Beach. Great park (surprisingly, about 80% full), nice long stretch of beach, wonderful marshland boardwalks. We did detour into MB for an excellent lunch at Croissant’s Bistro & Bakery (shrimp and grits, chicken and waffles, with a shared slice of key lime pie).
It turned out to be almost a full week of catching up on writing assignments at the lovely Waccamaw Neck Public Library. Can’t end this update without a thank you to Luke from Georgetown Auto Glass whose mobile service came and quickly stopped two windshield chips. Thanks Luke!
Cold weather RVing tips
We’ve just spent a night in -9C (16F) temperatures boondocking inside our Roadtrek 210 and could not have had a snugger and cosier sleep. This year, we’ve made a few basic modifications that we think save energy and make cold weather camping an easier venture.
We added Reflectix insulating panels to our windows to help keep heat it. It’s available by the roll at Home Depot in Canada but is much cheaper at similar stores south of the border. We easily cut panels for each window and just push them into place at night.
We switched out almost all of our interior lights to LED bulbs. Installation was simple. We bought ours at a local RV dealership but they are also available for less through the Internet.
We’d already winterized our RV back in October so did not want to undo that, just to have to re-winterize after we return in six weeks. So, we decided to stick to bottled water for intake (i.e. not running water through any intake tanks or lines) and to use our grey and black tanks with some antifreeze since we’ll be able to access dump stations. When we return we’ll just have to winterize those two tanks and the toilet (add antifreeze).
Our Roadtrek came with a large carpeted runner down the main galley but we always found it difficult to keep clean. This year we decided to ditch the carpet, install a custom-cut foam pad, waterproof flooring and then top it with some colourful, washer-friendly throw rugs in nice colours and patterns. We found what we wanted at Canadian Tire – a long roll of foam “impact” flooring – spongy, about a quarter-inch thick and easily wipeable. We used the old carpet runner as a pattern and cut the new piece to size. It fits beautifully, keeps the cold off our feet and seems much more durable.
Even though it was quite “bracing” when we turned out the lights last night, we found we were warm enough under our queen-size goose down duvet. The warmth stayed in when we topped it with a colourful throw blanket (cuddling helps). Neither of us woke through the night and in the morning we just popped on the propane furnace to banish the chill. It was the perfect RVing experience.
Well, after a slight delay due to Mother Nature, we’re off! The house sitters are in place, the driveway has been shovelled (sure to be “topped up” again after we return), the van is running beautifully and we had clear sailing as we steered due south.
“South” … supposed to be warmer down here, right? We made great time on day one and stopped for the night just south of Washington, DC. We are still amazed at how flawlessly this Roadtrek 210 runs – it has been the complete opposite of a “lemon.” It was a chilly -9C when we pulled in to boondock at a Walmart parking lot (*in RV parlance, “boondocking” is camping without cost and hookups). We were snug and warm under our duvet and just turned on the propane furnace to warm things up in the morning (believe it or not, this 21′ van has a KING size bed in the back!). Craig is chomping at the bit to wash all the salt and grit off the van!
We are debating whether to detour via a wintertime drive down the Outer Banks of North Carolina (one of our favourite parts of the US) but it looks like all the national parks campgrounds are closed (wonder why …? Perhaps the close-to-freezing temperatures!). If we can find somewhere we can boondock again, we’ll head that way. If not, we’ll continue to our ultimate destination for the next week – Huntington Beach State Park, SC.
If ever there was a pretty Southern town, it has to be Natchez, Mississippi. So, we parked ourselves there for three days, worked in the library, walked the streets and stopped in for coffee often at the excellent Steampunk Coffee Roasters. Next door is the historic blues club the historic blues club named Smoot’s Grocery. Smoot’s has received a top-to-bottom renovation and is a beautiful space for parties, get-togethers or live music. Well worth checking out if you find yourself in Natchez.
Our schedule included a “break week” when we were taking some down time on the Mississippi Gulf Cost, catching up on blues-related reading, working on the book structure and starting some chapter work. All accomplished while we stayed at Gulf Islands National Seashore near the pretty town of Ocean Springs. While there we crossed paths with a get together of about two-dozen Roadtreks and we were quickly welcomed into the fold. Thanks y’all! Looking forward to the next time.
Back to work and starting the drive northward. Our first stop was in historic Meridian (the home of The Father of Country Music, Jimmy Rogers) where we had a fascinating hour interviewing Hartley Peavey, the founder of Peavey Electronics. As a teenager he started building amps at his parents place and he is now head of a worldwide corporation producing quality musical sound systems and instruments.
On to the small town of West Point, considered the home of Howlin’ Wolf. There’s a blues marker, a small but very good museum and a very cool downtown mural.
Just a bit further into the northeast corner of Mississippi – we stopped at Tupelo. Tupelo is the hometown of Elvis Presley. He was born there and lived in East Tupelo with his parents until he was 13 years old and they moved to Memphis. They’ve done a beautiful job at the Elvis Birthplace Museum, the self-guided driving tour, at Johnnie’s Drive-In (where they have preserved an Elvis booth where he’d hang out with friends and order an RC cola and burger) and at the Tupelo Hardware, the spot his mother bought him his first guitar. Probably the best $7.75 she ever spent!
Here’s one of the biggest things to know about the blues and the Mississippi Delta … in this part of the state, the blues are everywhere. Many people only associate Clarksdale with the blues but there are actually many other communities with at least as rich and deep a blues pedigree as the town where Highways 49 and 61 cross.
