Welcome To Canada, Eh!

Well, we did it. We're in Canada now. After a final hour on the interstate going through Toledo, Ohio and Detroit, Michigan, I saw the sign for the route to Canada.

I drove us across the Ambassador Bridge, paid a hefty toll, and got us through customs, landing us in Windsor, Ontario.

As we were driving along the interstate today, Ward and I were recallling the 6 months we just spent in the States. Ward said his two best memories were Sunday Pickers Night in Luckenbach, and camping on the beach at Corpus Christi. I had to agree. Those were the best of times. In turning it into a top ten, here is my list:

1. Sunday pickers night in Luckenbach

2. camping on the beach at Corpus Christi

3. slowing down and relaxing in hill country around Menard and Junction

4. spending time with fellow travellors around Corpus Christi

5. meeting so many interesting characters throughout the jouney

6. getting to ride the motorcycle all winter

7. bird watching and seeing the whooping cranes at Goose Island State Park

8. history tour through Mississippi

9. tasting new foods in Louisiana, especially boudan

10. visiting the Texas state parks, especially riding the motorcycle through Palo Duro Canyon, swimming at Balmorhea, and climbing Enchanted Rock

Now to start a new chapter in the adventure, summer 2013 in Canada. It's back to work for me, starting my customer service gig in Ontario. And Ward is itching to get the motorcycle off the rack and back on the road after seeing so many Ontario motorcycles riding by today.

Our adventure up north is off to a good start already with temperatures going up to 12 degrees Celcius today (for all you Americans, that's about 54 degrees - double it and add 30). I must say I am having a bit of trouble myself with transitioning into the metric system. My first experience with it was a speed limit sign saying '60' as I entered Windsor. I started to accelerate when Ward pointed out that it was kilometers. Oops. I may have been speeding.

Gotta go, eh!

Springing Into Winter

After spending our first winter down south we are making our way back to Canada. We have already had our first snowfall while in Leitchfield, Kentucky. The nights go down below freezing and some days are not much better.

As we pick up the pace to make it back to Canada, we are travelling along the interstate. Our preference has always been to take the back roads and enjoy the slower pace and small town views. But we are on a mission and just want to get through this snow belt between Kentucky and Ontario. So, interstate it is.

I managed to make it through Cincinnati travelling on I-75. The highway is four lanes across and full of traffic. But as you make your way over the Ohio River, the interstate narrows, and I swear the lanes narrowed themselves. The road curved as it went under other freeways above. It felt like going through a tunnel. A very fast moving tunnel. But the road soon widened out again, expanding back to four lanes, but never slowed it's pace. It is not the slow, relaxing drive that I am used to.

We drove through Cincinnati and stopped at the Walmart in Dayton, right along the highway. My Rand McNally Road Atlas said the Walmart was at exit 60, so I passed by exit 59 excitedly awaiting the next exit a mile down the road. Well, it never happened. But there was an exit at mile 61, so I took it, even though it said it was headed west to the airport or east to Columbus. I went west. It was another freeway, not an exit to the Walmart. No problem, I will take the first exit up the road and go back south. Well that didn't happen. The next exit was another highway going to the airport. Geez. I went a couple miles down the road to find another highway. Ok, I took it and went east. Are you lost yet? I was pretty sure I was. But I ended up back on the original interstate I-75 and headed back south to take exit 59. I was never so happy to pull into the Walmart parking lot as I was last night. That was a bit hair raising. Oh, and check out the piles of snow we found in the parking lot.

Along with the piles of snow in the parking lots in Dayton, we found our migratory friends, the Canada Geese. I guess we are not the only ones feeling it is time to head north.

This morning we headed north again, and soon found snow lying in the fields. The area is definitely colder than it had been the day before. The snowy fields and colder temperatures did not stay for long, probably only 10-20 miles. By the time we got outside Bowling Green, Ohio there was no snow to be seen.

