The Ride of a Lifetime – Part 2

Associate Bob Hart continues his travels through the deep South of the USA:

Day 5 –Vicksburg to Clarksdale

80 miles on Highway 61 via tornado struck Rolling Fork

 An easy ride on perfect roads, stopping for lunch before rolling into Clarksdale, a small quiet town with a lot of music history. Clarksdale is known as the "Home of the Blues" with 'live' blues music most nights, the best club is Ground Zero with The Red a close second. It is the birthplace of John Lee Hooker, Ike Turner, Sam Cooke, Muddy Waters, Big Jack Johnson and many more. We stayed in the shabby chic Travellers Hotel and rode off via the famous crossroads sign, made famous by Eric Clapton & Cream. The route took us through the town of Rolling Fork which had just been obliterated by a hurricane.

 Me

Day 6 – Clarksdale to Memphis

75 miles on Highway 61

Beale Street

Another short easy ride through lovely scenic countryside on brilliant smooth roads, stopping for coffees and cakes on the way. Memphis is famous for the influential strains of blues, soul and rock 'n' roll that originated there. Elvis Presley, B.B. King and Johnny Cash recorded albums at the legendary Sun Studio, and Presley’s Graceland mansion is a popular attraction. We obviously visited all of these with a special couple of visits to BB Kings Blues Club (on my bucket list). We also rode a trolley down Main Street, walked down Beale Street and saw the Duck Walk at the Peabody hotel.

Day 7 – A day off, visiting Graceland

The Elvis theme park, tour of Sun Studios finishing with dinner at BB King’s restaurant with a great band playing.

Day 8 – Memphis to Land Between the Lakes

190 miles on the Interstate I40

A very difficult ride through wind and rain on the main interstate highway heading north, getting passed by huge trucks doing 70mph+, once off the highway we had a very pleasant ride through nice countryside to the Nature reserve. We stayed at the Ken Lake Resort before realising that it was a dry county, we had to get takeaways from a local supermarket in the next county to celebrate a friends retirement birthday.

Day 9 - Land Between the Lakes to Nashville

125 miles on H49

An excellent ride down Highway 49 through Charlotte, lots of lovely bends and hills through quaint villages, with a coffee stop at Fritzes Diner. The roads were brilliant not a pothole anywhere, not even on the unclassified roads. It is like riding in a video game. A night on the town with line dancing at the Stallion Bar, followed by a fantastic night of music at the Second Fiddle and Legends Bar.

The Broadway Nashville

Part 3 to follow.