Partly because I have the world’s worst sense of direction (cruel irony for a natural-born traveler) and partly because it’s just how I love to travel, I have no clue where I am. My daily routine while on this 90-day journey following a raindrop, is to have no routine, nor schedule, nor agenda. I follow any road that seems to beckon in any direction for any reason and often for no reason at all, trusting the GPS to find the way home at the end of the day. So, I don’t realize that I am heading into the small town of Leland, Mississippi, until I find myself on its main street – and I don’t remember having read about a small blues museum here until I see the sign, “Highway 61 Blues Museum,” which brings me to a stop.
In the Presence of Greatness
I rolled into Clarksdale, Mississippi as a blank slate. All I knew of it was that The Blues thrived there, now and in the past. Before I left home, there had been a call from Tommy Polk, a talented singer-songwriter whose music has been recorded by artists like Martina McBride and Crystal Gayle. Tommy grew up in the Mississippi Delta, had gotten word of my journey and was calling to invite me to stay in his Big Pink Guest House in Clarksdale. I’ll meet Tommy himself farther downriver in Natchez.