Tomorrow we head for Detroit and on to Windsor. I must say I am not looking forward to the drive through another large eastern city on the interstate, but it can't be helped. I'll have a look at the maps before heading out, so I will know what to expect. And I'll be prepared for any and all toll roads that Detroit throws at me. But most of all, tomorrow this time we will be in Canada. Then we can start our next 6 month journey in our own country.

We're Having A Snow Day

That's right, it's snowing. We are in the middle of Kentuky, in Leitchfield at the Walmart. I had a look at the weather before heading out from Clarksville, TN yesterday and Leitchfield had no weather advisories posted. Clarksville would be experiencing high winds from thunderstorms coming up from the Gulf of Mexico, and Louisville and Elizabethtown Kentuky both had advisories for the winter storm to the north. But Leitchfield was advisory free.

It was raining yesterday for part of our drive, and we made it to town incident free, then got ready for some overnight snow. We were expecting 1-3" of snow and woke up to a light covering on the ground and on top of vehicles. Nothing we can't handle. Of course the furnace went on yesterday evening, and a thick layering of blankets were on the bed.

It started snowing again this morning, melting as it hit the ground, and any snow that had fallen over the night has since disappeared. Temperatures for the day are expected to go up to a whopping 38 degrees, so we have staying put and having a snow day.

Our day is filled with pumpkin pie and hot chocolate, reading a good book and staying under the covers. The rugs are back on the floor, and the furnace has been running non-stop since we turned it on again this morning. It's been a long time coming, this is our first snowfall of the winter season.

Tomorrow we will be headed north again, destination Elizabethtown or Louisville, weather depending of course. And if temperatures rise high enough we may do a little more touristy stuff. We just have to make sure to cross the winter snowfall path before the next storm comes our way. We are hoping to enter Canada via Windsor by April 1.

Wish us luck.

More Food In Memphis

We are on a roll. After getting the catfish, fried green tomatos and peach cobbler in Clarksdale, we had to hit Memphis and pick up some more great southern food.

Our first stop was on Elvis Presley Blvd at a gas station we stumbled upon a few years back. They had the best fried chicken I have ever had. So, I managed to locate the place again. When I googled it, I found it was known for it's food. The place was called Dodge's Chicken Store and had quite a selection of good old southern fried foods. While Ward was filling the RV with gas I was inside selecting our treats. I got a chicken breast and a smoked turkey leg. Then I asked the woman at the counter about an odd item in the deli case. She said it was deep fried corn on the cob. Well ya! I got one of those as well.

We pulled over down the road at the information center and had the chicken and corn. The corn was cooked perfectly with a fried batter that was a bit spicy but very tasty. And the chicken was as great as I remember. It was cooked properly, not like KFC, with great crispy batter, and was huge. Then we had to take a few bites of the smoked turkey leg. That was about all we could manage for our lunch, and the turkey leg went into the fridge.

The next stop was Beale Street. I found a great parking spot about a block off Beale Street and we did a quick walk down the street. Then off we went in search of our very favorite BBQ joint ever, Le Rendevous.

Le Rendevous, which is located on General Washburn Escape Alley in Memphis, across from the Peabody Hotel, is a must stop when in town. They have the best BBQ ever. But we had already eaten and would not have room for the BBQ. Instead, we dropped in to get a bit of takeout food. We got an order of red beans and rice and a pint of coleslaw. They have the best coleslaw I have ever had. It has a bit of a bite to it, with an orange tinge to the dressing.

Then we were on our way out of town. Except, as we were passing Beale Street on the way to the RV we heard a marching band on the street. How could we leave now. Back we went onto Beale to take in the free show on the street.









That was a nice surprise. I'm glad I was able to capture it on video. Ward and I are going to enjoy all the videos I have taken since Corpus Christi when we dug the video recorder out.

We stayed in Bartlett, TN just east of Memphis for the night, then headed north-east along hwy 76. Tonight we are in Clarksville, TN, about 5 miles from the Kentuky border. We will be moving north as the weather allows.

