July 21.
This was a really fun day, riding from Searcy Baptist Church to Natchez, Mississippi. Judy and I were the sweeps for the day. There were a couple of interesting stops along the way–the Frogmore Plantation and the Delta Music Museum. The Frogmore Plantation had an interesting store, and the dinner bell was outside, but I didn’t pay for the tour of the plantation. It was a big cotton plantation. Now, apparently, they are a cotton gin and touring operation. There was also a mound nearby from some of the more ancient mound building peoples.
The Music Museum was the most fun, mostly because of the ladies working there. This was a small museum started from scratch in the town of Ferriday. It was free to visit and they let us bring our bikes inside. There used to be a bar in Ferriday where the blues musicians congregated. Jerry Lee Lewis wasn’t supposed to go there, so he snuck in when he was a kid to listen and learn. There are a surprising number of musicians from the tiny town of Ferriday. The museum, itself, used to be a post office. Honestly, I don’t remember too much about the museum’s exhibits because I’m not that familiar with that genre of music. I mostly remember our tour guide’s enthusiasm. She clearly loved the museum and what they had been able to build there. She was thankful to the musicians who had donated their stage costumes. She told me about the three cousins who were all in the music industry–the oldest having taught at least one of the other two. When she found out that Judy had lived in Lafayette, IN, she showed us that was where the Post Office safe had been made.
We crossed the Mississipi River and crossed the state line into Mississippi. It was a good day.
