On the Road to Tupelo...

...to see the King, his birthplace and the Tupelo museum devoted to his early life when he lived in Tupelo.

Cliff and I left Columbus, MS, heading west toward Starkville and then turned north, which took us through West Point, MS. We had a straight shot to Tupelo about 50 miles away. It was a beautiful fall day with clear skies, and the land opened up into small farms on both sides of the highway, with cotton bursting to be harvested, grain of some sort being harvested with combines, and the ever-present rolls of grass hay drying out in the morning sun. Beyond the small farm plots, trees languidly stood, growing ever closer to dropping their leaves. But even in mid-October the land was green.

The Chickasaw County Courthouse dominates this
portion of the Okolona downtown

As I've observed, Mississippi is a state with small to medium sized towns, and with it's 82 counties ensures that there are at least that many county seats. The counties are small compared to New Mexico's, since New Mexico is almost one-and-a-half times larger than Mississippi and only has 32 counties, and within just a few miles we crossed from Lowndes County into Clay County, the outskirts of Monroe County and then into Chickasaw County, where we saw signs for the county seat of Okolona. It was a beautiful day, we were in no rush, and so when it came time to exit the highway for Okolona, we took it.

Okolona is a town of about 2,600 people. It has a small downtown running east and west along Main Street. I was glad to see that on that Thursday morning the downtown was busy, with cars parked up and down the street. The county courthouse sits on Main.

Wisteria arbor provides a nice
place for shoppers to sit awhile

Yes, as in many of the small Mississippi towns there were empty store fronts. Perhaps there was also an area of big box stores, which might have accounted for the businesses that had moved away from the downtown area, but we didn't explore that far. From what we could see of the small town, there were nice old homes, both along Main as well as on side streets. We got out and walked up and down. We discovered a wisteria arbor, with benches beneath it and we could both imagine how beautiful it would be in the season when the blossoms were full. The arbor is right on Main Street and during hotter weather it would be a good place to get out of the sun.

We had parked on Main, right in front of a cafe called Generations Sizzling Griddle Cafe. We kept it in mind for a break before we left town. We had arrived around 11 a.m. and we figured we could dawdle awhile, since from Okolona, Tupelo was less than twenty miles up the road.

This is the family that owns the
cafe. Left is daughter Maggie.
Middle is Mother Dena, and right
is Granddaughter Callie.

I took a few more pictures, but eventually we decided to check out the cafe, sitting prominently right there on Main, and the only cafe that we could see. Over the course of our stay in the cafe, we learned that it had only been open since February of 2017; Dena's son-in-law had done all the renovations. All the menu items were based on recipes from both family members and friends. The day's special was lasagna, which I got along with a delicious broccoli cheese soup and potato salad—each a special recipe. Cliff got the salad trio of pimento cheese, chicken salad, and tuna salad, which came with Club crackers and homemade pickles. The cafe is located at 253 West Main Street, Okolona, MS. It's open for lunch from 10:30 - 2 p.m., Monday thru Friday. It's open for dinner Monday and Tuesday from 5-8 p.m. If you want a nice outing, you can call the cafe at (662) 401-1752 or (662) 631-0734. Visit their Facebook page for more information.

Dena, her daughter, and older granddaughter are friendly and accommodating, and Cliff and I had a great lunch, interesting conversation and an overall pleasant impression of Okolona. We really hadn't planned on stopping in Okolona for lunch, but that's just the way things happen when you have leisure time and a beautiful day to travel.

Again, towns are much closer together in Mississippi than they are in southern New Mexico. Instead of having to drive 60 miles between towns, here in Mississippi, there are little towns 10, 15, or 20 miles apart, which allows for frequent stops if you choose.

Of course, our real destination that day was Tupelo Mississippi, a mere 64 miles from Columbus, and the entire drive is beautiful and green. We were intent on visiting the Elvis Presley Birthplace and Museum, which also includes Elvis's family home and the church he went to as a child. There is also a gift shop, theatre, and lots of memorabilia from Elvis's thirteen years in Tupelo, before his family moved to Memphis. Coming into Tupelo from the south on Highway 45, it's easy to exit off onto East Main and go directly to Elvis Presley Drive and the museum. There are a thousand pictures on Google images of Elvis's home and even the church that was moved into the museum grounds. It was a good day for contemplation of the King.

The entire compound takes up many acres, including a high-ground overlook with benches. The gift shop is a compendium of every conceivable trinket with Elvis's name and image, from cigarette lighters to key chains, T-shirts, billed caps, and even clothing. What struck me was none of this so much as the fact that Tupelo loves it's famous son, naming streets and building after him, as well as creating and maintaining the quite extensive museum. On the grounds is a bronze statue of Elvis at 13 years old, the year he moved to Memphis with his family.

The Baby Boomer generation of course can claim Elvis as is own, and sometimes it's difficult for me to realize that we're now all senior citizens and grew up on Elvis's innovative blend of blues, country, and rock 'n roll. In Tupelo, at least, Elvis is forever young. To really get into the visit at the museum and birthplace, one has to buy tickets to see inside his family church as well as his family home. But maybe that's for another day when family comes to visit us and we can take them around the state or at least the sights within a 60-mile radius. We have yet to visit the gulf coast, which is quite a bit farther from Columbus than even Memphis, which is where Graceland is located and contains a much more extensive collection of Elvis memorabilia.

The day remained beautiful, and so we drove over to Tupelo's main downtown, which is also Main Street. The courthouse, here is north of Main. While the outside is impressive, the inside has been insensitively renovated. Oh well...Across the street from the courthouse was a coffee shop and dessert shop, called Crave, where cliff and I also stopped, as it was coming up on mid-afternoon. There you can get anything from muffins to candy to ice-cream and a variety of coffees and teas. And so we did.



Elvis had 30 number 1 hits in his career, and it is really difficult to find a particular song that captures so much of his talent. So I've chosen Blue Suede Shoes to end this particular post (followed by a two-hour selection of songs from another enduring great in the blues field.




Any time I drive around in Mississippi I am aware of the birthplace of the blues, as well. All over Mississippi are plaques and places where renown blues greats performed, even if some of them are not particularly from Mississippi, and so I leave you with a two-hour video for your enjoyment of B.B. King's greatest hits.