All Historied Out, Time For Some Catfish And Blues

Since we hit the Brazosport Area in Texas we have been taking in the history of each area we have visited. But I am now all historied out. I don't want to read another plaque or visit another museum. Today, I just want music and food. So, we are off to Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale Mississippi.

Ground Zero is a blues bar in downtown Clarksdale dedicated to keeping Delta Blues alive. It is partially owned by Morgan Freeman, and we chose this joint to relax for an evening of blues and some good food. They have music every Wednesday thru Saturday, so we made sure we came through town on a night when there would be live music.

When we got to town we dropped by the club to ensure there was music playing that night and find out what time the band started. We were told 8pm, and Steve Kolbus and the Clarksdale Blues Revue would be playing. They are a local group and we were told they were very good. So, we went for a walk around the downtown, had a bit of a rest, then headed to Ground Zero for dinner and an evening of entertainment.

After looking at the menu we found there were a few things we wanted, but did not want to order too much food. Our waitress Tina was great. She helped us put together a couple of plates of food with exactly what we wanted to try. We shared an order of catfish, and had fried green tomatoes along with it, and shared a small coleslaw. It was great, and the portions were exactly enough for the two of us.

 

We met another couple who were travelling in a camper van during the day, and they joined us after we had finished eating. They were actually in the joint for dinner a little earlier in the evening. They arrived back just in time for the music to start.















Our waitress, Tina, talked us into a peach cobbler. Again, a great choice. What a great night. Great music, wonderful food, and good company. We stayed until quite late listening to the band. The joint was filled with tourists, most staying for the entire evening.

Earlier in the day when we were wandering through downtown, we were approached by Steve Kolbus, the lead singer of the band. He gave us a handbill and invited us to Ground Zero. He was going all over town rounding up everyone on the streets and getting them to come to the club for an evening of music. The results were that the place was filled with people from all over the world. We had tourists from New Jersey, Colorado, Florida, Canada, Australia, Holland, Norway, England, and France. Clarksdale is the birth place of Delta Blues, bringing people from all over the world there to enjoy real homegrown blues.

We finished our visit to Clarksdale with a picture of  'The Crossroads' at the corner of Hwy 61 and 49. One of the locals said The Crossroads was more of an idea than a true story. He also said it was not actually Robert Johnson who started the legend of The Crossroads, but his brother.

Murals of Vicksburg

It's spring, or at least it will be on Thursday. Anyway, what I was getting at is that we are travelling north through Mississippi and along the infamous 'tornado alley'. That means we have to keep an eye on the weather in case things go terribly awry. We have been watching the news each day and making sure we check the weather. Well, every day except Sunday night / Monday morning. We were in Natchez and didn't get any real TV stations to watch the news. We did get some weather channel that showed local temperatures, but no real weather forcasts or national overviews. I didn't think it was that big of a deal, and we got on with our lives, doing the tourist thing and travelling north to Vicksburg.

All was well until we were about half an hour from Vicksburg. The clouds started rolling in. Not just any clouds, but the dark ominous ones. And the wind was picking up a bit with wind gusts. Then the skies got dark. The clouds were not too bad directly over us, but I could see something developing ahead of us. We tried to get a radio station to get an update on the weather so we could make a decison whether we were stopping in Vicksburg or going further north to aviod bad weather. No luck.

We pulled into Vicksburg and stopped in the Walmart parking lot. The lot was wet with puddles left from a recent rainfall. And the nasty clouds were moving east. Ward turned the TV on and we were able to get a decent TV station right away. As soon as we tuned in the station we heard the weather alerts. There were serious thunderstorms threatening in the area until 9pm, with chance of large hail and possibility of tornados. Soon after we got coverage of egg sized hail in Jackson, Mississippi, which is about 50 miles east of Vicksburg.