We camped overnight at The Blue Biscuit – an Indianola restaurant and blues bar right across the road from the B.B. King Museum. Thanks to Trish – the Blue Biscuit’s friendly and welcoming owner! Then, the next morning, we drove east to Greenwood, a town with a complicated blues and civil rights history. On the way we drove into the countryside near Blue Lake to look for the birthplace marker for B.B. King, stopped at Holly Ridge to pay our respects at the grave marker for Charley Patton and detoured slightly to find the marker in Moorhead for “Where the Southern Cross the Yellow Dog” (*look that one up for a real slice of blues authenticity!).
One of the highlights of our travels has been the half-day tour of Greenwood and the blues with the personable and very knowledgeable Sylvester Hoover who runs Delta Blues Legend Tours. Sylvester took us through Baptist Town, to all three claimed gravesites of Robert Johnson (including the one accepted as the actual site at Little Zion MB Church in the countryside) and Three Forks (the site where Robert Johnson was – supposedly – poisoned). We also crossed the Tallahatchie River, the site of the Bobbie Gentry song.
In a non-blues related side trip, Sylvester took us to Bryant’s Grocery in Money, MS, to the remains of the grocery store related to the Emmett Till story – the event they say helped spark the entire civil rights movement. It was sobering.
Overnight we camped at the quirky, unique Tallahatchie Flats – old sharecropper shacks on the outside, renovated on the inside.
The next day we attended the Sunday morning service at Little Zion MB Church and soaked up the emotional and powerful music of the gospel church choir. We’d been invited by Sylvester and his lovely wife Mary, who is one of the choir directors.
After Greenwood, we spent several days hopping to more blues sites — Bentonia (home to the Blue Front Cafe), Jackson (where we went to Hal and Mal’s to hear King Edward – Craig subbed in on bass with the pre-show band), Hazlehurst (Robert Johnson’s birthplace and home to the Mississippi Music Hall of Fame), across the Mississippi River to Ferriday, LA and the Delta Music Museum.
We settled for several days in beautiful Natchez, MS – at the height of the cotton era, this small town was home to half the millionaires in America. We’ll write more about Natchez in the next post, as there is lots to talk about there. We made new friends, drank some of the best coffee ever (Steampunk Coffee Roasters), went to a community literary talk, dined by the Mississippi River and walked the streets of this lovely town. More on all that next time.
Today we woke up in Clarksdale – the town in the Delta most associated with the blues.
Yesterday we hopped across three states – from Memphis, Tennessee south into Mississippi with a stop at the excellent Gateway to the Blues Museum in Tunica (thanks Webster for giving us the tour!). More stops at blues markers along the way – including the Abbay & Leatherman Plantation where Robert Johnson spent his childhood and barbecue at the Hollywood Cafe, immortalized in Marc Cohn’s song Walking in Memphis.
Then across the bridge over the Mississippi River into Helena, Arkansas, a small town that has seen hard times but in the 1930s and 1040s was a hotbed of blues music and culture. Robert Johnson lived and played there, as did Sonny Boy Williamson II and Howlin’ Wolf. In Helena (home of The King Biscuit Blues Festival – considered one of the world’s best) we toured the Delta Cultural Center, from which KFFA 1360 broadcasts a noontime blues show (“the longest running blues show in the world” – since 1941). Then, back over the Mississippi River and the short drive to Clarksdale, MS.
We spent the day touring and interviewing at three important Memphis music museums – all of them excellent – Sun Studio (where Sam Phillips first recorded Elvis Presley), STAX (home of the soul giants like Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Isaac Hayes, The Staple Singers and Aretha Franklin) and a return visit to finish up some photos at the excellent Memphis Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum. Then we ducked across the street so Craig could fondle the guitars at the Gibson Factory (no purchases made).
Tomorrow … onwards to the Mississippi Delta and Clarksdale. Can hardly wait.
In the meantime, thanks Memphis. You’ve been great to us!
We’re on a long research trip, gathering material for our upcoming travel book on the roots of the blues.
Rather than detailed blog posts, we’re going to post photos and video bits to show you what we have to do to put a book together. Each photo will have a line or two to tell you what it’s about.
It all starts with checklists, phone calls, tons of emails and – eventually – a massive spreadsheet that details each day of interviews, museum stops, etc.
We leave …
Once out of the snow, Craig really, really, really needs to wash the salt and grime off the Roadtrek … 
In tiny Holly Springs, Mississippi we interviewed local blues collector, 90-year-old David Caldwell. His shop is stuffed with 91,000 records (no CDs here) and is so full that you cannot actually go inside. Mr. Caldwell remembers when B.B. King used to play at a Holly Springs venue for a whopping five cent entry fee. 
Memphis welcomed us with open arms – we toured Beale Street, the Center for Southern Folklore, the Lorraine Motel, the W.C. Handy home, the Blues Hall of Fame and the Memphis Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum.
Rigby finally gets her own star … 
In a few days we will be on the road.
The Big Pack has begun and we have several checklists to follow: Pack the van, pack the dog, pack the people, pack the food, outfit the small kitchen and – no small task – pack the research materials, interview spreadsheets, maps and our portable office. It’s amazing that we get it all into the Roadtrek!
Our plan is to post snippets plus photos and video clips from the road so you can follow how we are researching and putting together our book project. We are on the final research push for a travel book on the roots of blues music.
We thought it might be fun to post bits and pieces here – kind of a behind-the-scenes look at how the research for a music-themed book comes together.
