LOUISIANA TO MISSISSIPPI (Mark)

Happy New Year to everyone.  Not many photos today as we were traveling from Alexiandria, LA to Laurel, MS.  There was a very dramatic difference in geography crossing the Mississippi River on Highway 84, heading east.  The Louisiana side is low and muddy everywhere, not paved or graveled.  The Mississippi side is the city of Natchez, built on high bluffs that keep the river at bay.  The terrain immediately becomes rolling hills with evergreen and some hardwood forest.

In the photo above, Natchez, Mississippi is on the left, and Vidalia, Louisiana is on the right.

Ferriday, Louisiana is part of the Delta Blues Trail.  Almost anyone who played the blues, famous or not, played in Ferriday.  Haney's Big House lounge was one of the more famous clubs.

Here is a link to the associated Historical Marker text, and from the Historical Marker Database:

"At least 8 other markers are within 2 miles of this marker,
measured as the crow flies.

Leon "Pee Wee" Whittaker (here, next to this marker);
Frank Morris (within shouting distance of this marker);
Mickey Gilley (about 700 feet away, measured in a direct line);
Jerry Lee Lewis (about 700 feet away);
Jimmy Lee Swaggart (about 700 feet away);
The Blues Trail: Mississippi to Louisiana (approx. 0.2 miles away);
Bayou Memorial Park Flags (approx. 0.7 miles away);
DePrato Mounds (approx. 1½ miles away)."

Looking down the historic main street now is enough to make you want to play - or if you can not play at least listen to - the blues.

The buildings are in disrepair, and almost completely vacant.

This was one of the few buildings with a viable business in it.  They had a food truck nearby, which may be how they kept the business going.

We ended the day in Laurel, Mississippi, and are planning on exploring tomorrow.  As we end the day we are listening to fireworks.  I guess not all of them got used last night!