I got the computer out and checked the weather.com website to get a better idea of weather on it's way. The doplar radar showed the worst of it had already passed Vicksburg. For the next few hours I kept an eye on the doplar radar to ensure nothing bad was developing, as the weather alert was still in place until 9pm. We were lucky to have totally missed the weather system that came through the area, and I was seriously irritated with the stupid weather station we were watching that morning and the previous night. You would think they would give a little warning on serious weather coming through. But no, not a word.

Since having that close call with the weather I have started paying more attention to the doplar radar, wind directions, temperature fronts and changes. I am becoming my own weather analyst as we make our way up tornado alley. And we have been given a bit of a heads up that there may be some bad weather coming through the area on Thursday or Friday this week. I will be watching as it developes to try and direct our travels around it.

In the meantime we took in a bit of tourist stuff in Vicksburg today before leaving for Greenville. I had a look at the tourist information we had on hand and decided to check out the historic murals on display on the seawall down by the Mississippi River in downtown Vicksburg.



When we got downtown I found a parking spot on Washington St where I could see the murals down by the waterfront. As I got out of the RV I saw one of the Mississippi Blues plaques. It was the '61 Highway' plaque. Highway 61, the one we travelled on from Natchez to Vicksburg is famous for blues music.

Then as we started walking toward the murals I noticed some hitching posts along the side of the road on Washington Street.

Beside a couple of these hitching posts there were fancy water troughs. Have a look. There is not just one trough on each of these posts, they are at varying heights all around the posts.

 





We finally made it down to the waterfront and saw the long line of murals painted along the seawall. There were a total of 35 murals. For an idea of the scale of these murals, have a look at the edge of the seawall gate here. It must be eight or ten feet tall.

Here is a sample of the many murals painted on the seawall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After leaving Vicksburg we went back down Highway 61 up to a town called Rolling Fork. We turned off Highway 61 to hook up with the Old River Road, Highway 1, for a slower and more scenic drive into Greenville. But before we could get onto the Old River Road we had to stop in the town of Rolling Fork for another one of those Mississippi Blues plaques. This time it was Muddy Waters.

 

 

Well, that's it for now folks.

 



Another Historic Walking Tour, Will They Never End!

I thought we were through with the walking tours but we were in Natchez, Mississippi.

 How could we not go through the historic downtown of Natchez. After all, Natchez is the oldest settlement on the Mississippi River. It has history, and the houses are amazing.

I am not going to bore you with every photo I took, just as I was not going to overwork my camera by taking a photo of every historic building in the downtown. I selected the highlights, and of those I chose a select few to show you. And I am getting lazy, I photographed the descriptions on most of the buildings you are about to see, so you can read the same stuff we did.

Enjoy your abridged walking tour of Natchez.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last residence I am showing you is the house on Ellicott Hill c. 1798. Information on this residence is coming from the walking tour information we had. 211 N. Canal St. Andrew Ellicott, in defiance of Spain, raised the American flag on this hill in 1797. Overlooking the terminus of the Natchez Trace, it is a historic restoration project of the Natchez Garden Club. National Historic Landmark.

That's it for your walking tour. Hope you enjoyed it as much as Ward and I did.

On the way out of town we make a quick stop at this place.

This is not like the Forks in Winnipeg. Oh no it isn't. Natchez, MS was the southwest hub of slave trade in America. Slaves were brought here from the east, being bought and sold to the highest bidder.

 

Here are a few of the ads run in newspapers for the buying and selling of slaves.

 

 

And for us Canadians, the only saving grace for our consciences of this historic site is the mention of slaves escaping to places like Canada and Mexico. Slavery seems so abstract until you are in a place like this and read ads such as those posted.

After visiting plantation country, seeing all these wonderful old mansions and historic buildings and reading about the slave trade, one thing would not exist without the other. The south was built on the backs of slaves. That fact kind of takes the shine off the magnificant houses we have been seeing these past few days.

But we are are in a different world now, and all races can enjoy the beautiful structures left from these historic times.